Assistance for Asperger Syndrome from Communications Technology Developed through an Integrated Projects Curriculum

Asperger Syndrome (AS), classified among neurodevelopmental disabilities better known as autism spectrum disorders, affects 1 in every 150 children in the United States 1 .Adults with AS experience impaired social interactions with tendency toward restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, though gifted with average to aboveaverage intellect.While neither specific cause (although genetics is suspected) nor cure is known for AS at this time, social coaching for the purpose of job training and successful independent living may be facilitated by wireless communications technology.A prototype for such an assistive technology, known as Wireless Enabled Remote Copresence TM (WERC), has been developed by undergraduate students and faculty at the Messiah College Collaboratory, in partnership with The SymBionyx Foundation 2 (TSF), over the past year.WERC enables a coach to talk to a selected AS client, such as on a job site, and receive audio-visual feedback via a micro-camera device worn by the client.A pair of students under the supervision of faculty and TSF staff initially configured and tested WERCware with funding by a PA Keystone Innovation Zone Grant, during the summer of 2008.Further research and development has been conducted by two junior engineering students, through the Integrated Projects Curriculum (IPC) first implemented in spring 2007, by the Engineering Department at Messiah College.The IPC includes a four-semester Project sequence, providing students a more sustained experience than the traditional senior project course, and allowing vertical integration of incoming lower level students on project work.Assessed by portfolio, IPC helps students learn project management and leadership skills, while receiving the benefits of addressing a real-world engineering problem.This paper will describe how the IPC facilitates efforts of students in developing WERC, so as to ease the transition of people with AS into the mainstream of a suitable job and more independent living.