Children With Autism May Learn From 'Virtual Peers' (Science Daily)
ScienceDaily (Feb. 29, 2008) — Using "virtual peers" -- animated life-sized children that simulate the behaviors and conversation of typically developing children -- Northwestern University researchers are developing interventions designed to prepare children with autism for interactions with real-life children.
Justine Cassell, professor of communication studies and electrical engineering and computer science, recently presented a preliminary study on the work at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
"Children with high-functioning autism may be able to give you a lecture on a topic of great interest to them but they can't carry on a 'contingent' -- or two-way -- conversation," said Cassell, director of Northwestern's Center for Technology and Social Behavior.
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"The cordial quality of pear or plum
Rises as gladly in the single tree
As in the whole orchards resonant with bees."
- Emerson
01 Mar 2008, 11:29 am
