BYU Students use Technology to Help Autistic Youth Learn to Make Eye Contact
Making eye contact is difficult for autistic children, but it is a critical developmental step. Studies indicate that learning to make eye contact is a key precursor to learning verbal skills for these children.
Easily distracted, a key challenge is how to keep the autistic child’s attention focused on the other person’s face. The students created a set of glasses along the lines of a virtual reality headset. The glasses can project a favorite image of interest to the child onto the lenses. The opacity of the glasses can be adjusted gradually to help the wearer’s eyes become visible behind the image. the goal is to help autistic children develop skills and increase their attention span.
These glasses are not yet on the market and will be considered medical devices when they are which requires FDA regulations and clinical trials. This innovative idea by the mother of an autistic child, and brought to reality by a group of passionate students using modern technology shows what impressive things can be achieved.
Photo by Anna Kolosyuk on Unsplash