Can Robots Help Children With Autism? (go.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Sunday is World Autism Awareness Day, and landmarks around the world will "light it up blue" as a show of support, including New York's Rockefeller Center and the White House. "Autism spectrum disorders affect an estimated one out of every 68 children in America," President Trump posted Friday, and autistic characters have now even been added to the new Power Rangers movie and on Sesame Street.

But technology could also play a role in improving the live of people with autism spectrum disorders. Reuters is reporting on a robot specifically designed to help teach communication and interaction skills to autistic children, while Vanderbilt University has 20 studies exploring more ways that robotics and technology could help, according to Zachary Warren, an associate professor of pediatrics. "A child may not respond to their mother calling their name but may automatically respond to a robot action or a piece of technology," Warren says after one program which showed improvement in five out of six participants. "If we can use that technology to shift how that child responds, then we may have a very valuable system to that child, that family and maybe for autism intervention."

Comments

Your first cocksucking experience

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait no more!

Re:Your first cocksucking experience

[Anonymous Coward]

Miley Cyrus lost his virginity when he was like 12 or 13, bragged about it on the Internet, and then Breitbart fired him. Gays and robots are not synonymous. How do you explain that one, big boy?

Re: Your first cocksucking experience

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh? What have robots to do with anything other than steal jobs?

Robot Chickens

[amiga3D]

Not enough sleep. I thought it said something about robot chickens. I have seen some interesting things with tablets and autistic children. It's amazing to see a child that can't communicate suddenly able to comprehend and respond to communication over a tablet. Autism is such a weird thing. I imagine some might do well with robots.

Of course they can

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd wager that 95% of the developers of robots are autistic. 1) be autistic 2) create robot 3) profit!

Re:Of course they can

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Can Robots Help Children With Autism

I'm pretty sure that if the children's autism is deficient, the robots can help them improve it. Source: I'm a living proof.

Stealing Autism Jobs

[MightyYar]

Robots are stealing all of our autism jobs!

Re:Stealing Autism Jobs

[Joe_Dragon]

but now with no job they can get on GOP medicade aka the old pre ADA medicade that where if you make $1 or over the income level you can lose it all and that mc mini med plan does not cover anything.

Re:Stealing Autism Jobs

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes. Robots can help kids with autism. Robots can help with everything. Robots are fucking awesome!

Robots have no agenda. They aren't actively competing for our jobs. They aren't stealing anything. They are being perfectly obedient. They are doing everything we tell them to do, and they are doing a kickass job of it.

The economic impact of robots is not something the robots are doing, it is something the humans who own them are doing. If you have a problem with what those humans are doing, take it up with the humans. Work out a better economic system, and put it in place.

Don't try to stop them from using robots, though, or from building better robots. That is impossible. All such efforts along those lines are absolutely futile. Let it fucking go.

Re:Stealing Autism Jobs

[MightyYar]

That was the non-sarcastic version of my post. Some of the mods didn't get it.

But why blue?

[PPH]

Is this 'hold your breath until you turn blue' day?

Re:But why blue?

[PolygamousRanchKid]

From http://www.rosco.com/spectrum/...

The first question we wanted to ask was – why blue? What does the color blue have to do with the austistic spectrum? The answer is that Autism Spectrum Disorders are almost 5 times more common among boys (1 in 54) than among girls (1 in 252). So, the color blue represents the boys diagnosed with Autism.

Represents boys!?!?! That sure sounds like racism, sexism and many other naughty "ism's", as well.

Shame on you, Autistic folks!

Re:But why blue?

[Ol Olsoc]

Is this 'hold your breath until you turn blue' day?

No, it's another pointless way for people to feel good about themselves. I saw the blue bulbs for sale at Home Depot yesterday. First thing that came to mind was why the bloody hell don't people just contribute instead of buying and lighting a stupid blue lightbulb.

Hard to imagine that anyone isn't "aware" of autism by this point.

Re:But why blue?

[Anonymous Coward]

> First thing that came to mind was why the bloody hell don't people just contribute instead of buying and lighting a stupid blue lightbulb.

Yeah, like why did all those people waste their time posting ice-bucket challenge videos?
Or what about all those people wearing pink ribbons for breast cancer?
Stupid social humans, just be isolated robots already!!!

Re:But why blue?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ironically, "Autism Speaks" is not actually run or even really supported by autistic people, so it wasn't "autistic folks" that came up with the blue.

Even weirder than that, the methods that Autism Speaks espouses to "fix" autistic people is closely related to the methods that were used back in the day to try to "fix" gay people. Actually even the same guy (Lovaas) involved in both "therapies".

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

Re:But why blue?

[Ol Olsoc]

> First thing that came to mind was why the bloody hell don't people just contribute instead of buying and lighting a stupid blue lightbulb.

Yeah, like why did all those people waste their time posting ice-bucket challenge videos?

Exactly. Give a detailed accound of how the jackass movie themed ice bucket challenge helped anyone.

Or what about all those people wearing pink ribbons for breast cancer?

The mistake they made was the ribbons should have been yellow, that simple mistake killed thousands of women.

Stupid social humans, just be isolated robots already!!!

Actually your silly retort tends to undermine your position.

Donate to the cause you are interested in, volunteer to help people. All that getting a bucket of ice water dumped on you does is make you cold. A pink ribbon never helped anything.

They don't help the victims of ALS or breast cancer or autism feel better, they help people who can't be bothered to do anything else feel better about themselves.

Re:But why blue?

[Anonymous Coward]

Give a detailed accound of how the jackass movie themed ice bucket challenge helped anyone.

Hook, line and sinker.

The ALS ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ actually worked

They don't help the victims of ALS or breast cancer or autism feel better, they help people who can't be bothered to do anything else feel better about themselves.

Lemme guess, you like to complain about virtue signaling too?
Have you considered that you are on the spectrum?
And that's why you don't "get" the principles of social organizing?

Re:But why blue?

[Anonymous Coward]

No it's worse than that. Our society becomes more and more feminine. The problem with that is that the people remained the same. The social construct many feminist talk about isn't that social as they claim. It is biological. In my country the vast majority of teachers for children from 3-16 are women. Almost of these women have received the modern feminist guidelines and raise all children to be genderless. In practice this means that "dangerous games" like climbing trees, playing football, playing soldier, ... are banned. It are mostly boys who behave like boys. Boys are now learned that it is fine to play with dolls. For most girls this isn't a problem. They prefer girl toys anyway.
 
The lack for male teachers is seen as a blessing by many female teachers and their female principals. For boys this means that they no longer have a male role model. For boys it is important to have a male role model, just like how it is important for girls to have a female role model. But when the parents have to work longer hours and the child care is almost completely female, many boys no longer have a male role model. They become frustrated even depressed. The way they behave, although biological correct, is punished because it is deemed a social construct that has to be eradicated. It happens pretty frequent that boys has young as 6-7 years old are expelled from school because of their behavior. These boys are often diagnosed with either ADHD, autism, hypersensitivity or any other 'disorder'. Today one boy in five gets special medication to help them 'behave' in class. This is a serious problem in our school system today. When I look at other countries in Europe I see that many of the northern and western countries have the same problem. Feminists run the school boards and their dogmatic believes don't want to see any problem with their own system and blame everything on the patriarchy.

Feminism is good as long as it is meant to help prevent the exclusion of certain women from society. It is bad when the result is that it excludes certain men from the society, which is what is happening in my country. People who used to be hard working people who earned a decent wage and raised families are now outcasts who are unemployable. They are today defined as 'angry white men' who vote for far right parties instead of 'victims of feminism'. A big contrast with every other person who is left behind and isn't white or male. They are considered "victims of the patriarchy".

Re:But why blue?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, nice ableist hate speech. Just because he recognizes slacktivism for what it actually is; selfishness and laziness to make yourself feel and look good while helping nobody, doesn't make him autistic.

Re:But why blue?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, stridently insisting on misunderstanding how social organizing works is what makes him autism-suspicious.

can they? of course. will they?

[turkeydance]

we could ask them.

advice from an autistic adult

[Anonymous Coward]

okay, I'll copy my comment from last time... https://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1715468&cid=32867162

I'm autistic, and I can tell you the last thing autistic kids need teaching them how to act neurotypical is a robot mentor.

The dirty secret of Autism Speaks and just about everything else (such as the developers of these robots) is that they advocate for exhausted parents, annoyed relatives, and the profit motive of Western medicine; they don't do anything for actual autistic people.

www.autistics.org

Re:advice from an autistic adult

[Ol Olsoc]

The dirty secret of Autism Speaks and just about everything else (such as the developers of these robots) is that they advocate for exhausted parents, annoyed relatives, and the profit motive of Western medicine; they don't do anything for actual autistic people.

www.autistics.org

Autism Speaks is interested in having as many people declared autistic as possible.

The problem I have with the autism spectrum outlook is that what is on the spectrum doesn't remotely look like the same issue. And the people with Asperger's to me are not even what I would call autistic - I call them differently abled. I've worked with a few, friends with them, and am in awe of their powers. I know that sounds odd to many people, but it's true.

Re:advice from an autistic adult

[Anonymous Coward]

> Autism Speaks is interested in having as many people declared autistic as possible.

Conspiracy, after conspiracy! Horrible.
If you aren't perfect,* you're shite!

* Where only my personal definition of perfect matters, anybody else with a different definition is just another dirty conspirator.

Re:advice from an autistic adult

[Ol Olsoc]

> Autism Speaks is interested in having as many people declared autistic as possible.

Conspiracy, after conspiracy! Horrible. If you aren't perfect,* you're shite!

Are you high or something? What is odd about politicized groups wanting to add more people to whatever they are politicized about. They want to show an epidemic.

Take a chill pill, a hot bath, or beat off or something, you sound like you need a break - take one.

Re:advice from an autistic adult

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you high or something?

Are you 12 years old or something?

What is odd about politicized groups wanting to add more people to whatever they are politicized about.

Because that is beyond reductive, its utterly nihlistic. The idea that people can't actually care about achieving good results, that they only organize out of venal self-interest is the kind of ayn randian bullshit that if it were true would mean that society could not exist.

Take a chill pill, a hot bath, or beat off or something, you sound like you need a break - take one.

Blow me, you shitstain of a human soul.

Re:advice from an autistic adult

[Anonymous Coward]

People do care about achieving good. Organizations don't; they're purely Darwinian.

Re:advice from an autistic adult

[Anonymous Coward]

And that's fundamentally retarded because people don't stop being people when they join an organization

Spectrum = Rainbow

[Roger W Moore]

Since it is a spectrum surely a rainbow would be more appropriate and less discriminatory. It would also be cheaper because then you can use the same signs, projectors etc. for gay pride, autism and international unicorn day (yes apparently that is a thing). Plus it would be highly appropriate to have the White House look like the end of a rainbow since I'm sure the current occupant has probably got at least one pot of gold stashed there given his sense of taste.

Re:Spectrum = Rainbow

[K. S. Kyosuke]

I'm pretty sure that a single type of goods in larger quantities (blue stuff only) is cheaper than fewer items of multiple types. Or single-colored printing, for example. Not to mention the fact that people would find your unary radix confusing. Covering multiple things with a single symbol would be no less confusing than trying to write English with aaaa aa. Aaa aa aaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaa aaaaaaaa?

Re:Spectrum = Rainbow

[someoneOtherThanMe]

Bb.

No

[Anonymous Coward]

First: Betteridges Law of Headlines.
Second: The Autism organisation with the blue lights isn't accepted within the autism community, as they don't speak for this community but have their own opinions how to treat autists.

Slashdot and quality news? That's a long time ago.

What autistic kids need.

[snarkasaurus]

I think the world of Aspergers and other spectrum kids would be vastly improved if people generally would stop trying to get them to "act right." Put away the hammer, stop beating the square peg into the round hole, and things will improve dramatically.

I'm looking at you, teachers.

Re:What autistic kids need.

[murdocj]

Fine, as long as people with Aspergers don't want to interact with other people or hold down jobs, not a problem.

Re:What autistic kids need.

[rtb61]

There are a range of modes of thought to suit the range of tasks within cooperative human society. The problem stems for capitalistic competition forcing people into jobs they are unsuited to ie like psychopathy and politics or narcissism and law enforcers oh and any jobs for aspergers types involving forced interaction with lots of super annoying extroverts more interested in meetings then solving intricate mental puzzles. Don't worry, just keep bashing harder on that hammer as you drive square pegs into round holes, bash hard enough and you can drive the broken pieces of that square peg straight through that round hole.

Yes, I know, we must all live according to the main stream media marketing meme lives, consume beyond all reason, poseur status is life, narcissism is core, rich is god and poor is evil (along with a broad range of sexual perversions). Admittedly they do add some cyclic fashion trends to those culture claims to it all but that is just empty marketing (you need it cyclic to force disposal of old, anything old, including people).

Can robots help with consumption beyond reason because that would save the planet and not just screw up a bunch of mentally different people.

Re:What autistic kids need.

[murdocj]

Nice straw man rant.

Re:What autistic kids need.

[Anonymous Coward]

Special Ed teachers are notoriously over worked. I know of the Saint Paul school district in MN only has a few Special Ed teachers for the entire district and they usually handle case loads from multiple schools. Most of them suffer from burnout due to the high work load and quit over time with fewer and fewer viable replacements stepping forward because they know what the job entails. Public school districts are also trying to show that they are top of the technology curve in order to court parents to send their kids to public school rather than private schools so teachers are getting fewer funds since the school budgets now have to cover the additional technology that is being advertised so public schools can stay competitive. They do that so that the states don't cut their funding due to low enrollment. On top of that, there is now DeVos who wants to take even more federal dollars from public education and put it towards private schools where there are usually no state regulations specifying minimum education requirements for kids attending those private schools.

So instead of bitching that teachers are at fault (which shows that you personally don't understand the situation very well); why don't you do something constructive? Get involved with your local schools and ask how you personally can help your local school districts teachers accommodate children with special needs better. If you don't have the time to volunteer at your local school, get involved with school board meetings and start harassing the people making the funding decisions (*cough* YOUR LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD *cough*) to invest more money in special ed or stop getting your daily Starbucks coffee and soda, then use that money to donate to your local schools.

If those solutions don't do it for you; fine, feel free to continue to look like an idiot and keep blaming the people actually trying to help. You will still come off as an ass and people will still believe you don't know what you are talking about while you still do nothing to contribute in helping to solve the problem.

Ahh, so Ryder was a diversity hire

[TimothyHollins]

autistic characters have now even been added to the new Power Rangers movie and on Sesame Street.

And also Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Intervention

[wisnoskij]

We all love you Steve, but your autism has gotten out of control. Flicking the lights on and off is one thing, but you have starting counting the leaves at 9 in the morning!

Obligatory B. B. Rodriguez

[TeknoHog]

"Being a robot is great, but we don't have emotions, and sometimes that makes me sad."

Spare a thought...

[pdfalcon]

While we're all joyfully lighting up blue for the improving prospects for autistic kids, it's worth a moment for all the autistic adults - most of whom still have no idea they're any different from the rest of us. And for the lonely few who've worked it out, and are still stuck in a world that expects them to be no different from the rest of us.

Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

As long as they are killer robots.

Trump??

[Anonymous Coward]

The kindest thing one could say about Trump is that he exhibits a severe case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He's the worst thing that could happen to an autist. If Barron really is on the spectrum (and even if he isn't) I feel sorry for him.

Not so much Betteridge

[Anonymous Coward]

Rather going through the permutations of Can X help Y with Z?

Pesticides

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry. These days, also pesticides help with that.

Depends on which kid...

[Z80a]

You might find your brand new robot completely dismantled with its parts neatly organized on top of the desk.

Re:Depends on which kid...

[Opportunist]

Like you didn't take your toys and pets apart to see what's inside them.

Re:Depends on which kid...

[Z80a]

Now you quite got me.

Is there any hope for adults with autism?

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, a 50-something guy who graduated from University in four years with a triple major of Mathematics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and then went on to get an MBA yet is left with no social skills? The guy who thinks weather forecasts are 'weather schedules' that are tailored to his specific backyard: "They said it would start raining at 2. It's 2:05 and it's not raining. They lied". The guy who fails to see the importance of clothes that are clean and possibly pressed. The guy who talks inappropriately loud in an indoor setting? The guy who points at people at starts commenting about them even when you warn him that the car windows are open and that person can hear them: "What? I'm not saying anything bad about him/her". The guy who hears fire truck sirens or police sirens and thinks his house must be on fire. The guy who can't resist anything with 'free" shipping and/or "free after rebate" even it's something he doesn't really need. Is there a robot that can help him?

Re:Is there any hope for adults with autism?

[tehcyder]

You know, a 50-something guy who graduated from University in four years with a triple major of Mathematics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and then went on to get an MBA yet is left with no social skills? The guy who thinks weather forecasts are 'weather schedules' that are tailored to his specific backyard: "They said it would start raining at 2. It's 2:05 and it's not raining. They lied". The guy who fails to see the importance of clothes that are clean and possibly pressed. The guy who talks inappropriately loud in an indoor setting? The guy who points at people at starts commenting about them even when you warn him that the car windows are open and that person can hear them: "What? I'm not saying anything bad about him/her". The guy who hears fire truck sirens or police sirens and thinks his house must be on fire. The guy who can't resist anything with 'free" shipping and/or "free after rebate" even it's something he doesn't really need. Is there a robot that can help him?

No.

Cocaine

[johnsie]

Research has suggested that cocaine can help relieve the symptoms of autism and asbergers.

Missing out.

[Dareth]

I once knew a guy definitely on the spectrum who did data entry. I mean 6-8 hours straight. Not sure he even blinked.