| The number of children diagnosed with autism has increased dramatically over the last 15 years. The hallmark features of children with autism include delayed speech and language skills, impaired social interaction, and repetitive, stereotyped patterns of behavior, which can be debilitating.; The goals of the project are to: (a) develop an interactive computer program that will be used to improve the social interaction and communication skills of children with autism, and (b) determine how effective this computer assisted program is for increasing these skills. Four data collection tools were used to evaluate the programs' effectiveness. Individual and group data showed varied results from No Growth to Expected Growth in identified focus areas. This report concludes with a plan for the improvement of this program in particular and also with the recommendations for the future development of similar programs. |
