Software for Teaching Social Skills to People with Autism: Great Idea or Expensive Gimmick?


SIMmersion http://www.simmersion.com/Default.htm

is a high tech corporation which creates interactive software to train all sorts of people for all kinds of difficult social situations. Their virtual people help to train FBI agents, military personnel, medical professionals and others to manage tricky conversations. Now, they've developed a new "person" to help people with autism build their social skills:

SIMmersion is developing a simulated character to help individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder practice conversation skills in the hopes of improving employability and quality of life. Adults and adolescents can practice identifying and responding to complex social cues such as tone of voice, body language, and idioms when they speak to Sam Martin™.
I took a look at their demo (linked from their front page), and I was very impressed. This is some high end technology - and it looks like it's versatile and believable. I'm told that the technology may run into problems when a user slurs his speech or uses unusual language - but of course I haven't had a chance to find out whether that's really the case.

I have to wonder, though: why the technology? A decent human actor should be better equipped than any software to present a wide range of responses to challenge and build social skills. And, since human interaction is qualitatively different from interacting with a machine, it seems to me to make sense for folks with autism to practice with the real thing. Folks with autism may find a real person more anxiety-provoking than a computer. But successfully coping with that anxiety is key to making successful human connections.

This particular program is just the latest in a string of new applications intended to build social skills through artificial intelligence. If you have a moment, why don't you take a look at the SIMmersion demo and let us know what you think. Is this tool a great idea? Or just an expensive gimmick?

I just ran accross this on another site...and thought It looked like a good discussion topic. I think it all depends on the child and the situation...I just wish when they make these type of things for our kids...that they would keep in mind...that our budgets are usually overstretched and that if they really want to help our children...then they need to make things a bit more affordable for us and accessable.
But if you have the means to try things...then I think Go For it!!!

I don't want to shoot it down; it wouldn't be the first time that a technology I don't think much of might be really helpful to people. Still, that sounds like the series of issues a good Speech Pathologist is trained to cover...