Date of Award
Spring 1-1-2013
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science
First Advisor
Ahamed, Sheikh I.
Second Advisor
Magiera, Marta T.
Third Advisor
Johnson, Norah L.
Abstract
The number of children being diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is on the rise, presenting new challenges for their parents and teachers to overcome. At the same time, mobile computing has been seeping its way into every aspect of our lives in the form of smartphones and tablet computers. It seems only natural to harness the unique medium these devices provide and use it in treatment and intervention for children with autism.
This thesis discusses and evaluates iCanLearn, an iOS flashcard app with enough versatility to construct Social StoriesTM. iCanLearn provides an engaging, individualized learning experience to children with autism on a single device, but the most powerful way to use iCanLearn is by connecting two or more devices together in a teacher-learner relationship. The evaluation results are presented at the end of the thesis.