Syllabus

Feb. 7: First class! Introductions and expectations. What is autism? What is "neurotypical"? Maybe this whole class should be renamed? Examples of "autism technology" and past projects including wearables and face-reading.

- HW: See Assignments page

Feb. 14: Living with Aspergers: "Give me a chance and I will change everything". Guest presenter: Noah Britton, Professor & Co-founder of Comedy Troupe "Asperger's Are Us"

- HW: Early stage project proposals; finish your CITI training so you are approved to do experiments with humans, Videos & Readings TBA

- Due today: present briefly on 2-3 project ideas you might be interested in (for matchmaking...)

Feb. 21: Autism Technology, Stress, Anxiety and Sensory Processing, Physiology

- Preliminary COUHES application due

Feb. 28: Guests from Autism School today (optional: join us for lunch at 11:30 - please RSVP on form emailed by Kristy) Second half: Continuation of Stress, Anxiety, Physiology and Sensory processing

Mar. 7: In-class project plan presentations and feedback

- COUHES DRAFT proposals due to your advisor or to Picard

Mar. 14: Part 1: Expression, Engagement, Creativity and Narrative -- Storyscape, How it was evaluated in classrooms with some challenging learners, and surprising findings. Guest Expert: Dr. Micah Eckhardt

Part 2: Social-emotional communicative and brain-based differences and measures (facial affect, parent reports, observation, examinations, brain-based, eye-tracking based). Guest Expert: Dr. Oliver Saunders Wilder

- COUHES FINAL proposals due to your advisor or to Picard (department requires a full week to sign off before they go to COUHES)

Mar. 21: Autism and Technology: An autobiographical account by Prof. Gregory D. Abowd, Georgia Tech

ABSTRACT: As a parent of two boys on the autism spectrum, I have a lot of personal experience with the joys and challenges of autism in everyday life. As a Computer Science researcher, I have seen many opportunities for computing technology to address these challenges, from the perspective of many different stakeholders. In this lecture, I will present a series of case studies where I have tried to apply some computing capabilities to a specific challenge, ranging from diagnosis to intervention, in support of individuals, their caregivers, therapists and clinicians, as well as researchers. The audience will learn about the end-to-end cycle involved in the design, development, deployment, and evaluation of interactive computing technologies. In some cases, these projects have also led to commercial products. Though the emphasis of this talk will be on research activities, I will spend some time reflecting on the state of commercial technology and how it has evolved over the past 15 years.

- HW: Midterms presentations next class meeting!

- **FINAL COUHES proposals must be signed by advisor, and department, and given to COUHES by Mar 22

Mar. 28: NO CLASS! Spring Break!

Apr. 4: Your choice: You can give your midterm project presentation today if you'd like early input/feedback from your classmates/staff or you can give your Autism Narrative presentation today. (Part II Oliver Saunders-Wilder)

Apr. 11: Your choice: whichever presentation you did NOT do last week.

Apr. 18: Dr. Oggi Rudovic - technology to support social-emotional interaction with robots and understanding engagement in ASD and Jackie Kory Westlund - Robots & Autism, social language learning; Affect recognition with computer vision speech in autism.

Apr. 25: Motor and Speech, Self Injury and Self Regulation: Guest expert (Live Q&A with AAC user and autistic thinker): Mel Baggs

May 2: Motivation, learning, and behavior; Therapeutic modalities (ABA, ESDM, Floortime, Music therapy, Art therapy, Hippotherapy, etc.) - Oliver Saunders Wilder, continued, and Kristy Johnson

Genes, drugs, and animal models - ethical issues, vaccines, and the future?

May 9: NO CLASS! (Media Lab member event, and Roz & Kristy will be traveling to the international meeting for Autism Research where Roz is giving a keynote)

May 16: Last class! Final presentations! (**Attendance is required today!** You'll have a lot of fun!)

NOTE: Syllabus is subject to change. In particular, as we learn about your project ideas and interests, we are likely to tailor the topics to maximize relevance to your interests.