AutiSay: A Mobile Communication Tool for Autistic Individuals

Children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) often have social communication difficulties and/or display restrictive and repetitive behaviours. This paper focuses on the aspect of the social communication difficulties and the design of a mobile application to be used as a communication tool between the autistic child and his/her caregivers. The advances in mobile and ubiquitous technologies provide an opportunity to develop a communication tool to improve the social communication of the autistic child and therefore alleviate the quality of life for the child and those around him/her. Relevant design requirements were identified and incorporated into an application that is highly customizable to the individual child. The application is now available on the Apple app store and as its usage widen, the team intends to collect feedback to continue to refine the application.