Free website set up to help parents spot signs of autism in children

From Channelnewsasia.com (12 Jan 2008):

FLORIDA: American scientists have developed a free website that allows parents to spot signs of autism in their children more easily.

It has close to a hundred video clips of youngsters playing and performing tasks, and points to actions that might indicate a form of autism.

The developers said the aim is not for parents to self-diagnose, but to help them decide if they need to consult a specialist.

… Videos of Nicholas showing signs of autism have been posted on the website, www.autismspeaks.org, along with videos of unaffected children in order to highlight the differences.

… The developers of the Autism Speaks video library believe their project will help address that problem as early diagnosis is key in treating autism.

They said if children are diagnosed early enough, it could help them live relatively normal lives.

Link

Hands-free software program

From BrisbaneTimes.com.au (4 Jan 2008):

Look ma, no hands!
A new hands-free computer system which promises to make computers easier to use for the disabled has been designed by a group of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) undergraduate students.

“Basically what this system does is use infrared to detect movement off a reflector on a person’s head,” the system’s software package designer, Herman Ngo, said.

“The system detects any small movements, moving a pointer on screen and then by using voice recognition the user can shout out commands, such as ‘click’, ‘open media player’, ‘open internet browser’, and it will all be done on screen.

Link

Interesting… and its designed by a Singaporean student too. Cool.