Perkins School for the Blind Transition Center

Archive for the ‘Winter 2016 Issue’ Category

Becoming the Techie of Tomorrow: Students with ASD Learn Technology

There’s a lot of talk about why teaching kids technology, in particular programming, in today’s educational landscape is good for students. Nearly every other week there seems to be some major news announcement around STEM (science, technology, engineering, math), STEAM (science, technology,...

Internet and Social Media Skills Empower Individuals with DD to Increase Social Interactions and Improve Quality of Life

Many of us remember a time when paper and pencil were the only way of recording information and encyclopedias and journals were located in a library for research and review. Once the internet was invented our lives changed in many ways. We had access to an infinite amount of information across a...

Technology: The Silver Bullet in Education for Individuals with Autism

The advent of the iPad and iPhone and a host of other hand-held devices have transformed the way the world gathers, manages and organizes information. One device now encompasses just about everything we need to efficiently execute our lives on professional and personal levels. The same advantages...

Examining the Impact of H.R. 3054: The Global Autism Assistance Act of 2013

The Global Autism Assistance Act of 2013, known as H.R. 3054, is designed to provide training and education to teachers in developing countries with intervention and prevention treatment plans for children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (GovTrack, 2014). It was introduced by Republican...

Autism and Technology: A Great Benefit and a Double-Edged Sword

Individuals with autism have long had great affinity for and been involved with technology, so it is only fitting that modern technology is becoming of greater value and significance to the autism community. I am able to appreciate this both as an adult on the autism spectrum and as a long-time...

One Father’s Experience Developing Apps to Motivate Son with Autism to Learn

Much has been said over the years concerning technology and education; there has been and still is an ongoing debate about how we can best implement technology into schools to the benefit of children. Our adult life on a day-to-day basis is filled with technology, from touch screens for ordering...

“CRISPR” Way to Cut Genes Speeds Advances in Autism

Less than three years ago, two landmark publications in Science gave researchers a quick and easy recipe for tinkering with genes.1,2 The papers described a new tool — a modified enzyme called CRISPR-CAS9 — that allows researchers to reach into the genome and snip, or substitute, DNA sequences...

Benefits of Video Consultation for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder and those supporting them are utilizing technological innovations more than ever before through the use of portable electronic devices in the form of tablets, smart phones, and laptops. These devices are used to assist communication needs as well as to...

Advancing Care for the Developmentally Disabled with Population Health Management

In the wake of the Affordable Care Act, the pace of technological transformation on the patient management side of the healthcare industry has evolved rapidly, reflecting both regulatory shifts and technological advances. Population health management (PHM) represents one potent example. A few years...

The Dangers of Social Media for Individuals with Autism

The Disability and Abuse Project publishes a weekly news feed of all articles that have been published in the past week on abuse of people with disabilities. These focus on intellectual and developmental disabilities. Recently there has been an increase of articles describing solicitation by...