SPRING 2009 Class Information:
Classes: Mondays 10:00-12:00pm
Location: Orange & Green Conference Room E15-443a
Units: (2 0 10); This course is taught every two years in the spring.
Staff | Description | Announcements | Assignments | Syllabus | Policies | Autism Links
Prof. Rosalind W. Picard
Office: E15-448
Phone: 617-253-0611
picard ( @ media dot mit dot edu)
Prof. Cynthia Breazeal
Office: E15-449
cynthiab ( @ media dot mit dot edu)
Dr. Matthew S. Goodwin
Office: E15-447
mgoodwin ( @ media dot mit dot edu)
Mr. Daniel Bender
Office: E15-443f
Phone: 617-253-0369
danielb ( @ media dot mit dot edu)
Staff | Description | Announcements | Assignments | Syllabus | Policies | Autism Links
This course will lay a foundation in autism theory and autism technology that significantly leverages and expands MIT's ability to pioneer new technology for helping under-served populations. Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD's) encompass a broad set of conditions applying to a growing number of people worldwide, which the CDC identified in 2007 as involving 1 in 150 elementary school-age children. A person receives a diagnosis of ASD when they have a combination of atypical responses in categories relating to social interaction, communication, and restrictive and repetitive behaviors.
Many people on the autism spectrum face significant challenges with daily living, relationship building and maintenance, emotion awareness and regulation, and both verbal and nonverbal communication. Many also have problems with motor coordination and fine motor control to produce speech or certain sequences of movements, and some have a mysterious condition where their ability to move completely disappears and returns. Many also have problems with sleep, sensory regulation, attention, and executive function abilities. Students who take this class will learn about all of these challenges, many of which also affect people who do not have an autism diagnosis, and will receive a state-of-the-art overview of technologies being developed to address such challenges.
This class will involve presentations from experts in autism and in autism technologies, and provide opportunities to interact with individuals on the autism spectrum, including those who support them. The course will also explore the converging challenges and goals of autism research and new technologies - including networked, wearable, and robotic - that have increasingly human-like social, emotional, and communication skills. We will advance ways technology can be used for helping both researchers and people on the autism spectrum to gain greater understanding of the condition through systematic measurement of affective, physiological, and behavior data. We will also work together to develop technologies that increase opportunities for communication and expression. Our goals are to enable people with disabilities to gain the tools and help they need, while also helping researchers, families, and their support network to develop a better understanding of what autism is.
All students will be expected to carry out a project in a team or solo. There will be funds to support student projects, thanks to a donation from Autism Speaks' Innovative Technology for Autism Initiative.
Staff | Description | Announcements | Assignments | Syllabus | Policies | Autism Links
Mon 02/09 Check out the MIT Autism and Developmental Disorders Colloquium Series.
Mon 02/09 MIT COUHES must PRE-approve all experiments that we do at MIT that involve people - so if you wish to do a class project involving human participants, pls talk to somebody on the staff soon. COUHES deadlines this semester are Feb 26 and Mar 26.
Staff | Description | Announcements | Assignments | Syllabus | Policies | Autism Links
NOTE: With the exception of the first day of class, the readings and assignments are due 20 hours before class meets. Please email them to mas771-staff when done and include "771" in the subject line please.
Due before 2pm Mon 02/16 (Class is on Tues next week)
| Read | |
| MRC review of autism research (MRC 2001) | |
| Autism and pervasive developmental disorders (Volkmar et al 2004) | |
| Innovative technologies for autism (Goodwin 2008) | |
| Technology for personalized autism research & treatment (Picard & Goodwin 2008) | |
| Affective computing and autism (el Kaliouby et al. 2008) | |
| What is Asperger's Syndrome? (Attwood 2007) (will hand out in class) | |
| Many autistic individuals write extremely articulate and insightful blogs, and some of these individuals are non-speaking and have difficulty making it through a day without significant help and support. Here are some links to sites prepared by autistic individuals that the course staff has interacted with - and some others they have recommended to us: http://web.syr.edu/~jisincla/, http://autismcrisis.blogspot.com/ , http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org, http://thiswayoflife.org/blog , http://aspergersquare8.blogspot.com , http://autismdiva.blogspot.com/, http://moggymania.blogspot.com/. | |
| Write | |
| 1. Tell us about yourself briefly: (a) Your academic background and current research interests; (b) If/how you've been exposed to autism; (c) Why are you taking this course - what do you hope to learn or achieve through it? | |
| 2. (a) Pick a technology from the readings that particularly appeals to you (as a good idea, or as something you want to work on, or otherwise) and tell us why. (b) Pick one that you don't see the rationale for, or that you worry about the misuse of, or have another concern about, and tell us why. Don't worry about picking on something that the staff might be working on; we have thick skins and we're interested in debate, dialogue, and change that leads to better results. | |
| 3. Find and quote: (a) An example of a problem an autistic blogger describes, which sounds just like a problem any non-autistic person would have. Repeat for another blogger. (b) An example of a problem an autistic blogger describes, which you think is particular to autism. Repeat for another blogger. | |
| 4. Some autism researchers describe autistic people as not having a self, and as not being able to reason about the minds of others ("theory of mind"), e.g., "if I were to say that, it would make him unhappy" or "I could see she was upset, even though she didn't say so". Find and quote at least three examples of autistic bloggers showing that they have the ability to reason about the minds of others. |
Due before 2pm Sun 02/22
| Read | |
| Affective response to eye contact and face recognition ability in children with ASD (Joseph et al 2008) | |
| Defining and Quantifying the Social Phenotype in Autism (Klin et al 2002) | |
| Does the Autistic Brain Lack Core Modules? (Gernsbacher et al 2005) | |
| Why Does Joint Attention Look Atypical in Autism? (Gernsbacher et al 2008) | |
| Attention to facial emotion expressions in children with autism (Begeer et al. 2006) | |
| Do the Eyes Have It? Inferring Mental States From Animated Faces in Autism (Back et al. 2007) | |
| Gaze fixation and the neural circuitry of face processing in autism (Dalton et al. 2005) | |
| Read at least the last two paragraphs of this autistic perspective on Ian Hacking's critique of the Theory of Mind deficit theory of autism | |
| The Curse of Knowledge in Reasoning About False Beliefs (Birch and Bloom 2007) | |
| Write | |
| 1. Take the Reading the mind in the eyes test. Optional reading: the article describing the formation and evaluation of this test, including graphs of how college students perform on it (spoiler: contains answers to the test). Tell us about your experience - was it hard or easy for you, and why? Comment on the strengths and weaknesses of this test as an accurate measure of how well people read facial expressions in real face-to-face social interaction. | |
| 2. What would be the ideal test of human face-reading ability? Describe how you might implement such a test. | |
| 3. In your own words, why do you think autistic people have so much difficulty making sense of facial expressions during real-time conversations? Justify your answer with evidence from the literature. Feel free to argue against some of the things in this week's readings as well. | |
| 4. Dream about "the best possible technology" for helping somebody learn to read facial information, or for helping them deal with it in real time better than they currently can. What would your dream technology look like? How do you envision it functioning? Tell us the rationale behind the features of what you envision. | |
| 5.Summarize, in your own words, why some autistic people might perform poorly on a non-language version of a Sally-Anne test - even if they have a perfectly intact ability to reason about other's minds. | |
| 6. Optional: Take The Empathy Quotient (EQ) Optional: Read the EQ paper at: (Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright, 2004) |
Due before 2pm Sun 03/01
| Read | |
| Stopping the constant stress (Grandin 2006) | |
| Scientific foundation for research and practice (Lipsitt, Baron, Goodwin 2006) | |
| Is autism a stress disorder (Morgan 2006) | |
| Psychobiological perspective on socio-emotional development (Dawson 1991) | |
| Cardiovascular arousal in autism (Goodwin et al. 2006) | |
| Psychophysiology of children with ASD (Schoen et al 2008) | |
| What do we know about sensory dysfunction in autism (Rogers & Ozonoff 2005) | |
| Physiology-based affect recognition for computer-assisted intervention (Liu et al 2008) | |
| Write | |
| 1. How can arousal modulation problems impact children's development? What role might such problems play in ASD? | |
| 2. What are the characteristics of ASD related to stress? | |
| 3. What factors need to be considered when assessing physiological reactivity in individuals with ASD? Consider this question in terms of: (1) characteristics of ASD; (2) characteristics of assessment devices; and (3) characteristics of assessment setting and observation protocol. | |
| 4. If you could reliably identify that an individual with ASD had problems with arousal modulation, how might you help him/her to cope? | |
| 5.For Liu et al. (2008), describe one thing strong about either the methodology in this paper or about the contributions of this work toward helping people on the autism spectrum. Describe two things in this work that are weaknesses based on your understanding of the methodology or the contributions to autism. |
Due before 2pm Sun 03/08
| Read | |
| Repetitive behavior disorders in autism (Lewis & Bodfish 1998) | |
| Repetitive behavior in autism (Turner 1999) | |
| Stress and the role of movement differences in autism (Donnellan, Leary & Robeldo 2006) | |
| Psychological approaches to catatonia in autism (Shah & Wing 2006) | |
| Efficacy of sensory and motor interventions in autism (Baranek 2002) | |
| Write | |
| 1. Repetitive or stereotypical behavior is an umbrella term used to refer to a broad class of behaviors linked by repetition, rigidity, and invariance. Describe (1) how repetitive behaviors are manifest in autistic individuals, and (2) how these manifestations can be divided into 'higher lever' and 'lower level' categories. | |
| 2. Repetitive or stereotypical behaviors are generally defined as being invariant in form and without any obvious eliciting stimulus or adaptive function. However, several of the readings this week suggest that an individual might engage in these behaviors purposely. Describe (1) at least three reasons why an individual might engage in repetitive behaviors; (2) what putative mechanisms are involved; and (3) what evidence there is to support these functions and mechanisms. | |
| 3. Donnellan et al. (2006) and Shah & Wing (2006) suggest that some autistic behaviors are best conceptualized as "movement differences" not "movement disorders," and that intervention should be conceptualized as "accommodation" not "treatment." Why do you think they make these distinctions? What are the benefits of reframing behavior and support in these ways? | |
| 4. Describe some of the accommodations that can be employed with individuals whose repetitive behaviors and movement differences appear to be related to stress and anxiety. Also, describe how you would assess whether these accommodations are effective. | |
| 5. List any repetitive behaviors you engage in when experiencing stress and anxiety and describe what function(s) you think they serve. |
Due before 2pm Sun 03/15
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Designing Capture Applications to Support the Education of Children with Autism (Hayes et al 2008) |
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Carelog: a selective archiving tool for behavior management in schools (Hayes et al 2008) |
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How social robots will help us to diagnose, treat, and understand autism (Scassellati 2005) |
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1. Participant observation is the method that was used to understand the issues of discrete trial training in the development of Abaris. What are the opportunities and challenges of being a participant observer in an area like autism? What has been your firsthand experience of autism? |
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2. One of the reasons the CareLog and Abaris systems were successful is that they took into consideration design of a solution that respected current work practices and social concerns. Can you see how that is the case with both systems, given that they heavily rely on recorded video that is shared with others? |
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3. How would you improve Baby Steps to increase the likelihood of adoption and maximum value of information? A lot of screening and diagnosis of developmental delay is based on parent reporting. Is a tool like this more or less effective than a good public relations campaign, such as is done by Autism Speaks or the CDC Act Early campaign? |
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4. None of these projects IMHO presents a really significant computing challenge being solved to address a meaningful problem. How then do you get strong students at top universities to be excited about these kinds of projects? |
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5. What special characteristics to robots have as a viable technology for the diagnosis and treatment of ASD children? What concerns or issues pertain to their use with ASD children? What are some distinguishing characteristics in eye scanning patterns between TD and ASD toddlers? How might such differences impact social development of ASD children? |
Due before 2pm Sun 04/5
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Autism: A brain disorder, or a disorder that affects the brain? (Herbert, 2005) |
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Treatment guided research: Helping people with humility, respect and boldness (Herbert, 2008) |
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1. Increasingly, "Kanner autism" is used synonymously with "low-functioning autism" where people have limited or no spoken language and severe social and behavioral challenges. However, others have argued that this label is unfair given the cases Kanner describes in this original paper. Highlight a few items from Kanner's case-study descriptions that support the latter argument. |
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2. Herbert's (2005) review paper argues that we need to move away from a "strongly genetic, brain-based model" of autism in favor of a "genetically influenced, systemic model." Describe some of the implications this shift would have on autism research and intervention efforts. |
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3. Herbert (2006) likens autism to a "canary in a coal mine." Describe some of the ways that autism can teach us about our modern-day environment. |
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4. Briefly describe the "five levels of understanding" of autism that Herbert (2008) suggests can help integrate basic and practical research. |
Due before 2pm Sun 04/12
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The Level and Nature of Autistic Intelligence (Dawson et al, 2007) |
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1. Mottron et al (2006) argue that social brain-based models are too narrow to account for "islets of ability" often demonstrated by both savant and non-savant autistics. How does an enhanced perceptual functioning model better account for these abilities? |
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2. Dawson et al (2007) argue that intelligence has been underestimated in autistics. What are the implications of this in terms of: (1) Research; (2) Clinical practice; and (3) Quality of life? |
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3. Dawson has criticized the science and ethics of legal and political campaigns to mandate ABA-based autism interventions as "medically necessary" treatment. However, ABA is strongly advocated as "the only method scientifically proven to help autistic children learn." Given your reading of Dawson et al (2008), provide at least two arguments you find compelling to support autistic learning outside of ABA. |
Due before 2pm Sun 04/26
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Biological Setting Events for Self-Injury (Carr & Smith, 1995) |
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Integrating Behavioral and Biomedical Approaches: A Marriage Made in Heaven (Carr & Herbert, 2008) |
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1. Problem behavior can be conceptualized in terms of a four-term contingency. What are the key ideas that underlie this conceptualization? |
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2. Many taxonomic categories of biological setting events for problem behavior could be reconceptualized as variants of physiological arousal. Thus, any of the following factors could plausibly alter arousal: medical pain, fatigue, hypersensitivity (e.g., to auditory or tactile stimuli), hyperactivity, anxiety. How might you develop a technology that would allow you to measure and discriminate, in real-time, among the various sources putatively responsible for altering arousal level? |
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3. Suppose the technology you developed for measuring arousal level was successful; that is, for a given individual, you were now able to identify arousal "profiles" that appeared to be related, in an orderly and reliable fashion, to a variety of social interaction, educational (i.e., instructional), and biological variables. How might you use these profiles to advise parents, teachers, and doctors about being more effective in living with (parents), educating (teachers), and diagnosing (doctors) people with autism? |
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4. We want people to be happy, not just to show an absence of problem behavior. How might you develop a technology that could allow you to define this type of "positive" arousal, objectively? If you were successful, how do you imagine you might go about demonstrating that happiness, defined by your objective positive arousal profiles, is related to the subjective (phenomenological) experience defined by the individuals himself/herself or their proxy (e.g., parent)? |
Due before Mon 05/04
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Automated Assessment of Prosody Production (van Santen et al, 2008) |
Staff | Description | Announcements | Assignments| Syllabus | Policies | Autism Links
Mon 02/09: Introduction to autism and autism technology - Overview of autism spectrum disorders. Discussion of opportunities we see with our research/technology, e.g., affective computing, social robotics, relational machines, commonsense computing, to offer communication and learning opportunities to individuals with autism spectrum disorder, to their families and to teachers/clinicians/researchers. What can we learn from individuals, many of whom prefer to be called "autistic" and from strategies they have devised to adapt to the challenges they face with autism?
Tues 02/17: Note: Monday class schedule held on Tuesday. Face processing in autism; technology to support learning nonverbal communication. Controversies about "Theory of Mind" and autism. Visit today from Asperger's group at Groden Center, Providence RI, with Kelley Pistachio, Ph.D., Director of Community Support Services.
Mon 02/23: Stress, arousal, and coping
Mon 03/02: Guest presenter: Jane Koomar, Ph.D. OTR/L, FAOTA, Executive Director, Occupational Therapy Associates-Watertown, P.C. - "Sensory Processing Disorder in Autism: Behavioral and Physiological Symptoms -Assessment and Intervention"
Mon 03/09: Repetitive behavior and movement differences
Mon 03/16: Guest presenters: Gregory Abowd,Ph.D., Georgia Tech & Brian Scassellati, Ph.D., Yale University
Mon 03/23: No classes - MIT Spring Vacation
Mon 03/30: Project Progress Presentations
Mon 04/06: Guest presenter: Martha Herbert, M.D., Ph.D., Harvard Medical School/Mass General Hospital - "Brain, Body and Planet in Common Crisis: Autism as a Hologram, a Challenge and an Opportunity"
Mon 04/13: Guest presenter (note: Class will be held in the Weisner Room): Michelle Dawson, Riviere-des-Prairies Hospital - "Autism Intervention Research: Good and Bad News"
Mon 04/20: No classes - MIT Patriots day vacation
Mon 04/27: Guest Presenter: Edward Carr, Ph.D., BCBA, FAAIDD, SUNY Stonybrook - "Understanding and Treating Problem Behavior in Autism Spectrum Disorder"
Mon 05/04: Guest presenter: Jan van Santen, Ph.D. & Lois Black, Ph.D., Center for Spoken Language Understanding, Oregon Health & Science University - "Automated Prosody Assessment in Autism and Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders"
Mon 05/11: Last day of class - Project Presentations
Staff | Description | Announcements | Assignments | Syllabus | Policies | Autism Links
25% Classroom participation
30% Ten assignments (reading/response)
45% Project and presentation (proposal draft due March 9, final proposal due by March 16, project progress presentations to class March 30, final presentations to class May 11)
All students are expected to attend all classes and all project presentations.
Please contact one of the professors in advance if you will have to miss class. Unexcused absence will affect your grade.
The final project presentations are especially important for everyone to attend; please do not plan to leave for summer until after the last day of class May 11.
Study Puts Rate of Autism at 1 in150 U.S. Children
The Joy of Autism/Autism Acceptance Project
WrongPlanet.net Online Resource and Community for Autism and Asperger's
NIMH Autism Spectrum Disorder Resource
NICHD Health Publications about Autism and Related Disorders
American Academy of Pediatrics Autism Health Topic
National Research Council Educating Children with Autism
International Society for Autism Research