Web application for social skill development in children with autism

Based on 17 years of cohort research examining childcare quality improvement, a “cloud computing-based support system for comprehensive childcare” and the Scale for Assessing Social Skill Development in Children were developed and implemented. The system contains five support tools consisting of a web application and mechanism for implementing quality childcare according to the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. The system’s effectiveness in aiding social skill development in children with autism was determined via a series of follow-up studies. For example, we were able to assess the system’s ability to target the following problem areas: “autonomy” (e.g., a child smiles or laughs during a teaching demonstration and a child attempts to elicit a caregiver’s response), “responsiveness” (e.g., a child vocalizes or babbles within five seconds of a caregiver’s verbalization and a child vocalizes or babbles within five seconds of a caregiver’s gesture, touch, or facial expression change), “empathy” (e.g., a child gives, shows, or points toward task material to share emotions with a caregiver and a child looks at a caregiver’s face for social referencing), and “emotional selfregulation” (e.g., a child stops displaying distress when a caregiver does not respond). In this chapter, we argue that continuous system use and development will provide greater evidence of its efficacy, assist in expertise acquisition, and contribute to the healthy development of children and their caregivers.