Microsoft funds mobile-phone software for autistic children
With financial and technical support from Microsoft, university researchers are developing software for mobile phones that uses pictures to help autistic children communicate. The software, available for download under an open-source license, lets kids form visual sentences by touching the phone's screen to select pictures and move them around.
The program is being developed by Gondy Leroy of Claremont Graduate University and Gianluca De Leo of Old Dominion University , with funding from Microsoft's External Research Group. It takes advantage of the established Picture Exchange Communication System, which is more commonly used with laminated paper cards.
Microsoft is publicizing the application in conjunction with World Autism Awareness Day. But people with iPhones or BlackBerries are out of luck, for now: The application works only on Windows Mobile devices.
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