• Question: Have you only done research about the influence of technology on children with autism or have you also been looking at other disabilities? :)

    Asked by Sarah to Maggi, Rose on 14 Jun 2017. This question was also asked by Kira.
    • Photo: Maggi Laurie

      Maggi Laurie answered on 14 Jun 2017:

      I’m focusing on autism, as much recent developments in technology are being studied and developed for autistic people. For example, if you look up in the Apple store the word “autism” you will see hundreds and thousands of different apps out there. I’m also interested in social interaction and technology, and using autism as a model where somebody has difficulties in social interaction, and how technology changes the ability for the child to do social interaction.

      There’s lots of other fascinating technologies and research done on other sorts of disabilities though. For example, lots of work done on children with verbal language difficulties to help ‘speak through’ technology, work on robots that can help blind people see through tactile feedback. I’m only looking at autism, but many other people are looking at lots of other things, it’s a very exciting field!

    • Photo: Rose Turner

      Rose Turner answered on 17 Jun 2017:

      Hi Sarah, I think this is more Maggi’s area than mine, as I don’t currently work with people with autism – I work with ‘typically developing’ people. Having said that, my research looks at how people understand what other people think and feel (for example, by interpreting their facial expressions). This is relevant to people with autism, because lots of research suggests that they can find this challenging. However, ‘neurological typical’ people (people without autism) can find it difficult too, and my research looks at how all people can improve their skills in this area. In particular, I look at how engaging with stories (though reading, film, plays and games) can improve these skills, and there has been some interesting research that has shown that playing interactive video games is a great way for people with autism to practice these social skills, without the pressure of being in a ‘real’ social situation 🙂

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