Abstract

Autism is a developmental disorder constituting a serious social and economic problem. Early diagnosis and starting appropriate therapy increase the chance to a child's development and thus to avoid social exclusion. Because of the difficulty in access to proper institutions and a long time from the first indications to the diagnosis, the children are being diagnosed later than they should be. Subjective, usually observational, diagnostic criteria are an additional difficulty, because the diagnosis result depend on the experience and insight of the doctor making the diagnosis. The aim of this work is to analyze the possibility of technological support of diagnosis and the evaluation of therapy progress of autistic children, especially using mobile devices. There are some solutions used in this field across the world, but most of them are experimental studies applied in few institutions. The presented study includes a questionnaire survey conducted among Polish institutions working with people with autism. The gathered answers lead to interesting conclusions. Countless institutions use mobile devices in the diagnosis. Most therapists think such support is possible. Moreover, all of them are interested in a system enabling an automatic evaluation of therapy progress for autistic children. Supporting the diagnosis process and the evaluation of therapy progress may increase the chance for independent life of autistic children, and thus decrease the social and economic costs of autism.

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