Thursday 17 November 2011

New toy originally developed for Autism Interaction

I came across this interesting article about a fairly new 'toy' that is selling like crazy for this Xmas season that was 'originally designed as a robot (to be) used in autism social behavior therapy' according to Jack Kieffer from the Autism Plugged In web site:

 http://www.autismpluggedin.com/2011/08/keepon-dancing-toy-therapeutic-for-kids-with-autism.html.

According to the site there was documentation that 'kids who had autism were making more eye contact and physical embraces with the toy than they did with normal people' and 'these social skills transferred over into the real world'. Its inventor Hideki Kozima  made the original version that was more expensive than this Toys Are Us retail model which incorporated facial recognition software in its body. More research is needed to definitively declare it a tool to help kids with autism according to Kieffer, but it appears to be a hit with kids young and old for the upcoming holiday season. Check out its moves in this YouTube video