 Like many of you visiting this website,
I am a parent of a child with autism.
When my daughter was diagnosed with autistic
spectrum disorder, I looked everywhere for
tools to help improve her thinking, problem
solving and social interaction skills, but
I couldn’t find anything that would engage
my daughter’s interest enough to make a
significant impact. My goal was to create
educational software in a colorful, fun-filled
environment where kids would be so engaged
that they wouldn’t even realize they are
in the process of learning.
In the process of developing this software,
I also learned more about learning disabilities
— autistic spectrum disorder in particular.
Autism is a complex developmental
disability that typically appears during
the first three years of life. The result
of a neurological disorder that affects
the functioning of the brain, autism and
its associated behaviors have been estimated
to occur in 1 out 250 births. The
primary disability in children with the
diagnosis of autism is a qualitative impairment
in communication as manifested by at least
one of the following:
a)
delay in, or total lack of, the development
of spoken language (not accompanied by an
attempt to compensate through alternative
modes of communication such as gesture or
mime)
b) in individuals with
adequate speech, marked impairment in the
ability to initiate or sustain a conversation
with others
c) stereo-typed and repetitive
use of language or idiosyncratic language
The
devastating consequences of impaired language
and communication skills become more evident
as the child grows older when exposed to
opportunities for social and practical interaction.
Therefore, tools must be found to augment
these critical language and communication
skills.
Language is generally presented in the form
of sentences. There are four basic
sentence types: statements, commands, questions,
and exclamations.
Statements
Written prose is made up mainly of statements.
The function of statements is to convey
information.
Exclamations
These are used to express strong feelings.
Commands
These are also referred to as imperative
sentences. Example: “Give me the
book.”
Questions
These are also referred to as interrogative
sentences. There are four main types
of questions:
Yes/No
questions
- These sentences expect "yes"
or "no" for an answer.
- Do fish swim in the water? Is
a monkey a flower?
Wh questions
- These sentences begin with a
Wh word: who, what, when, where and
why (“which” and “how” also qualify).
They cannot be answered with yes or
no.
- Who flies an airplane? What
color is the sky? Where are my shoes?
A yes/no answer
does not provide as much information as
the answer to a ‘wh word question.’ A
questioner who wants a more detailed answer
must use Wh word questions.
In order for children to learn, communicate
and engage socially, they must be able to
gather discernable information. This
is accomplished through asking and answering
questions. Indeed, the very foundation
of conversation depends on asking and answering
questions. Children with autism are often
highly visual and respond to visual support
in communication. Software can be
used in this regard due to the highly visual
and auditory presentation of concepts.
One of the programs I developed, Ultimate
Learning Problem Solvers, inspires children
of all learning abilities to apply themselves
within a game-style environment, and ultimately
to improve their investigational language.
This game-style environment, which has kids
acting as junior sleuths, keeps kids focused
for hours while improving their learning
skills. By focusing specifically on a “Wh”
word line of questioning — who, what, when,
where, and why — Problem Solvers enables
the child to gather discernable information
and identify cause and effect relationships.
Through the use of “Wh” words and questions,
users are taught to process sentence structure,
ask questions, enhance their reading and
listening skills and increase their aptitude
through logic, all in order to gain information
and become true “Problem Solvers.”
Parents, teachers, tutors and even the students
themselves will detect a noted improvement
in reading, listening and conversational
skills, auditory processing and problem
solving. The program is divided into Easy,
Medium and Hard Levels, making it an appropriate
learning tool for children at all levels
of language ability. The Easy Level provides
voice, picture and text support for posed
questions and answers; Medium and Hard levels
require more advanced detective skills.
All questions and levels can also be printed
into flash cards and booklets for learning
‘on the go.’
With added attention and exposure to specific
learning processes, such as Ultimate Learning's
dedicates line of software, we can help
autistic and learning disabled children
address their difficulties and lead a more
interactive lifestyle.
Dr. Jeffrey Weisman is a cardiologist from
the Philadelphia suburb
of Jenkintown, PA.
Inspired by his daughter’s diagnoses with
autistic spectrum disorder, Dr. Weisman
decided to focused his efforts on developing
software that will engage and benefit all
children — especially those with learning
disabilities. From this very personal
inspiration, Dr. Weisman and his talented
team of programmers created a dynamic new
computer software series called Ultimate
Learning to enhance children’s problem solving
and social interaction skills by introducing
them to thinking specific activities. Dr.
Weisman continues to use his access to computer
imagery and advancements to develop new
technology-based methods to assist learning
disabled children.
The Ultimate Learning Problem Solvers software
discussed above is ideal for the classroom,
working with small groups of children or
individual sessions. This network ready
software is compatible with any desktop
computer running Windows 95 through XP.
Available for only $49.95, Problem Solvers
is perfect for children between the ages
of 3 and 10 years.
 "Problem
Solvers" inspires children
of all learning abilities to apply
themselves within a game-style environment,
to improve their investigational language.
This game-style environment, which
has kids acting as junior sleuths,
will keep kids focused for hours while
improving their learning skills. By
focusing specifically on a "wh"
word line of questioning - who, what,
why, where and when - Problem Solvers
enables the child to gather discernable
information and identify cause and
effect relationships.
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|
 "Fun
with Feelings" presents visual
and verbal clues and situational factors
from which the user can deduce clues
to better understand their own feelings
and the feelings of those around them.
Because it is presented in a game-style
environment, children will enjoy every
moment of this educational software
experience. "Fun with Feelings"
breaks down each emotion into its
component parts. Children learn that
people's actions, words and sounds,
send out multiple signals that can
add up to constitute a series will
keep kids focused for hours, and because
the program is divided into easy,
medium and hard levels, it is an appropriate
learning tool for children at all
levels of language ability.
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|
 "Sound
Readers" teaches children
to read using music and familiar stories.
Sound Reading utilizes breakthrough
VoiceLink technology to help children
develop sight word recognition skills
that quickly builds into sentence
reading. Inferential and factual reading
comprehensions are also developed
and communication skills are enhanced.
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|
You
can find out more information or purchase
any of the Ultimate Learning software products
at: www.ultimatelearning.net
|
