System supporting behavioral therapy for children with autism

Abstract

In this paper, a system supporting behavioral therapy for autistic children is presented. The system consists of sensors network, base station and a brooch indicating person's emotional states. The system can be used to measure values of physiological parameters that are associated with changes in the emotional state. In the future, it can be useful to inform the autistic child and the therapist about the emotional state of the interlocutor objectively, on the basis of performed measurements. The selected physiological parameters were chosen during the experiment which was designed and conducted by authors. In this experiment, a group of volunteers under controlled conditions was exposed to a stressful situation caused by the picture or sound. For each of the volunteers, a set of physiological parameters, was recorded, including: skin conductance, heart rate, peripheral temperature, respiration rate and electromyography. The bio-statistical analysis allowed us to discern the proper physiological parameters that are most associated to changes due to emotional state of a patient, such as: skin conductance, temperatures and respiration rate. This allowed us to design electronic sensors network for supporting behavioral therapy for children with autism.