Designing ABA-Based software for low-functioning autistic children

The ABCD SW (Autistic Behavior & Computer-based Didactic software) project aims to design and develop didactic software for children in the low-functioning autism spectrum, according to the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). ABA therapy is based on scientific principles: teaching by discrete levels, errorless interaction, teacher prompting, reinforcement, fading, shaping and analysis of data collected during the educational sessions to monitor the child's progress. In this paper we describe the ABA didactic software component, illustrating and discussing design choices, showing system architecture and user interfaces, and describing future developments.