Technology has been improving and developing at a fast speed every day. In this regard, technology has been solving many problems that humans face, ranging from taking care of patients to eradicating pests in agricultural farmlands. Besides, it helps people who have special needs. Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) makes children experience troubles in communication, socialization, and speech. Various technologies have been devised to help solve a range of problems children experience at school and at home. Apple Inc. developed a technology known as Siri, an artificial intelligence application. Siri keeps students engaged and effectively answers their questions in a manner that encourages them to be kind and to learn how to successfully respond or interact with others through communication as in critical response essays. Technology enables children with autism to have assistance, freeing the families from the burden of being constantly involved in the life of autistic children. Technology helps children with autism effectively blend into society because it improves their social, communication, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and executive functioning skills.

How Technology Helps Children with Autism

Technology helps children with autism in China improve their communication and verbal skills in addition to making them develop confidence. For instance, Siri can assist children in practically enhancing their communication skills. For instance, when Gus, a child with autism, says Siri good night at six minutes past fine in the evening, Siri informs Gus that it is not yet night. Gus is, thus, able to correct the statement by telling Siri that he meant goodbye, which enhances Gus’s communication skills. Technology such as Visual Scene Displays provides children with autism with the ability to know how to communicate effectively by giving comprehensive perspectives to usual circumstances. Other technologies that aid them in boosting their communication skills include Tobii Sono Flex, Look2Learn, TouchChat, and Scene Speak; they change symbols to speech, enabling children who have communication difficulties to learn and communicate well. Technology also enables children with autism access vocabulary. Teachers have accustomed their curriculum for children with autism. In this regard, teachers incorporate assistive technologies into their curriculums. For example, ScenSpeak is a technology that helps students with autism develop interactive graphics and stories and describe scenes they have witnessed, improving their speaking ability. Moreover, technology improves confidence levels of children with autism. Asaro-Saddler et al. state that since students with autism are threatened by the social features of classrooms, technology can encourage them to concentrate and become acquainted with the social attributes of classrooms. For instance, robots help children with autism explore the social aspects both inside and outside of classrooms. As a consequence, children with autism become confident both in and out classrooms.

Furthermore, technology allows children to learn to read phonetically, as well as visually, and to improve handwriting. Technologies that output voice reinforce the written texts, enhancing children’s learning ability. In addition, computer graphics help students to visualize the texts, also positively influencing their reading skills. Additionally, technology enables children to hear and respond to sounds of varied resonances depending on their needs. For example, technologies allow people to download various levels of voice and fine-tune sound to suit the personal needs of every child. In this regard, children with autism or their families use technology such as Noise Down to automatically issue the warning in case the level of sound’s decibel escalates or becomes very low. It shows the communicators that they are off the required sound levels. In addition, since effective communication work in tandem with fine handwriting, technology helps children with autism in China improve their handwriting. Asaro-Saddler et al. contend that children with autism have problems with their motor skills, which derails their ability to write neatly. Through the use of a speech-to-text application, keyboard, and touch screen, children with autism are able to learn how to write well. Technologies can also encourage students to practice fine motor skills in other areas by asking them to wink the eye and to point using fingers. As children enjoy the voice that technologies provide when they read, they learn how to associate letters or texts with words, which improves their verbal and reading skills.

In addition, technology helps children with autism effectively socialize. According to Soron, modern society is not made in a way that is welcoming to children with autism. As a result, an overwhelming diversity of distractions provokes problem behavior. Nonetheless, technologies such as Siri help children with autism be engaged, making issues in the society less powerful. Moreover, they also resolve specific problems children with autism experience. For example, Newman believes that even though it is not easy to predict the responses that Siri provides, it is undoubtedly that these responses will be kind and polite (630). In this regard, Siri teaches autism children kindness and politeness, the characteristics that are valuable in socialization. In addition, technology such as wearable devices supports autism children in the battle against social anxiety. For instance, a technology called Snap helps autism children identify the causes of anxiety as well as inform caregivers when the children’s anxiety levels escalate. In addition, technology such as smart homes monitors the movement of children with autism, helping caregivers know the movements of children.

Technology also teaches children etiquette and serves as assistance in executive functions. For instance, Siri can teach Gus to appreciate the dressing of his mother every morning before the mother leaves the room. According to Asaro-Saddler et al., technology helps nurture social and natural skills of children with autism and develop collaborative skills as well. Asaro-Saddler et al. add that technologies related to virtual reality help children with autism gain social skills by placing them in virtual situations where they might be asked to play with others. Moreover, since some children with autism have problems with executive functioning, technology shows how they can effectively manage themselves. For instance, technologies such as Smartphone have various applications, including calendar and stopwatch, that help children manage time. Other applications that help autistic children manage and plan well include Functional Planning System, Pocket Schedule, and Visual Schedule Planner.

Besides, video game technologies with motion sensors enable autism children to interact with avatars in the screens that imitate their movement, allowing them to effectively recognize and respond to emotions. Soron indicates that technology has the ability to develop visual images that children with autism can easily access and interact with. As a result, the attention of children can be captured and maintained through the visual appeals. Soron illustrates that children with autism are virtual learners, thus assistive technologies with high graphic video games help capture their attention. Soron adds that pictures or images act as the first language for children with autism while texts are the second language. In this regard, children with autism learn better when they work with pictures and texts as they are able to visualize information. Therefore, graphics and pictures help confine and retain the attention of children with autism.

Lastly, technology aims to make autistic children develop their natural abilities by helping them take part in project-based learning, thus enhancing their ability and interest in STEM subjects at school. The interest in technology that children with autism develop in China makes them choose STEM majors when they join colleges and universities. The high school in China integrates technologies such as robotics, electronics programming, 3D printing, coding, and game design that appeal to students with autism, enabling them to prepare for STEM subjects at university and college. In addition, technology’s goal of enabling students to learn by seeing, doing, experiencing, and modeling makes children with special needs develop an interest in subjects that focus on practical applications. Therefore, STEM subjects are project-based learning method enable children with autism to collaborate and socialize with teams, enhancing the interaction skills of students.

By and large, China realized that autism was not a family problem and that people with autism should have received help so that they could contribute positively to society. The change in the perceptions regarding children with special needs happened in the late 1980s. Since then, China has been integrating technologies that help autistic people socialize, communicate, engage in STEM subjects, and perform their executive functions well. Technology allows these children to become engaged and to learn both inside and outside the classrooms. As a result, children with autism are not discriminated as they are able to gain the skills that will make them gain employment and interact with people when they become adults. However, China should not cease the attempt to make people with autism have a normal life. The country should train teachers and social workers who specialize in taking care of autistic children to use modern technologies. The training will equip the professionals with skills that will not only help them deliver services tailored to autistic children but also ensure changes to technologies made to suit the changing needs of autistic children.