Tactile Awareness Prompting (TAP) System

This project develops an ambulatory remote operated Tactile Awareness Prompting (TAP) system to be used within educational and clinical environments for students who have social skills deficits. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit deficits related to social initiations and conversational skills. Children with such disabilities often do not have the necessary social skills to meet the minimal behavioral demands and expectations of even less restrictive educational settings, nor are they able to initiate and maintain positive social relationships with key social agents within these settings. Tactile prompts have been proven to effectively increase social initiations when coupled with social skills instruction. TAP extends this paradigm, increasing the effectiveness and complexity of the tactile symbology, and addresses clinical verification of the approach. The system is a low cost teaching aid for schools, clinics, and parents of children who have autism.