Can Google Glass help autistic children read faces?

By: 8 years ago

AP FILE PHOTO

SAN JOSE, California — Like many autistic children, Julian Brown has trouble reading emotions in people’s faces, one of the biggest challenges for people with the neurological disorder.

Now the 10-year-old San Jose boy is getting help from “autism glass” — an experimental device that records and analyzes faces in real time and alerts him to the emotions they’re expressing.

The facial-recognition software was developed at Stanford University and runs on Google Glass, a computerized headset with a camera and a tiny display.

Julian is one of about 100 autistic children participating in a Stanford study to see if autism glass therapy can improve their face-reading abilities.

Autism advocates are excited that researchers are developing technologies to help the estimated one in 68 American children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.