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Presenting Results of 2010 FaceSay RCT at IMFAR in May

04/14/2011

As part of the Technology Demo at IMFAR in May, I'll be presenting "Results of An RCT of FaceSay In Public Elementary Schools", Friday 8am-1pm, poster #19 in the Elizabeth room. If you are here, please come buy for a demo.

Alex from Wrong planet is here again this year. Tons of great posters on visual attention to Faces, Social Skills interventions, outcome measures. Pretty amazing.

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Peer Reviewed Paper on FaceSay Study is coming 6 days ago
UAB has been invited to present a symposium on their FaceSay studies at the APA convention this summer. http://www.apa.org/convention/ 368 days ago
Video Modelling and Video Self Modelling features now available in FaceSay http://bit.ly/3cMC89 489 days ago
The Randomized Controlled Study of FaceSay (n=49) has been submitted to the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Yeah!!! 512 days ago
With FaceSay's new version, you can now start to personalize the photorealistic characters. 559 days ago

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Science Snapshot: FaceSay Participants Improved on...

Emotion Recognition

Face Recognition

Theory of Mind

Playground Social Interactions

Social Validity

RCT* (N=49)
RCT* (N=31)
MultiBaseline (N=7)
RCT* (N=49)
Case Study

RCT* (N=31)

RCT* (N=49)

RCT* (N=49)

Ages 6-14
Ages 5-11
Ages 7-11
Ages 6-14
Age 9

Ages 5-11

Ages 6-14

Ages 6-14

ASD: HFA, Classic
ASD: HFA
ASD: Classic
ASD HFA
Prosopagnosia

ASD: HFA

ASD: HFA, Classic

ASD: Classic

*Statistically Significant post-treatment improvements relative to post-measure for controls

Any Comparable Results?

After a dozen years and 100+ neat technology projects hoping to improve social interactions, only FaceSay has achieved generalization to everyday life, and only FaceSay has shown improvements in Emotion Recognition, Face Recognition and Theory of Mind.

Our Story

At a family reunion ages ago, my brother-in-law and I were off in a corner talking shop, while everyone else was socializing. Frank, a brilliant neuroscientist, had a neat idea to use software avatars (puppets) as conversational, cognitive therapy. If you've heard Apple's Siri say goofy things, you'll understand why we punted after a year :-).
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Can FaceSay Really Help?

Using FDA approval as a high scientific standard, I can't yet claim that FaceSay is therapeutic. I need another solid randomized controlled study before I submit for FDA approval.

I can say that the data suggests FaceSay will work best for students on the spectrum in the normal to above average IQ range, ages 5-12. We don't have data to identify specific subgroups who might benefit most.

The group statistics from the RCTs should most benefit schools, private practitioners, social service agencies, etc who serve groups of children.

If you are a family, your best bet is to first download the free trial to see if your child likes playing the games. If you then buy FaceSay and it does not help at all, I'll gladly refund the purchase price.

If you are an adult or older teen on the spectrum, the games might be too cute (maybe not :-) ), but the underlying ideas could be helpful. Until I release something for you, I'm happy to provide a free license of the kids version in exchange for feedback on my next set of ideas. Contact me.