The Second International Conference on Innovations in Information Technology (IIT’05) 1 Assistive Technology Utilization for Autism An Outline of Technology Awareness in Special Needs Therapy Mohammed Ali Habash Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Women’s College P.O.Box 16062 Dubai, United Arab Emirates Correspondence Email: mohammed.habash@gmail.com ABSTRACT The work carried out in this study is focused on examining the current and future uses of assistive technology by parents and special needs centers for the therapy and rehabilitation of children with special needs, with a focus on autism. The study provides results from two surveys that examine the use of assistive technology by a group of six families having children with autism and by one of the leading centers for special needs in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The surveys were developed to determine the level of awareness and utilization of assistive technology. Results also reflect the strength of parental and professional awareness of those technologies, taking into mind that parents of those children are usually experts in seeking and trying the best to help their children. The availability of these technologies and the challenges facing centers and families in gaining information or exposure to those technologies is discussed. Additional work in this study relates to my interdisciplinary research focusing on investigating the use of high level computer assistive technology for autistic impairments therapy. This paper provides a detailed study of the practices of embracing assistive technology considering the financial and technical challenges which might be faced. The study provides a framework for gaining social support and awareness of the value of those technologies and provides an approach to motivate information technology specialists and special needs professionals to work together to develop reasonably affordable and more relevant technologies, against the mainstream of commercial general-purpose so-called “assistive technology.” In addition, this paper looks at the potential for new technologies yet to be explored in further research on autism. Keywords: Special Needs, Assistive Technology, Autism, computer assistive technology, CAT, Virtual Reality. 1. INTRODUCTION There has been a great development in the past few years on the infusion of technology in the life and curriculum of people with special needs. A technology that enables an individual with a learning disability to compensate for specific deficits [1] is indeed an assistive technology. Technology to incorporate would usually range between the simple low-level technologies to the robust emerging technologies. As technology is meant to help humanity, assistive technology relates well to those with special needs. Research on assistive technology will need to target a variety of people’s categories. It will target the subjects with special needs, their parents and families, professionals, policy makers, corporate executives, and the government sector. Successful research will require the cooperation of parental groups, academic institutions, international organizations, non-government organizations, universities, and private centers. The aim of using technology in special needs is to contribute to the possibilities of adoption of assistive technologies in specialized centers or to the preparation for inclusive education. A joint work between schools, centers, corporate and the government would generate a stream for the creation of the hoped for technology based remedial rooms. There is a need for the help of specialists and professionals to train the other trainers on the best practices. Collaboration of the families and proper coverage of the media are major factors in the success of the process.