Smartphone tech to help autism sufferers commended
pharmafile | March 6, 2014 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | NHS, asperger's, aspergers, autism, brain in hand, cloud, digital
Smartphone technology which helps people with autism to live more easily with their condition has been commended as part of a national awards scheme.
Brain in Hand, a mobile cloud-based system, includes daily schedules, alerts and mentoring support which are designed to help people with autism to manage their lives and lower their anxiety levels.
Next month a version available via the Android, Windows and App store iOS is to be launched.
Autism affects communication with people and those with the condition can often find day-to-day social interaction confusing and stressful.
The idea is that the programme allows people to successfully deal with problems as they arise – at home, work or college – by planning solutions in advance which are then accessed via a smartphone.
It is a spectrum disorder, including conditions such as Asperger’s Syndrome, which means that many people with autism are high-functioning and able to lead independent lives, while others require care.
As well as potentially improving quality of life, supporting an adult with autism to live independently in their own home costs social services approximately £60,000 less per year than housing in a residential placement, the National Audit Office reported in 2009.
The technology was highly commended at the National Autistic Society Awards this week.
The software was trialled at the University of Portsmouth in 2010 and the programme was rolled out over 12 months at the Devon NHS Partnership Trust and is now being deployed by Devon and other NHS trusts, colleges and companies across the UK and Ireland.
Around 600,000 people in the UK are estimated to have autism, at a cost of £34 billion per year in terms of services, accommodation, family and employment impacts, according to research by the London School of Economics.
The lifetime costs of looking after a person with autism, who does not have intellectual disability, has been estimated at £3.1 million.
Andrew Stamp, chief executive of Brain-in-Hand, the company which developed the programme, says: “Now, alongside working with healthcare trusts, colleges and companies, we’re set to offer a million people their own Brain in Hand directly through the App Store, to set up and go within hours.”
National Autism Awareness Month in April includes World Autism Day on 2 April.
Adam Hill
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