Cross-college innovation helps children with autism while providing high-impact learning experience

In an inviting space full of vibrant bold colors, fiber optic curtains, and a vibrating haptic chair, sounds of “Row Row Row Your Boat” and other popular children’s songs fill the air, and children with autism are becoming their own composers, learning to love music. 

This is the scene in the Sensory Room at the Route 9 Library and Innovation Center, where the music is theirs to alter as they see fit. When children like what they hear, they pause to listen more closely, smile, or dance. Other children focus intently as they explore the many combinations of sound available at their fingertips. Some young listeners take delight in adding a drumbeat or fast countermelody while others seem to prefer a calmer rendition of a familiar tune. As they listen, these children learn what they like to listen to and what they don’t, providing a valuable glimpse into how they respond to musical sounds. 

The children are piloting a listening device developed by University of Delaware researchers Daniel Stevens, a professor of music theory in the School of Music within the College of Arts and Sciences, Matthew Mauriello, assistant professor of computer and information sciences in the College of Engineering, and their respective students.

The professors’ divergent backgrounds were a complementary match for this innovative project that aims to better the lives of children with developmental disabilities. Together, they applied for and were awarded $50,000 from the Maggie E. Neumann Health Sciences Research Fund to advance their research. The fund specifically targets interdisciplinary research and innovation that aims to improve the lives of people with disabilities.