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Autistic Kids Love SketchUp

Posted by: Tim Halbur

19 November 2009 - 8:00am

SketchUp isn't just for urban designers- it turns out that it makes perfect sense to autistic children, giving them a tool that taps their skill at visual communication.

From Newsweek:

"[M]any people with autism excel at visual thinking. Studies show they perform exceptionally well on the Block Design Task, part of a standard IQ test, which assesses an individual's ability to recreate a complicated red and white pattern using a set of red and white blocks. "They're able to mentally segment the design into its component parts so they can see where each block would go," says Ellen Winner, a professor of psychology at Boston College, something non-autistic kids have trouble doing."

Full Story: Kids With Autism Love This Software
Source: Newsweek, November 16, 2009
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The impact of community design and amenities on community engagement is substantial. Respondents with a lower overall grade for their communities were also found to be less engaged in their communities, as measured by participation in social activities, relationships with neighbors, volunteer work, and civic participation such as voting.
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