Providing visual directives via a smart watch to a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder: an intervention note.

Smart watches are discreet and wearable tools that may be repurposed to improve directive-following for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Specifically, a mentor can transmit just-in-time (JIT) visual supports (e.g., video clips, photographs, text) that depict an upcoming directive to a learner's smart watch to prompt the learner as needed from a distance. Using a single-case multiple probe design across settings, this investigation evaluated the effectiveness of providing text-based prompts on an Apple Watch 1 to a child with ASD within a school setting. A mentor transmitted 2-step written directives via text message to the participant's Apple Watch. The participant was instructed to attend to, read, and follow directives received on the watch. Results demonstrated that the intervention improved directive-following as well as increased the instructor's distance from the learner. It is proposed that JIT supports sent to a learner's smart watch may reduce the obtrusiveness of traditional prompting while also maintaining the naturalness of ongoing social or academic interactions. Clinical limitations and implications are discussed.

HgII binds to C-T mismatches with high affinity.

Binding reactions of HgII and AgI to pyrimidine-pyrimidine mismatches in duplex DNA were characterized using fluorescent nucleobase analogs, thermal denaturation and 1H NMR. Unlike AgI, HgII exhibited stoichiometric, site-specific binding of C-T mismatches. The on- and off-rates of HgII binding were approximately 10-fold faster to C-T mismatches (kon ≈ 105 M-1 s-1, koff ≈ 10-3 s-1) as compared to T-T mismatches (kon ≈ 104 M-1 s-1, koff ≈ 10-4 s-1), resulting in very similar equilibrium binding affinities for both types of 'all natural' metallo base pairs (Kd ≈ 10-150 nM). These results are in contrast to thermal denaturation analyses, where duplexes containing T-T mismatches exhibited much larger increases in thermal stability upon addition of HgII (ΔTm = 6-19°C), as compared to those containing C-T mismatches (ΔTm = 1-4°C). In addition to revealing the high thermodynamic and kinetic stabilities of C-HgII-T base pairs, our results demonstrate that fluorescent nucleobase analogs enable highly sensitive detection and characterization of metal-mediated base pairs - even in situations where metal binding has little or no impact on the thermal stability of the duplex.