Computerworld - The connection between adults with autism and computer programming has become the basis of a unique nonprofit technology company in Texas.
Called the nonPareil Institute (for "no equal"), the company builds apps for iPhone and Android phones and PCs. The 11 staffers provide 80 students who are on the autism spectrum, which includes Asperger's Syndrome, technical training and help adjusting to a work environment.
The students, ranging in age from their early 20s to mid-50s, and staff have already launched NPISarobon, an abacus-like app for 99 cents available on the App Store for iPad. Two new apps, Card Tracker and Number Tap, are about to be launched in the App Store. NPISarbon was conceived and coded by Cheryl O'Brien, a student at the institute who is now a staff programmer.
"We also have a social app coming, and it's going to be revolutionary," CEO Dan Selec said in an interview, while declining to offer any details. "Everybody thinks if you have an app in the App Store, you're a millionaire. I wish it worked that way. So far our sales have been insignificant."
But Selec, who has a 14-year-old son with Asperger's, has a 100-year vision for nonPareil and said mobile app revenues will eventually sustain the institute's operating budget, which is expected to be $1.2 million for 2012. "It just takes one app that gets everybody excited," he said. "Time will tell."
Selec co-founded the institute in his kitchen more than two years ago with two other fathers of sons with autism, a developmental disability that can cause problems with social interaction and communication. Asperger's is a milder form of the condition.
One of those dads, Gary Moore, is president of the institute and likes to point out that building a successful app takes persistence. "Rovio built 50 games before coming up with Angry Birds," he said. The third dad and co-founder is John Eix, who works in business development for a Dallas law firm.
Situated in classrooms at Southern Methodist University in Plano, Texas, the institute plans to build a $20 million campus nearby that will include housing for the most severely autistic students, and then expand to branch campuses around the U.S., Selec said.
Kyle McNiece, 23, originally a student at the institute, is now a teacher there, similar to a graduate instructor. He teaches apps coding using tools such as Hammer and Unity and, soon, the Unreal Development Kit.
"What I do really well is design, although the coding part of it is hard," he said in an interview. A self-described person with Asperger's, he said his main difficulty is misconstruing what people mean when they say things, such as when they tell a joke or are being sarcastic.
Called the nonPareil Institute (for "no equal"), the company builds apps for iPhone and Android phones and PCs. The 11 staffers provide 80 students who are on the autism spectrum, which includes Asperger's Syndrome, technical training and help adjusting to a work environment.
The students, ranging in age from their early 20s to mid-50s, and staff have already launched NPISarobon, an abacus-like app for 99 cents available on the App Store for iPad. Two new apps, Card Tracker and Number Tap, are about to be launched in the App Store. NPISarbon was conceived and coded by Cheryl O'Brien, a student at the institute who is now a staff programmer.
"We also have a social app coming, and it's going to be revolutionary," CEO Dan Selec said in an interview, while declining to offer any details. "Everybody thinks if you have an app in the App Store, you're a millionaire. I wish it worked that way. So far our sales have been insignificant."
But Selec, who has a 14-year-old son with Asperger's, has a 100-year vision for nonPareil and said mobile app revenues will eventually sustain the institute's operating budget, which is expected to be $1.2 million for 2012. "It just takes one app that gets everybody excited," he said. "Time will tell."
Selec co-founded the institute in his kitchen more than two years ago with two other fathers of sons with autism, a developmental disability that can cause problems with social interaction and communication. Asperger's is a milder form of the condition.
One of those dads, Gary Moore, is president of the institute and likes to point out that building a successful app takes persistence. "Rovio built 50 games before coming up with Angry Birds," he said. The third dad and co-founder is John Eix, who works in business development for a Dallas law firm.
Situated in classrooms at Southern Methodist University in Plano, Texas, the institute plans to build a $20 million campus nearby that will include housing for the most severely autistic students, and then expand to branch campuses around the U.S., Selec said.
Kyle McNiece, 23, originally a student at the institute, is now a teacher there, similar to a graduate instructor. He teaches apps coding using tools such as Hammer and Unity and, soon, the Unreal Development Kit.
"What I do really well is design, although the coding part of it is hard," he said in an interview. A self-described person with Asperger's, he said his main difficulty is misconstruing what people mean when they say things, such as when they tell a joke or are being sarcastic.
