Agile methodology, autism, Down syndrome, Extreme Programming, mental retardation, VOKS, RUP, testing

The paper deals with possibilities of information technologies when improving communicative skills of children with specific disorders, such as autistic spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, mental retardation, etc. The development of an application stemming from the communication system PECS (The Picture Exchange Communication System) and its Czech variant VOKS is the base of this paper to show specificity of the development and verification of software for the given group of handicapped users. The paper shows suitability of using agile methods of software development for a concrete application which is designed for users with specific disorders. It tries to show advantages and disadvantages of new methodologies, particularly Extreme Programming. Agile methodologies of software development appeared in the second half of the 90?s of the last century. Thus it concerns new ways which have not been spread massively yet.

The paper deals with possibilities of information technologies when improving communicative skills of children with specific disorders, such as autistic spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, mental retardation, etc. The development of an application stemming from the communication system PECS (The Picture Exchange Communication System) and its Czech variant VOKS is the base of this paper to show specificity of the development and verification of software for the given group of handicapped users. The paper shows suitability of using agile methods of software development for a concrete application which is designed for users with specific disorders. It tries to show advantages and disadvantages of new methodologies, particularly Extreme Programming. Agile methodologies of software development appeared in the second half of the 90?s of the last century. Thus it concerns new ways which have not been spread massively yet.