Agile methodology; autism; Down syndrome; Extreme Programming; mental retardation; VOKS; testing; unit test

The paper shows experiences with using Extreme Programming (XP) for specific projects. XP practices Test-Driven Development, pair programming, short interaction, a team code ownership and acceptance tests. Author writes about 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.

he paper shows experiences with using Extreme Programming (XP) for specific projects. XP practices Test-Driven Development, pair programming, short interaction, a team code ownership and acceptance tests. Author writes about 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.