For Karenina Thomas, a junior at Elmhurst College and a member of the Women’s Chorus, education is not just a career—it’s a mission. Originally from Brasilia, Brazil, Karenina is studying to become a special education teacher and plans to dedicate her life to improving education for children with special needs, especially in developing countries. Her academic path is driven by compassion and a deep understanding of how technology can bridge the gaps in human connection.
Karenina’s forward-thinking essay earned her the Fall 2017 Spokeo Scholarship, with a winning response to the prompt: How would you use the Internet of Things (IoT) to change how you strengthen communities or human connection? Her answer was both technically innovative and deeply personal—proposing a wearable IoT system to help detect emotional distress in students with special needs before it escalates. Drawing on existing technologies like eye-tracking and biometric monitoring, Karenina envisions a future where educators and parents can better understand their students’ needs in real time, creating safer, more inclusive classrooms.
Her proposal is a reminder that human connection sometimes starts with simply being seen and understood—and that technology, when used thoughtfully, can be a powerful tool for empathy.
Read Karenina’s full essay below.
I am studying to be a special education teacher, and technology has become an indispensable part of the lives of students with special needs around the world. But there is still much to learn about children who have special needs and how to best serve them in the classroom. The internet of things (IoT) could become a key player in helping teachers understand moods and wants, find ideal methods, and promote social interaction among students with and without special needs.
A major barrier for the adaptation of students with special needs to a regular classroom is communication. They are innately different in how they process incoming information from the world around them, and their responses to it are different as well. Teachers are often unaware of the particulars of each child, especially if they are very young and their needs have not yet been properly diagnosed. It is common for students with special needs to react to the new classroom environment with disruptive behavior, which may not make a favorable impression on their peers and thus make their social adjustment more difficult. This behavior is often unpredictable because the signs of their development are not perceptible to the naked eye. Triggers are not always immediately obvious, and the body sometimes begins to react physically before the student does consciously. Heart and breath rate, adrenaline levels and perspiration are all signs that indicate that a “meltdown” may be coming on.
It would be greatly helpful for teachers to have a wireless system for helping to detect and catch these episodes before they fully erupt. The technology would draw on two specific ones that are already in use. The first is eye-tracking technology, which is already used in communication systems for people who are completely paralyzed or have no muscle control. The second is monitoring technology to identify changes in involuntary physical functions, such as heart rate. These would be merged to form a system which would identify which outside stimuli the student is paying attention to, and which ones cause the body’s functions to change in the way that leads to disruptive behavior. The system would be coordinated with an application on a device used by both the teachers and parents, and data would be collected which would enable the users to predict when a meltdown episode could be coming on. They would also be able to identify the triggering stimuli and work to remove the effect.
This kind of technology would need to be tested extensively, and the physical part would have to be carefully developed to avoid discomfort and too much intrusion. But as teachers and parents learn how the students respond to the world, they can help to make their environments more welcoming and give them positive transitional experiences. The outcome would be a richer learning experience and a healthier social life.