Karen Guldberg

Developing technology for autism: an interdisciplinary approach

We present an interdisciplinary methodology for designing interactive multi-modal technology for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). In line with many other researchers in the field, we believe that the key to developing technology in this context is to embrace perspectives from diverse disciplines to arrive at a methodology that delivers satisfactory outcomes for all stakeholders. The ECHOES project provided us with the opportunity to develop a technology-enhanced learning (TEL) environment that facilitates acquisition and exploration of social skills by typically developing (TD) children and children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). ECHOES’ methodology and the learning environment rely crucially on multi-disciplinary expertise including developmental psychology, visual arts, human–computer interaction, artificial intelligence, education, and several other cognate disciplines. In this article, we reflect on the methods needed to develop a TEL environment for young users with ASDs by identifying key features, benefits, and challenges of this approach.

International review of the evidence on best practice in educational provision for children on the autism spectrum

There is considerable debate regarding the most appropriate and effective ways of supporting the learning of children and young people on the autism spectrum. This international review provides a synthesis of empirical research and expert evidence (dated 2002–2008) to identify best practice in educational provision for these children. Five bibliographic databases were systematically searched using clearly defined keywords, and abstracts assessed according to explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria; 92 research papers that focused on children and young people were included. Expert evidence was drawn from policy documents and government strategies, or research reports, from the UK and Ireland. Findings show that there is insufficiently strong evidence regarding the effectiveness of one type of intervention approach compared with another. A range of educational provision should be maintained in order to cater appropriately for a wide diversity of needs. Interventions most often researched were those involving intensive behavioural techniques and some studies showed these can be successful in teaching specific skills to some children. There was limited evidence regarding the needs of older children as well as consideration of educational provision more widely, including the effects of type of setting (as distinct from a specific type of intervention or learning approach). More research is needed on other types of educational interventions currently used by parents and in schools as well as greater collaboration between researchers and practitioners to establish what works best for children and young people on the autism spectrum.

A community of practice approach to the development of non-traditional learners through networked learning

Abstract This paper analyses a sample of online discussions to evaluate the development of adult learners as reflective practitioners within a networked learning community. The context for our study is a blended learning course offering post-experience professional training to non-traditional university students. These students are parents and carers of people with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). We use Lave and Wengers ‘communities of practice’ as a theoretical framework for establishing how students develop a learning community based upon mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoires. Those three aspects are analysed according to two measures. The first focuses on learner appropriation of the professional discourse, values and goals of the ASD carer through the network. The second relates to changes in the quality of collaborative activity over time. Our analysis demonstrates that students belong to an overarching community of practice, with different subsets who work at sharing and co-constructing common understandings. This shared discourse and common notions of what constitutes good practice help create a safe interaction space for the students. Once group identity is consolidated, more challenging questions emerge and the group are able to define further common values, understandings and goals through processes of resolution.

Foundations of communities of practice: enablers and barriers to participation

This research draws upon community of practice theory to explore the factors that enabled or hindered participation in an online ‘Foundations of Communities of Practice’ workshop – a course that is designed to align with Wenger’s communities of practice perspective. The research used a mixed methods approach, drawing upon log-on and posting data, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to explore participant experiences. The findings show that five dimensions either enabled or constrained participation. These were emotion, technology, connectivity, understanding norms and learning tensions. As enablers these dimensions led to successful participation within an online community of practice, but as constraints, they led to peripheral participation. The findings highlight implications for tutors of such courses. These include the need to (1) assess the technical expertise of participants, particularly when a number of different technological tools are used; (2) find ways to identify and evaluate emotional responses so learners can be supported in managing these; (3) ensure that participants understand the norms of a community; and (4) develop clear induction materials and processes.

Adult learners and professional development: peer‐to‐peer learning in a networked community

This paper analyses how adult learners on a professional development course learn and develop through online dialogue. The research uses Wenger’s community of practice framework, and assesses whether the concept of ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ is useful in relation to this specific case study in which the students are practitioners and parents of individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). The study focuses on peer‐to‐peer learning and analyses a sample of asynchronous online discussions from three separate online tutorial groups. The first part of the study combines quantitative analysis of distribution patterns, with qualitative discourse analysis that measures central concepts associated with communities of practice. The second part of the study addresses whether the concept of ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ is useful in this context. The contribution of one key individual in each group is analysed in order to provide a narrative about how that person communicates with the others, shares values and repertoires with them and gradually becomes a central member of the community. The data supports the notion that these forms of interaction and approaches to learning can favour the construction of knowledge and help to develop reflective skills and a sense of ‘togetherness’ in the group through sharing stories with one another, developing identity through the discussions and through this enabling the development of community. The findings indicate that the learners are provided with opportunities to consider the strengths and weaknesses of ideas from multiple perspectives and that key students play a role in enabling other students to move from a position of legitimate peripheral participation to becoming full members of the community.

Implications for practice from ‘International review of the evidence on best practice in educational provision for children on the autism spectrum’

This paper summarises the implications for practice arising from the ‘International review of the evidence on best practice in educational provision for children on the autism spectrum’ and it focuses on key priorities for policy makers, families, practitioners and researchers. Findings highlight that there is little evidence to indicate how different types of provision deliver education or to identify how they impact on outcomes for individual children. Furthermore, the process of deciding on an educational intervention is clearly more complex than the results of individual research papers can tell us. Choice of intervention needs to take account of what is best suited to the child and adults concerned, including the childs characteristics, parental preference, staff expertise and the goals selected. There is a need to focus on the developmental areas of functional spontaneous communication and language, social understanding and joint attention, peer interaction and appropriate toy play. Ongoing parent and teacher collaboration is essential as is a need to develop good collaboration between different professionals, both within and outside settings. Wider inclusion of the perspectives of individuals on the autism spectrum would be welcomed. Training is an important priority as practitioners and parents need specialist knowledge and understanding of the specific needs of children and young people on the autism spectrum. Finally, there is a need for researchers, practitioners, parents and individuals on the autism spectrum to work together much more closely than they do currently in order to determine jointly research agendas and methodologies and to discuss the implications of research findings.

Building an Intelligent, Authorable Serious Game for Autistic Children and Their Carers

This paper introduces the SHARE-IT project, which leverages serious games paradigm to motivate and engage children with autism diagnosis in interactive activities, based on the state-of-the-art autism intervention practices. The aim of SHARE-IT is to formulate, in partnership with schools, parents and industry, the requirements for a robust, intelligent and authorable environment for supporting children in exploring, practicing and acquiring social interaction skills. SHARE-IT focuses on two key challenges: (i) developing robust system architecture and implementation, able to support both continuing development of a serious game for children with autism and its real world use; and (ii) selecting appropriate technologies and techniques to allow for (a) multi-device and operating system deployment, (b) the development of an intelligent serious game for supporting social interaction while (c) allowing the flexibility for the environment to be authored by lay persons. SHARE-ITs architecture is presented and several considerations of importance to enabling the engineering of an intelligent and authorable serious game are discussed. Examples of technologies developed to date are given throughout and a discussion of future challenges offered.

Autism and Multidisciplinary Teamwork Through the Scerts Model

This research investigates multidisciplinary teamwork in an English special school located in the West Midlands region of the UK. The research was carried out by Paola Molteni, a PhD student at Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Karen Guldberg of the Autism Centre for Education and Research Director at the University of Birmingham School of Education, and Nick Logan, head of the Psychology and Therapists Department at Sunfield Childrens Home, Clent. The school uses the innovative SCERTS (Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, Transactional Support) model. The methodology was a collaborative and participatory case study focused on the point of view of professionals and on understanding the teamwork process through analysis of three teams working together to implement SCERTS. Methods included focus groups, semi-structured interviews, direct observations and questionnaires; the data were analysed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis method. The research provides an example of good practice and enables practitioners to reflect on the issues involved in implementing a multidisciplinary process using the SCERTS approach. The findings show that the SCERTS Model can support the educational team in promoting and exchanging good daily practice and planning educational work together. The article draws out implications for further studies that aim to analyse teamwork in other settings and over a longer period.

The Effect of Adult Interactive Style on the Spontaneous Communication of Young Children with Autism at School.

This research explored the effect of adult interactive style on the spontaneous communication of children with autism. It focused on the frequency of children’s communication, the functions of their communication, the methods they used and the impact of four different school activities (i.e. sensory room, snack time, soft play and 1:1 work) on their communication. Theoretically, the study drew upon the transactional model of child development and the social model of disability. It was an action research study having a mix of quantitative and qualitative data which took place over an eighteen month period. The study was conducted within an Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) class in a specialist school for pupils with autism. Six children and three members of staff took part. The researcher developed a set of principles in conjunction with the staff which formed the basis for the Adult Interactive Style Intervention (AISI). The findings showed that staff increased their use of the AISI principles over time and all children considerably increased the frequency of their spontaneous communication, their communicative functions and methods. In the follow-up phase, twelve months later, it was found that these changes had been maintained in both children and staff.

Digital stories as a method for evidence-based practice and knowledge co-creation in technology-enhanced learning for children with autism

Storytelling is a powerful means of expression especially for voices that may be difficult to hear or represent in typical ways. This paper reports and reflects on our experiences of co-creating digital stories with school practitioners in a project focusing on embedding innovative technologies for children on the autism spectrum in classroom practice. The digital stories were short films or narrated sequences of slides and images that conveyed key views about experiences and practices with or around the technologies. The creation of the digital stories aimed to empower schools and individual teachers to construct and share their own authentic narratives and to build case examples of creative technology-enhanced teaching and learning. Through focusing on our experiences with one of the schools, we examine the use of digital stories as a method for enabling knowledge co-creation with practitioners and we discuss the evidential potential of digital stories. We argue that the co-creation of digital stories enabled teachers to find their voice in critiquing the usability, usefulness, efficacy and flexibility of the technologies. Furthermore, the stories, both the process of their creation and the final artefacts, provided a concrete grounding for knowledge co-creation about teaching practices and authentic technology-enhanced learning.