Kathryn E. Ringland

Will I always be not social?: Re-Conceptualizing Sociality in the Context of a Minecraft Community for Autism

Traditional face-to-face social interactions can be challenging for individuals with autism, leading some to perceive and categorize them as less social than their typically-developing peers. Individuals with autism may even see themselves as less social relative to their peers. Online communities can provide an alternative venue for social expression, enabling different types of communication beyond face-to-face, oral interaction. Using ethnographic methods, we studied the communication ecology that has emerged around a Minecraft server for children with autism and their allies. Our analysis shows how members of this community search for, practice, and define sociality through a variety of communication channels. These findings suggest an expansion in how sociality has traditionally been conceptualized for individuals with autism.

SensoryPaint: a multimodal sensory intervention for children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Multimodal and natural user interfaces offer an innovative approach to sensory integration therapies. We designed and developed SensoryPaint, a multimodal system that allows users to paint on a large display using physical objects, body-based interactions, and interactive audio. We evaluated the impact of SensoryPaint through two user studies: a lab-based study of 15 children with neurodevelopmental disorders in which they used the system for up to one hour, and a deployment study with four children with autism, during which the system was integrated into existing daily sensory therapy sessions. Our results demonstrate that a multimodal large display, using whole body interactions combined with tangible interactions and interactive audio feedback, balances childrens attention between their own bodies and sensory stimuli, augments existing therapies, and promotes socialization. These results offer implications for the design of other ubicomp systems for children with neurodevelopmental disorders and for their integration into therapeutic interventions.

Evaluating a Collaborative iPad Game's Impact on Social Relationships for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This article describes how collaborative assistive technologies, housed on off-the-shelf, low-cost platforms such as the iPad, can be used to facilitate social relationships in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Through an empirical study of the use of a collaborative iPad game, Zody, we explore how assistive technologies can be used to support social relationships, even without intervention from adults. We discuss how specific design choices can encourage three levels of social relationship: membership, partnership, and friendship. This work contributes to research on both assistive technologies and collaborative gaming through a framework that describes how specific in-game elements can foster social skill development for children with ASD.

Making in Minecraft: A Means of Self-Expression for Youth with Autism

Maker culture values fabrication and production in both the digital and physical realms as well as the sharing of resources. As such, maker culture provides an opportunity to be democratic and inclusive. Likewise, spaces that stem from maker culture, such as makerspaces, provide the same opportunity for inclusion, even for those with disabilities. Autcraft is a community that supports children with autism and is centered on a Minecraft virtual world that embodies maker culture. The Autcraft communitys unique form of maker culture supports self-expression, sociality, and learning for children with autism by providing structure in a virtual space, allowing for and enabling creating and sharing. In this paper, we explore design implications for the creation of inclusive spaces for making and self-expression in the future based on intensive fieldwork in the Autcraft community.

Designing an accessible clothing tag system for people with vision impairments

Many clothing characteristics (from garment color to care instructions) are inaccessible to people with vision impairments. To address this problem, clothing information is gathered from sighted companions, and later recalled using low-tech solutions such as adding safety pins to clothes. Unfortunately, these low-tech solutions require precise memory (such as recalling a pins meaning) and provide limited information. Using an iterative design approach, we prototyped several alternative technology solutions and tested them with five people with vision impairments. We are working towards an interface that provides detailed information in a streamlined interaction, focusing our future efforts on a wearable RFID tagging solution.

Evaluating an iPad Game to Address Overselectivity in Preliterate AAC Users with Minimal Verbal Behavior

Overselectivity is a learning challenge that is largely unaddressed in the assistive technology community. Screening and intervention, done by specialists, is time-intensive and requires substantial training. Little to no treatments are available to the broader population of preliterate, minimally verbal individuals. In this work, we examine the impact of an iPad game based on the tenets of behavioral therapy to mitigate overselectivity. We developed software-based techniques and evaluated the system using established methods from the field of Special Education. We present the results of a deployment in a special education school that demonstrates that an assistive tablet game is a feasible means of addressing overselectivity, and we present generalizable technological features drawn from evidenced-based therapies to consider in future assistive technologies. We suggest that designers of assistive technology systems, particularly those who address physical, cognitive, and behavioral difficulties for preliterate AAC users, should consider overselectivity as a potential co-occurring condition.

SIG on the State of Accessibility at CHI

In this document, we as representatives of the SIGCHI Accessibility Community lay out a request and plan for a SIG Meeting at CHI, in conjunction with AccessComputing, addressing the accessibility of participation in the CHI conference. We describe our organizations, our expected attendees, our approach and schedule of topics for the conducting the SIG, and our recruitment plan. The primary goal of this meeting is to provide a forum for discussing needs of CHI participants with disabilities, and to discuss unmet needs that act as barriers for conference attendance