Salvador Alcaraz García

Enseñanza de emociones y creencias en alumnos con trastornos del espectro autista: efectos sobre las habilidades sociales cotidianas

Given the difficulties that people with autism spectrum disorders (asd) have in understanding mental states and developing social skills, this research reports an educational experiment aimed at assessing whether, through a process of teaching and learning, students with asd can improve their understanding of emotions and beliefs in a way that also involves positive changes in their daily social skills. To this end, two primary-school students and one secondary-school student with asd participated in the design of a multiple case study. For information collection, printed teaching materials were designed and manufactured as suggested by Howlin, Baron-Cohen and Hadwin (1999), and, as a major innovation, software was designed for explicit instruction in emotions and beliefs. The students were tested on their understanding of emotions and beliefs before and after the educational procedure. We conducted a semi-structured interview with teachers and parents after the educational procedure to assess possible changes in the participating students’ everyday social skills. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data on the students’ performance in handling tasks assessing their understanding of emotions and beliefs, and content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data drawn from teachers’ and parents’ comments and reflections. The results suggest that, after the educational procedure, the three participating students improved their performance in tasks assessing their understanding of emotions and beliefs and that this improvement is related with their teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of the participants’ progress in basic social skills after the experimental process.

Software para enseñar emociones al alumnado con trastorno del espectro autista

This paper reports the results of a research project in which educational software was used to teach social and emotional skills to primary and secondary school students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The participants with difficulties in recognizing emotional states were nine male and female students aged between 8 and 18, with a mental age range of between 5 and 7 years. A single group design with pre-test/post-test was used. The students were assessed before teaching in relation to their levels of social and emotional skills. This assessment was intended to set the starting level of the teaching process for each student. The educational intervention consisted of two 45-minute weekly sessions for 20 weeks over two academic years (2006/2008). Following the intervention, each student was again assessed. Results indicate that the pupils improved their performance in tasks that evaluate the ability to recognize and understand emotional expressions. These results confirmed that the use of educational software for teaching social and emotional skills helps students with ASD to improve their ability to perform tasks aimed at the understanding of emotional skills. In addition, the participants improved their social skills significantly, a fact that was noticed by both teachers and families.En este articulo se presentan los resultados de una investigacion en la que se ha utilizado un software educativo para apoyar el proceso de ensenanza y aprendizaje de competencias emocionales y sociales en alumnado con trastornos del espectro autista (TEA) escolarizado en educacion primaria y secundaria. Los participantes, con dificultades en el reconocimiento de estados emocionales, han sido nueve alumnos de edades comprendidas entre los 8 y 18 anos, de ambos sexos y con un rango de indice de edad mental entre 5 y 7 anos de edad. Para ello, se utilizo un diseno de grupo unico con pretest-postest. Asi, antes del proceso de ensenanza, el alumnado fue evaluado con relacion a sus niveles de competencia emocional y social, con la finalidad de establecer, tambien, el nivel de inicio del proceso de ensenanza para cada uno de ellos. El proceso de ensenanza se desarrollo a lo largo de dos sesiones semanales de 45 minutos, cada una, en un intervalo de dos cursos academicos (2006/08). Tras el proceso de intervencion educativa, los alumnos fueron nuevamente evaluados. Los resultados obtenidos confirman que la utilizacion del software educativo en la ensenanza de competencias emocionales y sociales ayuda a los alumnos a mejorar su capacidad para superar tareas encaminadas a la comprension de competencias emocionales. Ademas, los participantes mejoraron sus competencias sociales ya que docentes y familiares apreciaron progresos significativos en esta area.En este articulo se presentan los resultados de una investigacion en la que se ha utilizado un software educativo para apoyar el proceso de ensenanza y aprendizaje de competencias emocionales y sociales en alumnado con trastornos del espectro autista (TEA) escolarizado en educacion primaria y secundaria. Los participantes, con dificultades en el reconocimiento de estados emocionales, han sido nueve alumnos de edades comprendidas entre los 8 y 18 anos, de ambos sexos y con un rango de indice de edad mental entre 5 y 7 anos de edad. Para ello, se utilizo un diseno de grupo unico con pretest-postest. Asi, antes del proceso de ensenanza, el alumnado fue evaluado con relacion a sus niveles de competencia emocional y social, con la finalidad de establecer, tambien, el nivel de inicio del proceso de ensenanza para cada uno de ellos. El proceso de ensenanza se desarrollo a lo largo de dos sesiones semanales de 45 minutos, cada una, en un intervalo de dos cursos academicos (2006/08). Tras el proceso de intervencion educativa, los alumnos fueron nuevamente evaluados. Los resultados obtenidos confirman que la utilizacion del software educativo en la ensenanza de competencias emocionales y sociales ayuda a los alumnos a mejorar su capacidad para superar tareas encaminadas a la comprension de competencias emocionales. Ademas, los participantes mejoraron sus competencias sociales ya que docentes y familiares apreciaron progresos significativos en esta area.This paper reports the results of a research project in which educational software was used to teach social and emotional skills to primary and secondary school students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The participants with difficulties in recognizing emotional states were nine male and female students aged between 8 and 18, with a mental age range of between 5 and 7 years. A single group design with pre-test/post-test was used. The students were assessed before teaching in relation to their levels of social and emotional skills. This assessment was intended to set the starting level of the teaching process for each student. The educational intervention consisted of two 45-minute weekly sessions for 20 weeks over two academic years (2006/2008). Following the intervention, each student was again assessed. Results indicate that the pupils improved their performance in tasks that evaluate the ability to recognize and understand emotional expressions. These results confirmed that the use of educational software for teaching social and emotional skills helps students with ASD to improve their ability to perform tasks aimed at the understanding of emotional skills. In addition, the participants improved their social skills significantly, a fact that was noticed by both teachers and families.