Using affective avatars and rich multimedia content for education of children with autism

Autism is a communication disorder that mandates early and continuous educational interventions on various levels like the everyday social, communication and reasoning skills. Computer-aided education has recently been considered as a likely intervention method for such cases, and therefore different systems have been proposed and developed worldwide. In more recent years, affective computing applications for the aforementioned interventions have also been proposed to shed light on this problem. In this paper, we examine the technological and educational needs of affective interventions for autistic persons. Enabling affective technologies are visited and a number of possible exploitation scenarios are illustrated. Emphasis is placed in covering the continuous and long term needs of autistic persons by unobtrusive and ubiquitous technologies with the engagement of an affective speaking avatar. A personalised prototype system facilitating these scenarios is described. In addition the feedback from educators for autistic persons is provided for the system in terms of its usefulness, efficiency and the envisaged reaction of the autistic persons, collected by means of an anonymous questionnaire. Results illustrate the clear potential of this effort in facilitating a very promising autism intervention

Standardising the design of educational computer reading programs for children.

Educationalists working in the sphere of special education, psychologists and software engineers continue to debate the efficacy of technology interfaces and the merits of information technology with regard to supporting learning in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and the need to standardise software design for this group. This research argues that, for these children to optimise the use of this technology, it must be designed to meet the learning needs and characteristics of this condition, and so a design/development standard is needed. There is currently no instruction to aid educational professionals in choosing suitable computer programs that can be employed to support learning to read in children with ASD. The present research offers a rigorous comparative analysis of the multimedia conditions. A selection instruction (SI) was developed to facilitate the choice of appropriate computer programs for children with ASD, and forms part of the pilot study for this investigation, which was later modified and developed into an educational computer programs design standard. This SI serves as a set of guidelines that is intended to assist professionals and the parents/guardians of children with ASD in their search for good, useable programs that will assist in the acquisition of early reading skills by this group. This research advocates the development of effective computer programs based on individualistic considerations and the stringent application of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) principles in the design of multimedia computer technology for children with ASD. Two educational programs were employed in the investigation, and the data collection method included quantitative (pre-tests; a comparative study of children with ASD and typically developing children in videorecorded sessions, and post-tests) and qualitative (interviews, and an attitude questionnaire) methods. This approach was triangulated, thereby promoting the validity and rigour of the investigation. The present research concludes that, although there were recorded gains in the application of computer technology to teach new words to children with ASD, there were problems relating to the appropriateness and suitability of the programs for the children employed in this research, as detected during the interviews and from the attitude questionnaires, noting the need for autistic preferences in the design and development of these educational computer programs. This investigation offers a broader approach to the theoretical understanding and explanation of autistic learning styles, reading methodologies and issues relating to the design, development and usability of multimedia computer technology. Attention is drawn to the inadequacy of the existing technology and research into ASD and how the disorder affects learning in these children

dis/Humanity and Autism: Dehumanizing and Rehumanizing

This thesis aimed to explore the lived experiences of Autistic people, as articulated in online blogs written by Autistic authors. Experiences of dehumanization and counternarratives of rehumanization were the focus. This study was motivated by my lived experiences as an Autistic person. It included exploring my experiences as points of reference and comparing those expressed by the Autistic bloggers in this study. Autistic people have used the internet as a location to reclaim their voices and create counternarratives to the negative paradigms around autism. As part of my goal to explore counternarratives created by Autistic bloggers, I studied how Autistic people experienced intersections of marginalized identities. Non-Autistic voices in society predominate, including researchers, doctors, and parents. To promote Autistic narratives, one must look for their representatives where they organically thrive. The internet is one of these locations. For this study, I used a curated resource list created by an Autistic blogger of blog sites created by Autistic people. Using this resource, I constructed a narrowed list of Autistic bloggers who identified as having intersectional and marginalized identities. These identities included disabilities other than autism, 2SLGBTQIA+ identities, poverty, and race. Philosopher Rosi Braidotti (2013) told us that the classical ideal of ‘Man’ was the measure of all things. Braidotti said this ideal subject was equated with consciousness, universal rationality, and self-regulating behaviour, whereas those deemed “Other” were equated with inferiority. Those branded as Others are viewed as the negative counterpart of the conscious, universally rational, and self-regulating ethical subject. Their humanity is reduced through othering. Braidotti said “Anti-Humanism,” which rejected the restrictive notion of what counted as human, was a vital step in arriving at the idea of the “Post-Human.” Disability studies, intersectionality and post-humanism are used in the thesis as a framework to examine prevailing beliefs about the source of rights and agency and justify the reduction of rights and agency. An examination of this kind requires careful criticism of the roles played by structures in society in reducing rights and agency for certain individuals. Anti-humanism encourages holding to account those who historically and currently benefit from structural inequality and othering. Post-humanism encourages the continuation of momentum past this process of accountability, to a reconstruction of agency that includes those who would have been less-than-human subjects, non-human subjects, and even into an exploration of how the world we have historically thought of as non-living affects and is affected by agency. This thesis looked at the question of how safe it is for Autistic people to reject the centring of the human in a society where they still struggle to have full access to human rights and agency, and indeed, if there was a point in trying to reform restrictive notions of agency rather than creating a new understanding. In this study, I performed a critical discourse analysis. Through this analysis, I found that Autistic bloggers pushed the boundaries around restrictive ideas of agency and reconsidered the utility of moving forward with the concept of “the human” intact. They advocated for rehumanization in areas that intersected with multiple identities and facets of “the human” experience. I was prepared to find the questions I posed in this thesis indirectly alluded to by the bloggers through accounts of their life experiences. Instead, I found the bloggers displayed a keen awareness of how restricted notions of “the human” excluded Autistic people. They also demonstrated their ability to use the vocabulary of academia and advocacy, reinforcing the idea forwarded by Autistic self-advocates and critical scholars, that too much gatekeeping is done regarding who is considered experts in autism. The Autistic bloggers included in this study did not focus solely on their own experiences, preferring to expand their lens to take in the Autistic community and the allistic people around them. They advocated for the rehumanization of Autistic people in myriad ways, including redefining expertise and re-education of allistic people considered experts when they failed to include Autistic voices. This included research that was informed, directed, and performed by the Autistic community, academics, and advocates

“Never towing a line” : Les Murray, autism, and Australian literature

Australian poet Les Murray regularly identified as autistic, and stated that his autism was a primary source of his poetry. However, Australian critics rarely consider his autism when discussing his work and, when they do, usually treat it negatively. By contrast, this thesis adopts a nuanced conception of autism, and examines its creative impact on Murray’s writing. Through close analysis of a range of Murray’s poems and his second verse novel Fredy Neptune, I demonstrate the centrality to Murray’s writing of a number of poetic techniques which have been associated with autistic experience, and with the experience of disablement more generally. In particular, I utilise the characteristics of Jim Ferris’s “crip poetics” and posit two others – “enhanced audience awareness” and “resisting erasure”. I also make use of the autistic poetic techniques defined by Julia Rodas and suggest Murray’s “line scan” and “cross resonance” as possible additions. Similarly, Murray’s poetic topics resonate with common autistic and disabled considerations. Throughout his six-decade career he wrote of his own and his son Alexander’s experiences of autism, as the cultural awareness of autism was transformed from negligible to ubiquitous. He also regularly referred to the Nazi genocide of disabled people, seeking to comprehend its implications and reverberations for his own kind. Surrounding and infusing his treatment of these concerns is a delight in disabled kinship, a simultaneously awkward and wondrous engagement with the world, and a life-long devotion to language. Murray’s writing affirms the centrality of disabled authors to Australian literature, and exemplifies the importance of recognising disability as a critical category. Furthermore, since it is currently understood that the first autistic author was published in 1985, Murray’s collections, beginning in 1965, extend autistic writing history by twenty years

Measures for Comparing an Augmentative and Alternative Communication Application for Use within a Kindergarten Curriculum

The purpose of this study was to measure the influence of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) with symbol-supported communication applications (apps) on stimulating kindergarten students to increase expressive language in the general education setting in an elementary school located in Washington, DC. The study sample size was 31 students. The research aimed to identify these tools as an effective strategy to assist kindergarten students in using more verbal language, thereby lowering the risk of communication frustration and increasing the expression of learned knowledge. Language data usage was collected by viewing speech acts as operators in a planning system, then integrating speech acts into plans by comparing the independent variable of the use of the symbol-supported communication app to the dependent variables of knowledge of words and word combinations, knowledge of grammar, supralinguistics (inferencing), pragmatics, and practical use without exposure to the AAC device with a dynamic display and symbolic symbols. The Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language tool measured expressive language growth. A quantitative quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest, nonequivalent comparison group design and a multivariate analysis of covariance using the pretests as the covariates measured the outcome. There was a statistically significant difference in the growth of posttest scores in the areas of knowledge of words and word combinations and knowledge of grammar. However, the students’ performance in the areas of supralinguistics and pragmatics did not experience any measurable growth. Future research should continue to validate and build upon the results of this investigation

Bringing fire to the people: activist scholarship, creative collaboration, & international advocacy through the lens of black disability studies

This PhD thesis is a distinct contribution to the existing knowledge and practice of inclusive, intersectional stakeholder leadership within key contemporary research advocacy and human rights movements (namely neurodiversity and racial/HIV/gender/disability justice). Moreover, it champions as well as models innovative, transdisciplinary methods and responsive, accessible, culturally affirming techniques to prioritize engagement and equity in scholarship, practice, and pedagogy. Informed by critical theory produced by Black public intellectuals including bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Patricia Hill Collins, W.E.B. DuBois, Wole Soyinka, Patricia Williams, Sami Schalk, and E. Grollman, among others, this qualitative study is a disability-justice inspired heuristic inquiry. In addition to amplifying the voices of influential historical and contemporary interlocutors of color and disabled activists, the thesis highlights diverse, multimodal strategies (including integrative learning, public digital humanities, narrative theory, participatory and action research, etc.) as tools of public intellectualism, engaged pedagogy, and disability justice that center underrepresented perspectives. As a framing device, I invoke the fire tetrahedron—fuel, heat, oxygen, and fire—as an analogy for the distinct categories of the selected work (activist scholarship, collaborative practice, and international advocacy). This analogy also elucidates emergent overarching themes including aspects of identity, individual and/or collective action, and burnout. Via the portfolio and exegesis, the narratives and actions of marginalized community leaders of color and/or with disabilities compose anthems of survival, resistance, growth, and progress in the context of disregard, disadvantage, and disenfranchisement, thus illustrating the reality of resistance and resilience. Despite alarming disparities, incessant denial of justice, and systemic inequity, those who—because of race, disability, gender, and/or other intersections—are (mis)perceived as “at risk,” “vulnerable,” or otherwise “impaired” consistently find innovative ways—collectively and individually—to defy the most dismal odds to not only survive, but to even dare to thrive. Plain language summaries (in Appendix A), lay abstract summaries, images, and other augmentative resources for this thesis are provided in the appendices for the purposes of increasing accessibility of this material as well as paying homage to this topic. KEYWORDS: Black disability studies, public intellectualism, bell hooks, heuristic inquiry, gender, race, neurodiversity, engaged pedagogy, intellectual activism, Black feminism, disability justic

Integrated adaptive skills program model (IASP)

Integrated Adaptive Skills Program Model (IASP) is designed to offer supportive services to disabled students seeking to integrate into a local after-school program. IASP Model focuses on teaching adaptive skills to disabled students that would prepare them to be fully included into an after-school program with their same age peers. The program offers support, training, and consultation to the students and staff involved in the program. A variety of research-methods and assessment screening tools are used to determine eligibility and program implementation. The IASP Model was piloted during the 2011-2012 school year, in California, United States, but due to limited local and state funds the program could not continue. Students with disabilities deserve to be involved in the community and should not be excluded based on funds. Teaching and educating others on how to integrate students with disabilities into programs will minimize and/or eliminate exclusion of participating in recreation programs within residing communities.https://scholar.dominican.edu/books/1179/thumbnail.jp

A qualitative exploration of autism and transition into further and higher education

In this thesis, I explore 42 autistic individuals’ transitions into further and higher education (FHE) in England, drawing on personal experience as well as interview data. I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome in 1998 at the age of 13. At the age of 15, my mother introduced the topic to me, and autism soon became the foundation of my socio-political identity. The discussion is divided into three themes; stigma and perception management strategies, formal and informal support networks and the interplay of autism with institutional factors. I draw upon Tringo’s (1970) work on the hierarchy of impairment and Goffman’s (1963) work on stigma. Tringo’s (1970) hierarchy of impairment led me to my intra-communal hierarchy of impairment (perpetuated by autistic individuals against autistic individuals) and Goffman’s (1963) work on stigma led me to my four degrees of openness; autistic individuals can be indiscriminately open, or indiscriminately reticent, but openness if relevant, and openness if necessary, are more common strategies. UPIAS’ (1976) work on the social model of disability laid the foundation for my socio-political identity and this thesis. I argue autism has been largely absent from the political arena. I outline how there are four ideals; the ideals of self-regulation, normalcy, ability and independence. Eager to conform to these ideals, eager to self-present as ‘independent’, ‘self-regulating’, ‘normal’ or ‘capable’, some autistic students are reluctant to request support and accommodations, complicating the transition to FHE