Creating non-representational art by students who are severely intellectually disabled through a pictorial and musical program

The main purpose of this research study was to investigate the worth of a recently developed Pictorial and Musical art program for severely intellectually disabled students, and to compare the non-representational art work produced by lower primary students in a special education school to similar art work being produced by lower primary students in a regular school, when taught in the same program. A subsidiary purpose of the study was to investigate teacher reactions in the art classroom of each participating school, and to observe the extent of the Pictorial and Musical program interventions on the students\u27 attitudes and production of their art work. Twelve participants were chosen from each school to take part in the experimental art program. This involved the use of pictorial and musical interventions to test the outcomes, and by utilising a quantitative methodology to determine the relationship between variables. Each group of students in the study was subjected to three different art experiences within the Pictorial and Musical program, that is, Pictorial only, Pictorial with Rock music and Pictorial with classical music. All the participants supplied the researcher with an original non-representational painting from each segment of the program. The non-representational paintings were then marked by three independent teacher markers, and the marks of the 72 paintings produced by the students were analysed in a 2 way ANOVA, to ascertain if there was any comparable difference in the non- representional artwork of children with special needs and regular primary students. The descriptive statistics showed that the regular students scored higher marks for art quality than the special students, when the Pictorial only method was used, and there was more variation in the regular students marks than in the special students marks. There was no significant difference between the scores of the regular and the special students when the Pictorial and Rock music method was used, but the regular students scored higher than the special students for the Pictorial and Classical program, although variation was about the same for both. The observed attitude to the musical additions were similar for both the regular and the special students. There were marked changes in the students\u27 attitudes during the Pictorial and Rock music method. Both groups became agitated and overexcited during this segment and initially refused to keep on task, preferring to sing and keep time with the music than to go on with their painting. The Pictorial and classical music program had the opposite effect on the students, helping to create a calming atmosphere in which they were willing to return to their task, and appeared more stimulated and creative, completing better quality non-representional paintings than before. It is anticipated that the outcome of this study may provide significant evidence of the importance of pictorial and musical interventions in art programs, and may lead to further study on this subject. The introduction of the Pictorial and Classical music program to students with severe intellectual difficulties may become an additional aid in the production of their artwork

Selective patient and public involvement: The promise and perils of pharmaceutical intervention for autism

This is the final version of the article. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Guidelines suggest the patient community should be consulted from the outset when designing and implementing basic biomedical research, but such patient communities may include conflicting views. We examined how engagement occurred in one such instance. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to scrutinize patient and public involvement (PPI) by a pan-European biomedical consortium working to develop drugs to treat autism. We aimed to use this as an example to illustrate how PPI has been utilized in biomedical research. SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND ANALYSIS: Two public events, one in the UK and one in Denmark were conducted as part of the consortium's on-going PPI activities in 2014 and 2015. Sixty-six individuals submitted written comments on the consortium's research after these events. The textual data produced were analysed using a thematic approach. Approximately 71% of respondents reported themselves to be adults on the autism spectrum or parents of children with autism. RESULTS: The themes identified illustrated major differences between some community concerns and the biomedical research agenda. While treating autism per se. was seen as problematic by some, treating specific co-occurring problems was seen as helpful in some circumstances. The biomedical consortium selected PPI with a limited user viewpoint at its outset and more widely once basic research was on-going. DISCUSSION: This case illustrates what we term "selective PPI" where only a sympathetic and/or limited patient viewpoint is included. Findings highlight the perils of using selective PPI to legitimise scientific endeavours, and the possibilities for constructive dialogue.This work was supported by EU-AIMS (European Autism Interventions), which receives support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement no. 115300, the resources of which are composed of financial contributions from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (grant FP7/2007-2013); The first author's work was specifically funded by the Wellcome Trust, Grant number 108676/Z/15/Z

Increasing independence in children with autism spectrum disorders using video self modeling.

Independent task completion was examined using a multiple probe across participants research design for three students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) functioning in an inclusive classroom. Results were positive and suggest that video self-modeling (VSM) is a viable solution to decrease prompt dependence and increase independence and task completion for students with an ASD. Participants quickly reached criterion, generalized behavior, and maintained skills after four weeks at 80-100% independence. Social validity of VSM was also measured by surveying teachers and students and found clear variations between general and special education teachers regarding their perceptions of the independence of students as a result of the VSM. This study also revealed the discrepancy between the levels of prompting between general education and special education teachers

Adult autism policy: An analysis of current policy and legislation in the US

The topic of autism has been gradually emerging as a primary focus for research, education, charities, etc. Much of the attention has been centered on children; however, the subject of adults with autism has long been overlooked. Adults with autism need policy improvements to help gain as much independence in their daily lives as possible. It is the purpose of this thesis to identify deficiencies in service delivery and recommend policies to improve the quality of life of adults with autism. I will utilize a cross-sectional multiple case study design. Three private foundations are utilized as the case studies, along with interviews of elites associated in or around these organizations as well as in state government. Previous literature and policies will be reviewed and integrated into the research garnered from the case studies. Following, the information will be synthesized, using John Kingdon\u27s model of Multiple Streams, into viable policy recommendations

In pursuit of rigour and accountability in participatory design

The field of Participatory Design (PD) has greatly diversified and we see a broad spectrum of approaches and methodologies emerging. However, to foster its role in designing future interactive technologies, a discussion about accountability and rigour across this spectrum is needed. Rejecting the traditional, positivistic framework, we take inspiration from related fields such as Design Research and Action Research to develop interpretations of these concepts that are rooted in PD׳s own belief system. We argue that unlike in other fields, accountability and rigour are nuanced concepts that are delivered through debate, critique and reflection. A key prerequisite for having such debates is the availability of a language that allows designers, researchers and practitioners to construct solid arguments about the appropriateness of their stances, choices and judgements. To this end, we propose a “tool-to-think-with” that provides such a language by guiding designers, researchers and practitioners through a process of systematic reflection and critical analysis. The tool proposes four lenses to critically reflect on the nature of a PD effort: epistemology, values, stakeholders and outcomes. In a subsequent step, the coherence between the revealed features is analysed and shows whether they pull the project in the same direction or work against each other. Regardless of the flavour of PD, we argue that this coherence of features indicates the level of internal rigour of PD work and that the process of reflection and analysis provides the language to argue for it. We envision our tool to be useful at all stages of PD work: in the planning phase, as part of a reflective practice during the work, and as a means to construct knowledge and advance the field after the fact. We ground our theoretical discussions in a specific PD experience, the ECHOES project, to motivate the tool and to illustrate its workings

Exploring the Diagnostic Disclosure Experiences of Autistic Individuals in Workplace Settings

Autistic adults are currently facing a crisis of unemployment, malemployment, and underemployment in the UK. Autistic people may face barriers to employment that prevent them from finding or maintaining a job, and autism researchers have sought to understand both what these barriers are and how to eradicate them. While research on autism and employment has become a priority in recent years, studies focussing specifically on autism diagnosis disclosure in workplace settings are scarce. Researchers have largely focussed on measurable employment outcomes for autistic people, such as average number of hours worked per week, average pay, and rates of success in recruitment. Much less common are studies highlighting the employment experiences of autistic people. Moreover, the existing literature contains few studies that explore the potential role of disclosure in improving employment outcomes. In this thesis, I first sought to explore the disclosure experiences of UK-based autistic adults when seeking or maintaining employment. In Chapter 2, my first doctoral study examined the disclosure experiences of a large group of autistic employees and job seekers in an effort to identify the commonalities among their experiences. In the study outlined in Chapter 3, I explored autistic people’s disclosure experiences through more in-depth qualitative methods, identifying common themes and sub-themes found within one-to-one interview transcripts. From these interviews, I also determined the factors associated with the outcomes of disclosure based on the experiences of autistic employees and job seekers in the UK. My last study, outlined in Chapter 4, aimed to examine potential employers’ perspectives on hiring autistic candidates who disclosed on the application materials. This study also compared employers’ perspectives on hiring autistic vs. dyslexic or physically impaired candidates. Finally, in Chapter 5 of this thesis, I discussed how my research findings contribute to the extant literature on the subject of autism disclosure in the workplace. I also outlined how these findings may be translated into best practice for employers and colleagues in workplaces. To conclude, I made three recommendations that may improve disclosure and employment outcomes for autistic individuals, specifically: 1) Interventions or training programmes should be targeted toward other people in the workplace rather than autistic individuals; 2) Inclusive organisational cultures must be shaped by organisation leaders; and 3) Disclosure policies and protocols should clearly welcome but not necessitate disclosure