Very little is known about the ability of low-functioning children with autism (LFA) to engage in collaborative activities. Children with autism have deficits in other-awareness, joint attention and imitation, skills considered fundamental in social cognition and associated with the ability to collaborate. Research has focused on identifying the impairments of LFA children's social interactional abilities in controlled experimental contexts with adult partners. However, there is a paucity of research investigating if LFA children can participate in collaborative activity with peers, and if so what form the collaborative behaviour takes. Children with autism are highly motivated to interact with technology and technology is evolving fast offering opportunities to apply it to research. Therefore, we used innovative technology and a novel software architecture called Separate Control of Shared Space (SCoSS) on three types of shareable computer technology to aid our investigation of other-awareness and collaboration in LFA children. Paper 1, describes two studies using a dual-control laptop to present picture-sorting tasks to children paired with an adult and peer. SCoSS was more effective at facilitating other-awareness in TD and LFA children than a standard interface. Crucially, LFA children showed no active other-awareness without the supportive interface. Paper 2 presented two different picture-sorting problems for pairs of LFA children to solve. This yielded a model of collaborative problem-solving based on a sequence of three prerequisite capacities. Paper 3 successfully applied the SCoSS framework to picture-sequencing tasks delivered via tablet technology. As in paper 1, pairs of LFA children were only actively aware of a peer using linked dual-tablets, analogous to SCoSS. In summary, the thesis presents evidence that the other-awareness of LFA children can be facilitated by technology to support collaborative problem-solving, providing a more complete profile of their abilities and offers evidence that LFA are sensitive to the type of collaborative partner.

Students, at a partial hospital setting in Western Tennessee with high functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) were being removed from general education classrooms. Researchers have indicated that restrictive settings preclude interaction with neurotypical peers and access to general education experiences. The purpose of this case study was to examine educational inclusion for children with HFASD from the perspective of 2 teachers, 2 therapists, and 2 parents of students at the distirct site. This study was grounded in the principles of social learning theory and theory of mind, executive function, and central coherence processes. The guiding research questions focused on how parents, teachers, and therapists perceived behavior and social skills of the child with HFASD could be supported and developed in inclusive environments and what support was needed to foster inclusion of students with HFASD. Individual interview data were transcribed, open coded, and thematically analyzed. Findings included 3 primary themes: providing support in inclusive groups, helping included students develop relationships with those who are different from themselves, and considering the individual nature of the children. The participants also noted that orientations were needed for peer group, parents, and teachers. Implications for positive social change include providing recommendations to the local district on how to best support inclusion

Since the 1970s, music librarians have been discussing the challenges of cataloging music media. In the 1990s, they began work on a Music Thesaurus to provide a multi-faceted approach to indexing, cataloging, and retrieving music media. In 1999 Indiana University proposed a digital music library, to allow for better indexing and retrieval in addition to content-based music retrieval. In 2000, a commercial venture, The Music Genome Project ©, began cataloging sound recordings of popular music by hundreds of musical characteristics and has created a user interface that allows listeners to enter the title and artist of a certain piece of music and receive recommendations for similar music to then purchase via Pandora.com. The following paper will address the question: how might current analyzing and classifying methods be used to provide additional indexing that facilitates retrieval and use of sound recordings by special populations, specifically professionals treating children with Asperger’s syndrome?

This research addresses the lack of an existing psychometrically sound Aspergers Syndrome self-screening instrument for adults. Initial instrument development procedures were carried out by creating an item pool using existing Asperger measures. Items were rewritten following common item writing rules suggested by several researchers as reference. Five new domains were created and the items were re-categorized. Expert panel of nine judges specialized in Psychometrics, ASD, School Psychology, and Speech-Language Pathology were asked to rate the relevancy of items to their domains in order to obtain evidence of content validity. These experts were chosen because of their relatedness to Aspergers Syndrome and their expertise in instrument development. First, the quality of the judges ratings were examined to identify any aberrant judges. Ratings were then analyzed using the remaining six judges using three descriptive and three quantitative methods to examine the representativeness and relevancy of each item to their domain. A total of 55 items were identified as satisfactory by the judges. The second part of this study was to compare the content validity analytical methods. It was concluded that the percentage agreement, the content validity index (CVI), and the content validity coefficients (VIK) were the best methods to use in selecting the satisfactory items. This research aims to bring more attention to the importance of psychometric properties in measures for the Autism Spectrum Disorder field. It also hope to shed some light on which content validity analyses would best be used under certain circumstances. Limitations of study and future directions were also discussed.

This research addresses the lack of an existing psychometrically sound Aspergers Syndrome self-screening instrument for adults. Initial instrument development procedures were carried out by creating an item pool using existing Asperger measures. Items were rewritten following common item writing rules suggested by several researchers as reference. Five new domains were created and the items were re-categorized. Expert panel of nine judges specialized in Psychometrics, ASD, School Psychology, and Speech-Language Pathology were asked to rate the relevancy of items to their domains in order to obtain evidence of content validity. These experts were chosen because of their relatedness to Aspergers Syndrome and their expertise in instrument development. First, the quality of the judges ratings were examined to identify any aberrant judges. Ratings were then analyzed using the remaining six judges using three descriptive and three quantitative methods to examine the representativeness and relevancy of each item to their domain. A total of 55 items were identified as satisfactory by the judges. The second part of this study was to compare the content validity analytical methods. It was concluded that the percentage agreement, the content validity index (CVI), and the content validity coefficients (VIK) were the best methods to use in selecting the satisfactory items. This research aims to bring more attention to the importance of psychometric properties in measures for the Autism Spectrum Disorder field. It also hope to shed some light on which content validity analyses would best be used under certain circumstances. Limitations of study and future directions were also discussed.

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-86).

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Psychology. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Children and adolescents with autism commonly struggle with social interactions. In particular, it has been found that children and adolescents with autism struggle with verbal irony in face-to-face interactions where there are many competing cues that require their attention (i.e., body language, facial expressions, intonation). This study made use of Bubble Dialogue (Cunningham et al., 1992), a form of computer-mediated communication, to examine how children and adolescents with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome (HFA/AS) comprehended verbal irony when these competing cues were removed from social interactions. Speaker attribute information has been shown to be beneficial in aiding typically developing children with successful verbal irony comprehension. In this study, participants with HFA/AS and matched typically developing participants were presented with Bubble Dialogue scenarios where speaker attribute was manipulated such that speakers were labelled as a peer, an adult, or without a speaker attribute label. Participants were presented with scenarios where the speaker made either an ironic criticism or a literal compliment in order to assess whether or not the information about the speaker influenced their comprehension and interpretation of speaker belief, speaker intent and speaker humour. Participants with HFA/AS provided responses along similar themes to their typically developing counterparts for both literal compliments and ironic criticisms in each speaker attribute condition. Participants with HFA/AS performed similarly to typically developing participants on their interpretations of speaker belief, speaker intent, and speaker humour. These findings suggest that, within the context of computer-mediated communication, children with HFA/AS are able to perform as well as typically developing participants on measures of verbal irony comprehension.

In South Africa basic education is a right for all children (Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996) and mainstream education for learners with so called mild disabilities such as High Functioning Autism or Asperger’s Syndrome (HFA / AS) is available according to government policy (White Paper 6, South African Department of Education, 2001b). The aim was to explore barriers to admission to mainstream primary school education for learners with HFA / AS. A mixed methods research design with two phases was used. Twenty-eight government primary schools in two circuits of a KZN school district completed a questionnaire; five parents of children with HFA / AS took part in a focus group discussion and an autoethnographic essay was written by the researcher. The data were analysed with descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Some schools and the majority of parents were unaware of the learners’ educational rights. Gaps in the implementation of policy exist, which contributed significantly to the barriers to admission for learners with HFA / AS. Main barriers were lack of knowledge and misconceptions about HFA / AS amongst school staff, lack of training for school staff, lack of government funding, lack of unity between parents and teachers/schools and negative attitudes towards inclusion of learners with HFA / AS. Suggested ways of overcoming the barriers to admission included small classes, class assistants or facilitators, improved unity and communication between parents and teachers and greater government support. With solutions addressed in the future, learners with HFA / AS can access suitable education in order to become contributing adults to society (Attwood, 2007). / Thesis (M.O.T.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2014.

Given the broad public health concern, lack of reliability of diagnosis across providers and substantial resources needed to support individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, the current study serves to contribute to the field in informing the contexts of both research and clinical service. The utility of a standardized sensory-motor battery was investigated in regards to its ability (1) to determine what, if any, differences exist between ASD diagnoses or subgroups in both sensory functioning and motor functioning; and (2) to determine whether such discrepancies, if they exist, are capable of differentiating groups. Results from the quadratic discriminant analysis demonstrated that the factor scores derived from the Dean-Woodcock Sensory-Motor Battery significantly differentiated the ASD and nonclinical comparison groups. Factor 1 (Simple Sensory Skills) exhibited the strongest relationship, followed by Factor 2 (Cortical Motor and Complex Sensory Skills), then Factor 3 (Subcortical Motor Tasks and Auditory/Visual Acuity Skills). Findings from the study lend initial evidence of the use of the DWSMB as a potential measure to include within the two-stage diagnostic process for ASD. Use of the DWSMB as a screening measure may facilitate access to early intervention services given the primitive nature of sensory-motor tasks. In addition, the availability of the DWSMB as a standardized measure of sensory and motor functioning may promote increased sensitivity and specificity among diagnostic providers thus improving outcomes of individuals with ASD who can access services more readily with earlier, more reliable diagnoses. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Department of Educational Psychology