THE SAS STRATEGY TRAINING FOR CHILDREN WITH ASD IN INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL ROBOTICS ACTIVITIES

Educational Robotics in inclusive learning environments creates a wide area of research where innovative teaching practices and theoretical approaches are developed and investigated in order for the new growing educational challenges to be met. In this context, an educational intervention research was carried out using mixed research methodology. The aim of the research was to investigate the effect of the“SAS Strategy Training” a strategy that developed to foster the participation of children with autism, at level 2, in inclusive teamwork with peers during construction and programming LEGO Mindstorms. 2 children, 10-11 years old, diagnosed with autism, at level 2, participated in two inclusive educational robotics teams with typical peers. Τhe SaS Strategy has been integrated in the collaboration script that was designed to support the interaction between the team members during their collaboration on programming LEGO Mindstorms. The “SaS Strategy Training” had encouraging results in reducing the barriers of the participation of the children with autism in teamwork with their typical peers. Critical questions, reflections and new research horizons emerged.

Do all students understand the same message? High school teachers' use of non-literal expressions

<p>Studies about neuro-typical, second language (L2) learners’ understanding of non-literal (e.g., metaphoric) expressions and its relationship to academic tasks are numerous. However, there are few studies (Kerber & Grunwell, 1997; Littlemore, Chen, Koester & Barnden, 2011, Lazar, Warr-Leeper, Nicholson, & Johnson, 1989) about the awareness that teachers have of their use of figurative language / non-literal expressions and the potentially problematic nature of their use of these expressions. Parallel findings are seen in the field of autism research where much of the literature on autism has highlighted the tendency for students who have been given a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome (AS), a high functioning variant of autism, to take non-literal expressions literally. A primary aim of this study was therefore to explore to what extent (if at all) mainstream high-school teachers’ use of non-literal language poses obstacles for comprehension with AS-students in their classroom settings. A secondary aim of this study was to explore teachers’ awareness and knowledge about their non-literal language use with AS-students. Nine teachers and eighteen students from the same year group were participants, of which nine students had a diagnosis of AS and nine were neuro-typical students (NS). The participants were students and teachers from high-schools in Wellington, New Zealand who all spoke English as their first language (L1). A sample of episodes of the teachers’ in-class use of non-literal language, representing a range of established expressions (for example, idioms) as well as episodes of more ‘creative’ non-literal use of language (including irony), were selected to serve as prompts in interviews with the teachers. These episodes served to elicit the teachers’ reflections on the reasons for why they resorted to those figures of speech. They also served as prompts in stimulated recall interviews with the AS-students and their neuro-typical peers, where these participants were asked to give their interpretations of their teachers’ utterances. Overall, the results from this task suggested that the AS-students found it harder than their neuro-typical peers to recognize their teachers’ intended meanings. This finding, however, needs to be interpreted with caution, because the AS-students also seemed less inclined to offer the kind of explanations (for example, paraphrasing what the teacher had said) that provide clear evidence of comprehension. Interestingly, most of the AS-students demonstrated metacognitive strategies in the detection of their teachers’ creative use of metaphor and their teachers’ use of irony. However, this alone did not always result in a correct interpretation. When shown the instances of non-literal utterances they had used in class, most of the teachers reported motives for using these, but these were predominantly motives that emerged during real-time classroom interaction. Most of the teachers expressed surprise at the extent to which they (the teachers) used non-literal language in interactions with their students. Strategies to support student interpretation of figurative language are addressed together with recommendations for further research. It is intended that this study will be of interest to teachers and clinicians who support students with a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome.</p>

Do all students understand the same message? High school teachers' use of non-literal expressions

<p>Studies about neuro-typical, second language (L2) learners’ understanding of non-literal (e.g., metaphoric) expressions and its relationship to academic tasks are numerous. However, there are few studies (Kerber & Grunwell, 1997; Littlemore, Chen, Koester & Barnden, 2011, Lazar, Warr-Leeper, Nicholson, & Johnson, 1989) about the awareness that teachers have of their use of figurative language / non-literal expressions and the potentially problematic nature of their use of these expressions. Parallel findings are seen in the field of autism research where much of the literature on autism has highlighted the tendency for students who have been given a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome (AS), a high functioning variant of autism, to take non-literal expressions literally. A primary aim of this study was therefore to explore to what extent (if at all) mainstream high-school teachers’ use of non-literal language poses obstacles for comprehension with AS-students in their classroom settings. A secondary aim of this study was to explore teachers’ awareness and knowledge about their non-literal language use with AS-students. Nine teachers and eighteen students from the same year group were participants, of which nine students had a diagnosis of AS and nine were neuro-typical students (NS). The participants were students and teachers from high-schools in Wellington, New Zealand who all spoke English as their first language (L1). A sample of episodes of the teachers’ in-class use of non-literal language, representing a range of established expressions (for example, idioms) as well as episodes of more ‘creative’ non-literal use of language (including irony), were selected to serve as prompts in interviews with the teachers. These episodes served to elicit the teachers’ reflections on the reasons for why they resorted to those figures of speech. They also served as prompts in stimulated recall interviews with the AS-students and their neuro-typical peers, where these participants were asked to give their interpretations of their teachers’ utterances. Overall, the results from this task suggested that the AS-students found it harder than their neuro-typical peers to recognize their teachers’ intended meanings. This finding, however, needs to be interpreted with caution, because the AS-students also seemed less inclined to offer the kind of explanations (for example, paraphrasing what the teacher had said) that provide clear evidence of comprehension. Interestingly, most of the AS-students demonstrated metacognitive strategies in the detection of their teachers’ creative use of metaphor and their teachers’ use of irony. However, this alone did not always result in a correct interpretation. When shown the instances of non-literal utterances they had used in class, most of the teachers reported motives for using these, but these were predominantly motives that emerged during real-time classroom interaction. Most of the teachers expressed surprise at the extent to which they (the teachers) used non-literal language in interactions with their students. Strategies to support student interpretation of figurative language are addressed together with recommendations for further research. It is intended that this study will be of interest to teachers and clinicians who support students with a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome.</p>

Performance of School-Age Children With Sensory Processing Challenges and Typical Peers on the Motor Planning Maze Assessment

Date Presented 04/13/21 OTs working with children with sensory processing and praxis challenges need fast, valid, and reliable assessments to identify motor planning difficulties. The Motor Planning Maze Assessment (MPMA) is a 5-minute screening for motor planning skills that can help meet this clinical need. Age and gender trend performance on the MPMA was examined in children with sensory processing and integration challenges and typical peers 5–12 years of age, as were group differences. Primary Author and Speaker: Teresa A. May-Benson Additional Authors and Speakers: Maxwell Toepfer, Alicia Noffke, Abigail Bradfield, Jessica Schmidt, and Kristen A. Pickett Contributing Authors: Karla Ausderau, Susan Andreae

How set switching affects the use of context-appropriate language by autistic and neuro-typical children

Autistic children have difficulties in adapting their language for particular listeners and contexts. We asked whether these difficulties are more prominent when children are required to be cognitively flexible, when changing how they have previously referred to a particular object. We compared autistic ( N = 30) with neuro-typical 5- to 7-year-olds. Each child participated in two conditions. In the switch condition, the same animal had to be re-described across trials to be appropriately informative (e.g. a participant could appropriately describe a picture as ‘dog’ on one trial but later the participant needed to re-describe the same picture as ‘spotty dog’ to differentiate it from a co-present black dog). In the no-switch condition, no picture needed to be re-described. Nonetheless, the conditions were matched regarding the requirement to use both complex (e.g. spotty cat) versus simple expressions (e.g. horse). Autistic children were more over-informative than peers even prior to the requirement to re-describe an animal. Overall, we found a main effect of the switch condition and no interaction with group. Switching a description hinders the ability of children to be appropriately informative. As autistic children are generally less appropriately informative, the requirement to switch leads to particularly poor performance in autism. Lay abstract The way autistic individuals use language often gives the impression that they are not considering how much information listeners need in a given context. The same child can give too much information in one context (e.g. saying ‘the big cup’ with only one cup present) and too little information in another context (e.g. entering a room and announcing ‘the red one’ when the listener has no prior knowledge regarding what this refers to). We asked whether many autistic children particularly struggle to tailor their language appropriately in situations where this means changing how they have previously described something. That is, if a speaker has recently described an object as ‘the cup’, the need to switch to describing it as ‘the big cup’ could hinder the speaker’s ability to use language in a context-appropriate way. We found that switching descriptions indeed makes it more difficult for children to use language in a context-appropriate way, but that this effect did not play out differently for autistic versus neuro-typical children. Autistic children were, however, less likely to provide a context-appropriate amount of information overall than were neuro-typical peers. The combination of these effects meant that when object re-description was required, autistic children only produced an appropriate description half the time. In contrast, without a requirement to re-describe, autistic children could indeed take listener informational needs into account. Applied professionals should consider whether a requirement to change the way the child has previously said something may hinder a child’s ability to communicate effectively.

The Comparative Study of Pretend Plays Between 5 - 7 Years Old High-functioning Autistic Children and Their Normal Peers with Child-initiated Pretend Play Assessment

Background: Autism is one of the prevalent disorders in childhood. Children with autism have difficulties in different life skills and their daily activities. Pretend plays are essential in improving these skills, but the patterns of playing are impaired in this group. Objectives: The present study was designed to compare pretend plays between high-functioning autistic children and typical peers. Methods: The research is the result of a cross-sectional study. Two groups of children with high-functioning autism and typical peers in the age range of 5 - 7 years were studied. Each group consisted of 87 participants who were selected by convenience sampling. Each participant was assessed by the Child-Initiated Pretend Play assessment (ChIPPA) test. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and an independent t-test. Results: Data analysis and comparison of scores between the two groups of children showed a significant difference in the mean scores. The average percentage score of the number of object substitutions (NOS) and the elaborate pretend play actions (PEPA) in children with autism were lower than typical peers (P < 0.001). In other words, children with autism were less able to organize play and pretend. But the number of imitated actions (NIA) scores in children with autism was higher than their counterparts (P < 0.001). That is, children with autism relied more on examiner-playing patterns. Conclusions: The significant difference in scores between children with autism and typical peers showed significantly lower pretend skills in children with autism. According to pretend play basics on academic skills, language, and having a flexible mind, and with the attention to the same problems in children with autism, pretend play can be in greater attention to be improved among these groups.

Short stature and the effect of human growth hormone: Guidelines for the care of people with spina bifida

It is estimated that a significant percentage of individuals with spina bifida (SB) are shorter than their age-matched typical peers. Parents of children with spina bifida may ask if human growth hormone is appropriate for their child. This article discusses short stature and the use of human growth hormone among children with SB. This guideline was developed for SB Healthcare Guidelines from the 2018 Spina Bifida Association’s Fourth Edition of the Guidelines for the Care of People with Spina Bifida.

Reaction to robots in social and non-social contexts – comparison of children with autism spectrum disorders and their typical peers

Brojna istraživanja nastala u okviru socijalno-asistivne robotike usmjerena su na stvaranje učinkovite podrške djeci s poremećajem iz spektra autizma (PSA) kroz njihovu interakciju s robotima. Ona počivaju na premisi da djeca sa PSA-om pokazuju sklonost elektroničkim napravama, a slabiji interes za socijalne aspekte okoline. No izrazito veliki interes za elektroničke naprave u sve djece otvara pitanje reagiraju li djeca sa PSA-om na prisustvo robota drukčije od djece tipičnog razvoja. Cilj je ovog istraživanja bio usporediti reakcije djece sa PSA-om i djece tipičnog razvoja na robota u nesocijalnom (zadatak “robot-predmet” u kojem su u prostoriji prisutni robot i drugi zanimljivi predmeti) i socijalnom kontekstu (zadatak “robot osoba”; prisustvo robota i nepoznate osobe). Uzorak je činilo dvadesetero djece predškolske dobi, po 10 u svakoj skupini. Rezultati su pokazali da djeca sa PSA-om u nesocijalnom kontekstu uglavnom pokazuju podjednake obrasce ponašanja kao i djeca tipičnog razvoja, odnosno da ne postoje razlike u dužini prosječnog trajanja usmjerenosti pogleda prema robotu te dužini fizičke interakcije s robotom. Razlike su uočene tek u socijalnom aspektu – djeca tipičnog razvoja u većoj su mjeri komunicirala o robotu s roditeljem. U socijalnoj situaciji (zadatak “robot-osoba”) djeca sa PSA-om su značajno više ulazila u fizičku interakciju s robotom od djece tipičnog razvoja, dok su djeca tipičnog razvoja znatno češće usmjeravala pažnju na osobu u odnosu na djecu sa PSA-om. Zaključno obje skupine djece znatno su više pažnje usmjeravale na robota negoli na prisutnu osobu, ali je u djece sa PSA-om usmjerenost na socijalnu okolnu bila izrazito snižena. Ovi podaci ukazuju na veliku atraktivnost koju roboti predstavljaju za djecu s poremećajem iz spektra autizma i djecu tipičnog razvoja, ali i na bitnu razliku među njima koja se očituje u izostanku obrazaca socijalnog ponašanja i usmjerenosti na druge osobe u okolini koji je prisutan u djece sa PSA-om.