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Effectiveness of Simulated Experience in teaching Social Skills to children with ASD
- 1. Effectiveness of social stories on social behaviors under a targeted simulated experience among children with special needs Amanda Goh (03) - Koh Jiat Ru (29) - Lim Ee Suan (32) - Cheryl Yeo (62)
- 2. ➢Children with special needs face challenges with social functioning ➢Solitary use of social stories and simulated experience proven to be highly effective (McComas, Pivik & Laflamme, 1998) ➢Integrate both components together and explore its effectiveness Rational e
- 3. ➢To help children with special needs better understand a social situation ➢To increase pro-social behavior ➢Enhance the effectiveness of social stories using social simulation Purpose
- 4. How can the introduction of social stories positively transform social behaviors under a targeted simulated experience among children with special needs in the context of Singapore? Research Question
- 5. Early intervention centre which caters to children with special needs, up to age 7 8 children with different conditions, aged 5 to 6 years old Venue Participants
- 6. ➢Noise reducing headphones ○ Help children with autism and sensory issues manage sound challenges ➢Precaution for children afraid of the dark ○ Lights were switched on during the first simulation experience for children to get used to the surrounding Considerations
- 7. Children will be able to: ➢stay seated through the movie screening ➢be quiet/ whisper if they need to talk ➢Practice appropriate behaviors in movie theatres ○ i.e. not choosing or changing seats in theatre ○ i.e. not walking or running around the theatre ○ i.e. clear trash appropriately Target Behaviors and Response
- 8. Materials
- 9. Materials
- 10. Materials
- 12. First session (baseline): ● Simulated setting without the introduction of social story. Screening of “The Box Trolls” Third session (Intervention): Introduced social story before entering the simulated setting. Screening of “Madagascar” Second session (Intervention): Introduced social story before entering the simulated setting. Screening of “Up” Final session: Simulated setting in a different classroom without social story. Screening of “Finding Nemo” Baseline and Intervention Procedure
- 13. 1st Session ➔ Checklist to observe children’s social behaviour ➔ Teacher’s feedback forms 2nd & 3rd Sessions ➔ Checklist to observe children’s social behaviour Final Session ➔ Checklist (children’s social behaviour) ➔ Children’s interview ➔ Teacher’s feedback forms Recording Procedures
- 15. Statistical Analysis of Quantifies data
- 19. How must we behave in the theatre? What are the things we cannot do in the theatre?“We must be quiet.” “We cannot stand, must sit.” “We cannot walk around.” “We cannot anyhow throw rubbish.” “We cannot bring our own food!” Qualitative data: Findings from children’s interview
- 22. ➢Children’s late arrival affected the simulation experience ➢Children attend school on different days of the week ➢Gap exist due to school holidays ➢Last session was not conducted in an actual theatre Limitations
- 23. ➢ Examine other social situations and public spaces under the local context ➢ Assess the durability of the intervention ➢Utilize a larger sample size ➢Implement it on children who belong to other age groups ➢Implement on children who do not present with special needs but have social skills deficits Future research
- 24. ➢Results add to the current small though growing literature base ➢Current research can be replicated while addressing future research needs Summary
- 25. McComas, J., Pivik, J., & Laflamme, M. (1998). Current uses of virtual reality for children with disabilities. Virtual Environments in Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience. Retrieved from http://www.cybertherapy.info/ves%20in %20clinical%20psycho/McComas.doc.pdf Reference
Editor's Notes
- Children with special needs routinely experience challenges with social functioning. Social stories aim to decrease the frequency of inappropriate behaviours as it provide guidance on how to behave and what to expect in a specific situation. Consequently, simulated experience serves as a platform which will enable children to put into practice the social information that they have acquired. However, it is important to note that these two components are usually used solitarily. Thus, we hope to integrate both components together and explore its effectiveness under the local context.
- The purpose of our research project is to help children with special needs better understand and overcome the social barriers in a social situation by increasing their pro-social behavior. We also aim to enhance the effectiveness of social stories by pairing it with practices through a social simulation.
- The research question that drives our project is:How can the introduction of social stories positively transform social behaviors under a targeted simulated experience among children with special needs?
- All participants attend an early intervention centre which caters to children with special needs from 0 to 7 years old. Participants were selected through the centre manager and classroom educators’ nominations of children who are diagnosed with varying special needs like ASD, GDD, and SLD between 5 to 6 years of age.
- Noise reducing headphones that are commonly utilized to help children with autism and sensory issues manage sound challenges were provided for all 4 sessions as we understand that some children are afraid or sensitive to loud noises. They will be able to enjoy the show without auditory discomforts as the headphones are able to reduce the impact of loud noises, and help manage stress and anxiety in the loud environment. Taking into consideration that some children might be afraid of the dark, lights were switched on during the first simulation experience for children to get used to the surrounding. We also explained that the lights will be switched off for the subsequent sessions in order for them to understand the situation.
- Our targeted behaviors are for children to stay seated through the movie screening, keep quite or whisper if they need to talk, and practice appropriate behaviors in the theatre.
- 4 animated films which are age appropriate,easily relatable and within 100 minutes were screened. This will help to attain children’s interest and encourage them to stay seated during the simulated experience.
- First session (baseline data): Children were brought to the simulated setting without the introduction of social story. Screening of “The Box Trolls”. Second session: Children were introduced with social story before entering the simulated setting. Screening of “Up” Third session: Children were introduced with social story before entering the simulated setting. Screening of “Madagascar” Final session: Children were brought to the simulated setting in a different classroom. Screening of “Finding Nemo”
- First session: Observations of children’s social behaviour (Baseline data) using checklist Feedback forms the teachers Second and Third session: Observations of children’s social behaviour using checklist Final session: Observations of children’s social behaviour using checklist Children’s interview Feedback forms for the teachers
- Each squares in the model represent one child. The white square represent the children who did NOT follow the appropriate behaviors, while the blue squares represent those who can follow. As seen in the results, there is an obvious improvement in the children’s behaviours before the last session at the simulated theatre. From the post intervention results, all of the children were able to queue in line and wait for their turn when getting their movie tickets and snacks.
- This graph shows the number of children who remained quiet in 15 minutes intervals throughout the movie screening. Findings show that there is a significant increase in the number of participants who were quiet/ whispering appropriately.
- Participants were able to remain seated for a longer period of time during the post intervention session. Overall, inappropriate behaviors were reduced and we observed an increase in appropriate behaviors across all participants.
- Feedback from teacher were positive as well. On a scale of 1 to 5, they initially felt that the children were challenging to handle. However they felt that the kids were less disruptive as the sessions progressed.
- From the children’s interview, they verbally displayed their understanding of appropriate behaviors in a movie theatre.
- In the first picture, participants were looking at the movie posters and talking about the movies they watched. The 2nd one shows a participant getting his movie ticket and snack coupon. The last picture shows the participants lining up and waiting for their turn to get the snacks and go into the theatre. They were given the option to decide the snack they want.
- The first picture shows the set up of the intervention sessions, where the movie is screened on a TV, with teacher’s supervision. The next picture shows the post intervention session, with a larger movie screen. The last picture shows the participants throwing away their trash and keeping the theatre clean.
- Some of the children came in late while the movie was already screening which can be a form of distraction and some attended schools on different days of the week. We also had to pause the intervention for a week due to the school holidays. Initially, our plan was to hold the final session in a actual movie theatre but the school had other concerns.
- Future studies could examine other social situations and public places for example how to behave appropriately on public transports or the library. It is also possible to evalute the durability of intervention over a period of time. A larger sample size will also provide more influence. The extent to which social stories and simulated experience are effective with other age groups remains to be explored. There is little research examining the potential for social story interventions to be used with children who do not present with special needs but exhibit social skills deficit.
- The results of this study add to the current small though growing literature base in support of the use of social Stories and simulated experience for some children. Though the results are promising, additional replications are needed to confirm the efficacy of intervention