The control group from the third study will get a chance to use FaceSay in this next study. A fifth study at UAB is planned for the fall, and we are starting to plan a multi-site, multi-investigator study.
The third randomized controlled study, replicating the first study with 32 higher functioning 3-6yo students with an ASD is scheduled to finish this month. Michael Gower, a grad student at UAB, who is conducting this study, with help from Dr. Hopkins and Dr. Biasini, will begin analyzing the results soon. I hope to have preliminary results by September.
Trista Perez, a grad student at UAB, successfully defended her master's thesis,
"Social Skills Training in a Head Start Population" this month. The study was a randomized controlled trial with 80+ neurotypical preschool children. The group that played FaceSay's "Bandaid Clinic" game showed statistically significant results significant improvements in the Benton Face Recognition test. o
"Children’s ability to recognize faces varied significantly based on group assignment nF(2,73) = 7.62, p < .001, with an effect size of 0.17. (Power=0.98) nChildren playing FaceSay™ showed higher scores in a test of face recognition following the 12 week intervention"
Just as interesting is what was not seen. In this HeadStart study, only two of the FaceSay games, "Amazing Gazing" and "Bandaid Clinic" were used. The old version of the "Follow the Face" game, at the time, was thought to be too difficult for the kids and was omitted. "Follow the Face" is the FaceSay game that teaches not emotions explicitly, but an awareness of the physical antecedents of emotions, the facial movements. Interestingly, none of the children in this study showed the improvement shown by the higher functioning autistic children in the first study on the Emotion Recognition test. The difference is that the children in the first study played all three FaceSay games, including the "Follow the Face" game.
The UAB Institutional Review Board has approved another blinded, randomized controlled trial with high functioning ASD students, ages 3-6, using the current version of FaceSay as the intervention. Enrollment is expected to reach over 30.
In a randomized controlled trial w/ 60+ neurotypical preschoolers in the Fall of 2007, University of Alabama, Birmingham grad student Trista Perez, under the supervision of Dr. Fred Biasini, tested the hypothesis that playing FaceSay twice a week for 6 weeks could boost the Emotion Recognition and Face Recognition skills of neurotypical 4yo preschoolers. Inititial analysis shows encouraging results for FaceSay.
The grand hypothesis is that FaceSay can be used inclusively for all pre-schoolers, benefiting a) NT children (whose normal emotion recognition development could be given a boost that would pay dividends in school), b) children already identified on the spectrum, and maybe most importantly, c) children not yet identified.
Demonstration and Evaluation of Avatar Assistant:
Encouraging Social Development in Children with
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Maria Hopkins, PhD
Fred Biasini, PhD
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
The overall purpose of our third study was to determine if a computer-based social skills intervention for children with autism or Asperger Syndrome is effective in improving specific social skills.
View the PowerPoint presentation given at UA Tuscaloosa
Specific Aims:
- The study investigated the effects of an avatar assistant on children with ASD’s emotional cognition.
- The study examined the social skills effects of the intervention.
Measures:
- Social Skills Rating System
- Social Skills Observation
- Emotional Cognition
- Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT)
- Childhood Autism Rating Scale
- Benton Test of Facial Recognition
Participants:
- Children with autism (n=25) or Asperger Syndrome (n=24)
- Diagnosis based on DSM-IV criteria
- Age range 6-15 (M = 10.17)
- 44 boys; 5 girls
- Mitchell’s Place, Glenwood, Shelby County schools
Intervention and Control:
- FaceSay and Tux Paint
- 12 sessions (2 per week for 30 minutes)
- One child per computer
- 1-2 research assistants
- Touch screens
- Attendance rates >83% (10 sessions)
- Rewards
Participant Demographics:
Group: Autism Aspergers
Variable: Training Control Training Control
Age 10.31 10.57 10.05 9.85
(3.31) (3.20) (2.30) (2.87)
IQ 55.09 54.79 91.88 93.04
(20.91) (16.41) (19.54) (25.47)
CARS 36.64 36.92 34.01 35.03
(3.93) (5.79) (5.26) (5.22)
Results 1: Emotion Recognition
Group: Autism Aspergers
Measure Control Training Control Training
Adjusted 5.23 6.53 6.79 8.7
Means of (p < 0.05) (p < 0.05)
Emotion
Recognition
Autism: Total emotional skills, F(1, 21) = 6.40, p < 0.05
Asperger: Total emotional skills, F(1, 20) = 23.04, p < 0.001
Post hoc analysis:
R2 = 0.873, F(3, 21) = 55.96, p < 0.001
Higher KBIT scores and pre-test Emotion Composite scores were related to higher post-test Emotion Composite scores.
Results 2: Facial Recognition
Group: Autism Aspergers
Measure Control Training Control Training
Adjusted 12.84 14.48 15.42 18.41
Means of (p > 0.05) (p < 0.05)
Facial
Recognition
Autism: Benton-Short form F(1, 21) = 0.69, p > 0.05
Asperger: Benton-Short form F(1, 20) = 8.29, p < 0.01
Results 3: Parent Reported Social Skills
Group: Autism Aspergers
Measure Control Training Control Training
Adjusted 58.51 64.99 62.27 67.77
Means of (p < 0.05) (p = 0.05)
Social
Skills
Rating
Autism: SSRS, F(1, 21) = 10.36, p < 0.05
Asperger: SSRS, F(1, 20) = 4.36, p = 0.05
Results 4: Observed Social Skills
Group: Autism Aspergers
Measure Control Training Control Training
Adjusted 11.04 9.6 10.46 7.54
Means of (p < 0.05) (p < 0.05)
Social
Skills
Observation
Autism: F(1, 21) = 5.05, p < 0.05
Asperger: F(1, 20) = 13.61, p < 0.001
Post hoc analysis:
R2 = 0.209, F(3, 21) = 3.12, p < 0.05
Higher CARS scores (e.g. more autism symptoms) were related to higher post-test Social Skills Observation scores (e.g. more inappropriate social interactions)
Acknolwedgements
Autism Lab
Symbionica
Dr. Franklin R. Amthor
Civitan International
Mitchells' Place
Glenwood
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