EAGER: Enhancing the executive functions of neurodiverse children through technology-mediated sociodramatic play

University Of Iowa, Iowa City IA

Investigators

Abstract

Executive functions (EF) are cognitive processes needed for goal-oriented behaviors such as attentional control, information processing, and goal setting. They are critical for success in school and throughout life, but neurodiverse children have difficulty with EF. Tools of the Mind (ToM) style sociodramatic play (in which groups of children engage in make-believe with common goals for planning, role playing, interactive social dialogue and negotiation, improvisation, and use of generic props) has been shown to be a successful approach to developing EF with neurodiverse children, but implementation can be challenging due to the substantial training required for adult facilitators. The goal of this exploratory research is to invent technologies to lower this barrier. Project outcomes will yield artifact, empirical, and methodological contributions to equally serve children diagnosed with autism and intellectual disabilities and who display a range of complementary strengths and weaknesses in their EF skills, thereby providing teachers and therapists with the customizable tools necessary to support each child so as to improve their learning outcomes and enhance their quality of life. Software and hardware instructions will be published online, and the findings will be presented both at Computer Science venues and Down Syndrome and Autism conventions so different audiences are aware of them. Additional broad impacts will derive from the inclusion of neurodiverse children in participatory design sessions with one female Ph.D. student and four undergraduate students, as well as summer undergraduate researchers who are female and/or with disabilities through CRA-W DREU or AccessComputing programs. The project will leverage the team's prior work on StoryCarnival, a system designed to lower barriers to ToM for typically developing 3-4-year old children, which includes interactive visual stories to promote sociodramatic play, a play planner app to help children transition from experiencing a story to role playing, and tangible voice agents controlled by adult facilitators to keep children engaged. StoryCarnivalU will expand the reach of StoryCarnival to a universal set of children (with intellectual disabilities and autism), increasing our understanding of how quality content, interactive media scaffolds, and voice agents support collaborative activities in physical spaces for the target community and thereby lower barriers to evidence-based activities to promote EF skills. StoryCarnivalU will be developed iteratively through a series of 18 design sessions with families having at least one child diagnosed with autism or an intellectual disability along with siblings. Novel approaches to customization will enable the target populations to receive help from ToM-style play, with special emphasis on story content, play planning, and voice agent design and control, with additional focus on the ecology surrounding technology use including optimal group sizes, incorporating behavioral goals and expectations, and providing support for the symbolic use of props during play. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.