A research program using SketchUp to facilitate social, creative, and job skills in children on the autism spectrum

An Unexpected JourneyOverview of the Journey

PAR (Participatory Action Research)◦Family members as advisors and co-

researchers

Steve Gross as SketchUp MentorUsing SketchUp to design theme

parks

Connecting to iSTAR program

GRANDPARENTS

SupportEmotionalSocialFunctional

InteractionWith grandchildren around technologyWith other grandparents comforting

and inspiring

iSTAR Gives Them Hope

MOTHERS (PARENTS)

Future SupportsA Vision for the Future

◦ “watching them do a good job puts us at ease for the future..what is coming up in their lives”

◦Skills for jobs “Okay, so you’re not going to fling

hamburgers for the rest of your life”

◦Sense of accomplishmentSerendipitous Outcome

◦Friendships

Family SupportRelief

◦Not another failure◦ “We come to this

[program]. . . know[ing] it is a safe place. . . . We’re going to be happy, and he’s going to be happy. We walk away and take this feeling home with us.”

Less Tension◦At home, siblings

Parental SupportsSharing with Other

Parents “We’re kind of a group of

parents who’ve been thrust to figure out a problem nobody else has had before.”

Success◦ Children relating to

others as “people” not characters in a movie or a story.

◦ AcceptanceSustaining iSTAR

Program◦ Lifeline for them and

their children

YOUTH

Benefits to YouthSketchUp Skills

Benefits to Youth

True Success “Everyone’s smart enough to understand when you’re getting a real compliment…. He wants someone to recognize the things he’s really good at.”

Observational Data from WorkshopsAuthentic Relationships

Observational Data from Workshops

Peer Mentors◦ Boys provide input◦ Peers model new

techniques◦ Competition and

conflictAdult Mentors

◦ Provide humor◦ Scaffold peers helping◦ Model fixing mistakes◦ Show new tools◦ Provide specific praise

CLASS PRESENTATIONS

Positive OutcomesLeadership Skills

Flexibility

Enhanced Peer Status

Self-Confidence

Leadership Skills

Flexibility

Enhanced Peer Status

Self-Confidence

Sibling Involvement

iSTAR UPDATES

ConferencesNational Conferences

◦National Association for the Education of Young People

◦National Council on Family Relations◦Research Conference of the Society for

the Study of Occupation

International◦International Association for the Scientific

Study of Intellectual Disability (submitted)

Grants Funded

◦University of Utah Interdisciplinary Research Grant ($12,000)

◦University of Utah Undergraduate Student Award (UROP) ($1800)

Submitted/Pending◦Autism Speaks (Submitted)◦Google Research Grant (Submitted)◦MacArthur Foundation (to be submitted Nov.

2011)◦NIH Psychosocial/Behavioral Interventions

and Services Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders (R34) (to be submitted Feb. 2012)

Manuscripts Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal

◦ Special Issue: Influence of technology on individuals and families (in press Dec. 2011)

Autism Journal◦ Process Participatory Action Research paper (in preparation)

Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities or an Autism Journal◦ Special Issue: Empirically supported psychosocial

interventions (in preparation) International Journal of Human Development and

Aging ◦ Grandparents and their Grandchildren with Autism Spectrum

Disorder (ASD): Strengthening Relationships through Technology Activities (in preparation)

Autism journal◦ Lessons Learned (in preparation)

Impact and Future DirectionsExpansion of workshops to

multiple sites (Salt Lake School District)

Train the trainer & peer trainers

Development of a Virtual Community

Applications for classrooms