CONTEXT - Prevalence of students with autistic spectrum conditions (ASC) varies in European countries, from 4.4 - 19.7 per 1,000, aged 7-9 years. The UK Govt. autism strategy - ‘Fulfilling and rewarding lives’ (2014) has a particular focus on promoting innovation in service provision. Legislation provides for new duties and services including a disability support system that covers education (e.g., the ‘Children and Families Act 2014’). Up to 71% of students with ASC attend mainstream schools, and it is important to provide them with an environment adjusted to their needs, and free of any emotional trauma. However, research shows that mainstream schools are frequently fully neither educated nor equipped to deal with the needs of an autistic child, and give the necessary support. Without individualised support, it is highly unlikely that a pupil with ASC will make the academic and social progress that they should. 60% of the teachers in England do not feel they have had the adequate training to teach children with autism, and that this situation is not improving (‘Ambitious About Autism’). 40% of children with ASC have been bullied (Autism Education Trust). A staggering 70% of parents are not satisfied with the level of understanding of autism in their child’s school. ‘Autism Europe’ states that Education must be adapted, to allow: assessment to determine needs and strengths, fully informing and involving families, training to help pre-empt or manage challenging behaviour, individual education and support plans, opportunities to learn skills and engage in socially inclusive situations, and education and support to help prevent secondary consequences of their difficulties such as anxiety disorders and depression. OBJECTIVES To address these challenges, our project will transfer and further refine an innovative AI-driven tool to help teachers, support staff, parents and carers to better understand the behavioural and cognitive processes related to the emotional state of students with ASC in classrooms. Research has shown that engagement increases when activities are tailored to personal needs and learners’ emotional states, and that effectiveness of the learning process is directly correlated with learners' engagement in learning activities. Our innovative digital tool will infer the level of engagement of students with autism, and predict and pre-empt ‘meltdown’ moments. Teachers, support staff, parents and carers can then use this information (presented via a well-designed dashboard) to: • Provide personalised learning pathways and support according to the specific needs of each child with autism. • Improve the understanding of autism both within school, and in the wider community. • Provide a learning environment free of emotional trauma. • Increase the likelihood that students with autism will make the academic and social progress that they should. • Decrease incidents of challenging behaviour, leading to improved mental wellbeing of individual students, and decreasing instances of absenteeism and bullying. • Improve access to teaching of academic, independent living, adaptive behaviours and social skills. • Help prevent secondary consequences of their difficulties such as anxiety disorders and depression. METHODS and RESULTS: Using mobile devices, the level of engagement in learning activities of students with autism, and their behavioural characteristics can be assessed in a non-intrusive manner using sensor data such as eye gaze, body posture and movements. Labels to train machine learning algorithms to predict engagement and challenging behaviour will be applied to these data, gathered by working with students with autism throughout the schools in our partnership. Once trained, our innovative user-friendly AI-tool (IO2/App) will allow teachers, parents, and carers to personalise learning based on individual needs, and pre-empt challenging behaviour. This App will be supported by an Online Database of latest autism-related methods (IO1), a Handbook (IO4) and a Pedagogical Framework (IO5) acting as a 'blueprint' for school staff to optimally introduce AI technology into their classrooms. CONTEXT - target groups & numbers - Teachers, teaching assistants, and special education needs coordinators in mainstream education, inclusive settings, and special educational settings (30/country). - Beneficiaries: students with ASC, and their families (100 in total). - Stakeholders: policy makers, pedagogical experts, schools, school authorities and their umbrella structures all over Europe. Service providers supporting students with ASC; Local education authorities at all levels, Associations for teachers and teacher unions. IMPACT - personalised learning solutions tailored according to the needs of students with autism, increased likelihood of academic and social progress, improved mental webbing - fewer incidents of challenging behaviour, and decreased absenteeism, smoother transition to the world of work.
The aim was to transfer and further refine innovative software and support materials which can help to identify lack of engagement and early onset of emotional dysregulation in children with ASC. This software along with the collected advice on mitigating and preventing emotional dysregulation, and on increasing engagement (in the form of both the database, the handbook, and the pedagogical framework), can have a profound impact on school life in classrooms where teachers are trying to support children with ASC as well as dealing with teaching a full class of children, by reducing instances of disruptive behaviour. This in turn can improve the mental wellbeing of both the teachers and all pupils in that classroom.
Up to 71% of students with ASC attend mainstream schools, & it is important to provide them with an environment adjusted to their needs, & free of any emotional trauma. However, research shows that mainstream schools are frequently neither fully educated, nor equipped to deal with the needs of an autistic child, & give the necessary support. Without individualised support, it is highly unlikely that a pupil with ASC will make the academic & social progress that they should. 60% of the UK teachers do not feel they have had the adequate training to teach children with autism, & that the situation is not improving (‘Ambitious About Autism’). 40% of children with ASC have been bullied (Autism Education Trust). A staggering 70% of parents are not satisfied with the level of understanding of autism in school. ‘Autism Europe’ states education must be adapted, to allow: assessment to determine needs & strengths, fully informing & involving families, training to help pre-empt or manage challenging behaviour, individual education & support plans, opportunities to learn skills & engage in socially inclusive situations, & education & support to help prevent secondary consequences of their difficulties such as anxiety disorders & depression.