These days, we hear a lot about the disorder of autism, but researchers at the University of Utah have created a program that helps kids with autism focus on building their skills and utilizing an aptitude for visual-spatial thinking, computers and other electronic media.
One of the program participants is 12-year-old Christopher Charles, who was diagnosed with what's now known as high-functioning autism when he was 18 months old. His parents started him in therapies early on, but hadn't found something that seemed to hold Christopher's interest or accommodate his behaviors.
Chris has participated for the past year and a half in workshops at the University of Utah to teach 3D modeling software by Google called SketchUp. Cheryl Wright, associate professor of family and consumer studies, coordinated the workshops in partnership with Google's Project Spectrum, an initiative to teach job skills to kids with autism. Steve Gross, a certified SketchUp instructor and designer for Universal Creative theme parks, leads the workshops.
Wright and her team soon found far greater benefits to these workshops than acquiring a skill set for potential employment, however. The sessions facilitated social engagement among the students and their peers, parents, siblings and even grandparents.
They have published a study about these findings in the December issue of Family & Consumer Sciences Research Journal. The study focuses on the effects of the workshops on individual students involved as well as on multiple generations within their families -- an uncommon opportunity in the research on social interactions of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
After just weeks in the workshops, Christopher Charles' parents noticed a big difference. "Christopher spends hours on his design projects," says his father Nik. "There are few activities that have been able to hold Christopher's attention like SketchUp." In fact, Christopher once noted that he wouldn't miss the SketchUp sessions "even if aliens invaded the Earth."
Each session was two hours long and included hands-on training in the use of the design program as well as time for students to share their design projects. At the end of six weeks, the participants, all boys, presented their designs to classmates at their schools and at community events.
"One of the most compelling parts of this program came from when the boys presented their findings to their classmates," says Wright, who notes that children with autism sometimes struggle in a regular school setting, where their disability is highlighted more than their talents.
"Their talents are often invisible. In our program, we provided a platform for their talents to shine," she says. Many of the parents of participants were pleased that the workshops had developed self-confidence in their children, and noted that this made the parents more confident about what their children will be able to accomplish in the future.
Parents enrolled their children in the workshops with a bit of skepticism. Like Christopher's parents, they had experienced prior failures and had found few activities their sons enjoyed. The parents soon noticed that these workshops were different than other extracurricular activities, and seemed to be more aligned with their son's interests.
In turn, the success of the workshops led to greater self-confidence in parents, who began to rethink what they expected of their parenting ability and began to feel more effective.
They also noticed their sons' sincere concern about friends in the workshops -- something that hadn't happened in other social interactions. The parents and grandparents who noticed these changes began to feel optimistic that the boys would be able to develop genuine relationships with children and adults in the future.
"Many of the boys were in inclusive, regular educational settings so when they presented to their peers, it was the first time some of their classmates had seen the boys in control of a situation and teaching something the other kids didn't know," Wright says.
Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110093742
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