Teaching Social Skills to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Virtual Environments

TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS TO
STUDENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM
DISORDERS IN A VIRTUAL
ENVIRONMENT:
AN EXPLORATORY INQUIRY

Presented June 11, 2011
Council for Exceptional Children-Texas
San Antonio, Texas

Krystle McWhorter, Athens ISD
Rochell R. McWhorter, UT-Tyler

Copyright Krystle McWhorter and Rochell McWhorter, 2011

Impetus for this Exploration

• We have a family member with an ASD
(Asperger's Syndrome) that could benefit from
social skills training
• We have had several opportunities to observe
secondary students with ASDs and social
interactions via computer technology that led us to
conjecture that virtual environments might be an
appropriate intervention for increasing social
awareness and social skills in a low-stakes setting.


Our exploratory research question

Could computer-mediated communication
enable the teaching of social skills in a
virtual environment?


What does the research say?

• Burke, Krout & Williams (2010) found that the use of
email and Instant Messaging (IM) through Facebook
and other IM platforms was helpful to students with
ASDs because it:
• provides additional time to think of a response,
• removes pressure for eye contact, and
• reduces self-consciousness about parlinguistic cues
(nonverbal elements, such as intonation, body
posture, gestures, and facial expression, that
modify the meaning of verbal communication)


Two participants in their study
shared these comments:
• “You‟re not looking at them and they can‟t see your
facial expressions on an email. Talking face-to-face
is harder because you have to keep eye contact and
give them your attention” (Ryan, age 23)

• “It‟s often easier to communicate with people using
instant messenger. Get more instant responses.
Gives me an opportunity to think about what I
want to say” (Charles, age 30)


A third study found…

• Coburn (2009) examined IM conversations (of at least
20 minute duration) between students with and
without Asperger‟s and found IM conversations:
• Results showed no significant differences between
groups on any of the variables (such as # of
responses and content), or for the behavior of the
control group between conditions, suggesting that
people with Asperger‟s are likely to communicate
in this medium in ways that are very similar to
their neurotypical peers.


A study of technology and
students with ASDs
Parsons, Bearden & Neale et al. (2000) recognized that
students with high functioning autism (HFA) and
Asperger‟s Syndrome (AS) are typically capable of
handling academic work but are significantly impaired
in social understanding leading to social exclusion and
failure to maintain employment due to difficulties in
making friendships and communicating ideas.
Also, depression, and other secondary psychiatric
disorders, are especially common amongst people with
HFA and AS (Tantam, 1988), and there is a higher
than average incidence of suicide in this population.


(Continued)
Parsons, Bearden & Neale et al. (2000)
posited that technology could be used to
facilitate the teaching of social skills in
virtual environments.

Parsons et al. (2004) found that students
with ASDs perceived avatars in a virtual
setting as having people-like
characteristics.


Also reported:

• Virtual Environments offer people with Autistic
Spectrum Disorders the ability to learn and practice
social skills in a safe environment that represents
the real world.
• This could be beneficial to people with autism,
allowing them to be aware of „rules‟ for social
interaction, even if they do not understand them.


What is Second Life?
• According to Texas A&M University (2010): Second Life is a three-
dimensional (3D) virtual world that is an emerging online teaching
environment.
• It runs on a free client application in which users interact with
each other using avatars, or onscreen characters.
• Chat and multimedia features are also available to facilitate
participation in individual and group activities. You can explore
and build unique, "in-world" virtual properties and points of
interest that are only limited by your imagination.


What does the research say?

• According to McWhorter (2010), sophisticated
spaces such as 3D virtual worlds should be
investigated for their potential for human
development.
• According to Mancuso, Chlup & McWhorter (2010),
the 3D virtual world of Second Life™ was found to
be a conducive learning space for developmental
efforts.


ANECDOTAL CASE

Gentle Heron (Avatar name) is an Informational Librarian who
works in Second Life. She is a former special education teacher
who has been working with parents and students with ASDs
and other disabilities (See: ttp://virtualability.org/default.aspx).
Through coaching/mentoring techniques, several students were
reported to have acquired additional social skills through
repetition of social skill development.


Conclusions and Implications

• Literature extracts and an anecdotal case have led
us to believe that the use of technology-mediated
communication through such platforms as instant
messaging (IM) and virtual worlds such as Second
Life™ should be further investigated as
sophisticated spaces for coaching students for
ASDs for “safe” training areas for the teaching and
reinforcement of social skills.
• We intend to pursue this line of research.


Contact Us

• Krystle McWhorter, KR Virtual Designs,
krvirtualdesigns@gmail.com
• Rochell McWhorter, rmcwhorter@uttyler.edu

Teaching Social Skills to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Virtual Environments

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Teaching Social Skills to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Virtual Environments