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Title: Longitudinal Socio-Emotional Learning Intervention for Autism via Smartglasses: Qualitative School Teacher Descriptions of Practicality, Usability, and Efficacy in General and Special Education Classroom Settings

Abstract

There is considerable demand for special education services for the over half a million students with autism in the United States. While assistive technology may augment educational services, its implementation is often prevented by a number of practical and attitudinal barriers. These barriers are especially pertinent for the newest and thus least familiar digital systems, such as computerized smartglasses loaded with specialized software modules. Computerized smartglasses are a technology that has already been shown to have an ability to deliver educational interventions through augmented reality. With this in mind, we sought to understand how school educators received and assessed the practicality of a smartglasses-based educational intervention in a single-subject study. The intervention was designed to aid with attention and social educational learning in autism. The intervention was delivered twice a day during a two-week study on a 13-year-old student with autism who was attending a mainstream middle school in Massachusetts. Three different school educators delivered the intervention: the student’s general education teacher, special education teacher, and paraprofessional. Educators recorded their attitudes, the practicality of the technology, and its impact on the student and their classroom through the use of a digital log and a series of in-person interviews. Overall, themore » school educators experienced a positive view of the smartglasses. The smartglasses intervention was found to be logistically practical to implement, easily usable by both the educator and student, and not time-consuming to learn or implement. Educators also identified the experience as being fun for the student, and felt that the student demonstrated improvement in his verbal and non-verbal skills. There were no adverse effects on the other students or the classroom, and the technology did not result in a distraction. These findings suggest that social skills interventions delivered by smartglasses may be practical, useful, and may lead to improvements in social communication skills. Further research on smartglasses may help to clarify the future role for augmenting special education in students with autism.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ; ORCiD logo
Publication Date:
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1461729
Grant/Contract Number:  
W81XWH-14-C-0007
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Education Sciences
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Education Sciences Journal Volume: 8 Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 2227-7102
Publisher:
MDPI AG
Country of Publication:
Country unknown/Code not available
Language:
English

Citation Formats

Keshav, Neha, Vahabzadeh, Arshya, Abdus-Sabur, Rafiq, Huey, Krystal, Salisbury, Joseph, Liu, Runpeng, and Sahin, Ned. Longitudinal Socio-Emotional Learning Intervention for Autism via Smartglasses: Qualitative School Teacher Descriptions of Practicality, Usability, and Efficacy in General and Special Education Classroom Settings. Country unknown/Code not available: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.3390/educsci8030107.
Keshav, Neha, Vahabzadeh, Arshya, Abdus-Sabur, Rafiq, Huey, Krystal, Salisbury, Joseph, Liu, Runpeng, & Sahin, Ned. Longitudinal Socio-Emotional Learning Intervention for Autism via Smartglasses: Qualitative School Teacher Descriptions of Practicality, Usability, and Efficacy in General and Special Education Classroom Settings. Country unknown/Code not available. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci8030107
Keshav, Neha, Vahabzadeh, Arshya, Abdus-Sabur, Rafiq, Huey, Krystal, Salisbury, Joseph, Liu, Runpeng, and Sahin, Ned. Thu . "Longitudinal Socio-Emotional Learning Intervention for Autism via Smartglasses: Qualitative School Teacher Descriptions of Practicality, Usability, and Efficacy in General and Special Education Classroom Settings". Country unknown/Code not available. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci8030107.
@article{osti_1461729,
title = {Longitudinal Socio-Emotional Learning Intervention for Autism via Smartglasses: Qualitative School Teacher Descriptions of Practicality, Usability, and Efficacy in General and Special Education Classroom Settings},
author = {Keshav, Neha and Vahabzadeh, Arshya and Abdus-Sabur, Rafiq and Huey, Krystal and Salisbury, Joseph and Liu, Runpeng and Sahin, Ned},
abstractNote = {There is considerable demand for special education services for the over half a million students with autism in the United States. While assistive technology may augment educational services, its implementation is often prevented by a number of practical and attitudinal barriers. These barriers are especially pertinent for the newest and thus least familiar digital systems, such as computerized smartglasses loaded with specialized software modules. Computerized smartglasses are a technology that has already been shown to have an ability to deliver educational interventions through augmented reality. With this in mind, we sought to understand how school educators received and assessed the practicality of a smartglasses-based educational intervention in a single-subject study. The intervention was designed to aid with attention and social educational learning in autism. The intervention was delivered twice a day during a two-week study on a 13-year-old student with autism who was attending a mainstream middle school in Massachusetts. Three different school educators delivered the intervention: the student’s general education teacher, special education teacher, and paraprofessional. Educators recorded their attitudes, the practicality of the technology, and its impact on the student and their classroom through the use of a digital log and a series of in-person interviews. Overall, the school educators experienced a positive view of the smartglasses. The smartglasses intervention was found to be logistically practical to implement, easily usable by both the educator and student, and not time-consuming to learn or implement. Educators also identified the experience as being fun for the student, and felt that the student demonstrated improvement in his verbal and non-verbal skills. There were no adverse effects on the other students or the classroom, and the technology did not result in a distraction. These findings suggest that social skills interventions delivered by smartglasses may be practical, useful, and may lead to improvements in social communication skills. Further research on smartglasses may help to clarify the future role for augmenting special education in students with autism.},
doi = {10.3390/educsci8030107},
journal = {Education Sciences},
number = 3,
volume = 8,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
year = {Thu Jul 26 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Thu Jul 26 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

Journal Article:
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https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci8030107

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