A Pilot Study Examining a Computer-Based Intervention to Improve Recognition and Understanding of Emotions in Young...

A common social impairment in individuals with ASD is difficulty interpreting and or predicting emotions of others. To date, several interventions targeting teaching emotion recognition and understanding have been utilized both by researchers and practitioners. The results suggest that teaching emotion recognition is possible, but that the results do not generalize to non-instructional contexts. This study sought to replicate earlier findings of a positive impact of teaching emotion recognition using a computer-based intervention and to extend it by testing for generalization on live models in the classroom setting.

Two boys and one girl, four to eight years in age, educated in self-contained classrooms for students with communication and social skills deficits, participated in this study. A multiple probe across participants design was utilized. Measures of emotion recognition and understanding were assessed at baseline, intervention, and one month post-intervention to determine maintenance effects. Social validity was assessed through parent and teacher questionnaires.

All participants showed improvements in measures assessing their recognition of emotions in faces, generalized knowledge to live models, and maintained gains one month post intervention.

These preliminary results are encouraging and should be utilized to inform a group design, in order to test efficacy with a larger population.