Reducing the Effects of ASD-Specific Situational Variables

Victoria Yaneva and K. I. Manktelow

OutlineStudy 1 (and what went wrong with

it)

What can bias

experiments on ASD

ASD-specific situational variables

Study 2: eye tracking

people with ASD

Conclusion

Introduction

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Experiment 1:My first experiment ever

• Question: Are autistic children at the ages 9-13 able to comprehend conventionalized metaphor?

• Conventionalised metaphor: “хвърлям око на“ (BG) -“to throw an eye at”, meaning “to like”

• Answer: Yes, they are.

What was wrong with my first experiment ever?

• Maria – 12 years

• Martin – 9 years

My ideal educational environment would be one where the room had very little echo or reflective light, (…) where the educator’s volume was soft, so you had to choose to tune in, rather than being bombarded. It would be an environment that took account of mono and sensory hypersensitivity and information overload and that didn’t assume that the educator’s perceptual, sensory, cognitive, emotional or social reality was the only one.

• (Williams, D. in Bogdashina, O., 2003; p.17)5

Questions:

- Can we always be confident in our results if the data has been collected under such circumstances?

- Did this happen only to me?

Extraneous Variables Related to Participants

1. Group matching- Intelligence measures- Built-in tasks

(Jarrold and Brock, 2004)

2. Comorbidity

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Extraneous Variables related to the Environment• Situational Variables (SV) refer to factors in the

environment (light, noise, temperature, etc.), which may have an effect on the experimental results.

• ASD-specific situational variables- Related to stress and anxiety- Related to sensory issues- Related to atypical attention patterns

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ASD-specific SV related to stress and anxiety

• Impairing anxiety present in 11-84% of ASD youth • The levels of stress in

people with ASD can reach a meltdown point much faster than in neurotypical people

(White et al., 2009; Kerns and Kendall, 2013; Bejerot and Mörtberg, 2014)

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ASD-specific SV related to stress and anxiety (2)

Stress triggers in the experimental setting: • unfamiliar venue often full of strange objects (if a

laboratory)• talking to an unfamiliar person• follow instruction and to cope with tasks, the

purpose of which may not be clear to the participant

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Situations, which may trigger high stress and

anxiety levels • Mostly social situations (Bejerot, Eriksson and

Mörtberg, 2014), • Lack of plan and structure (not knowing what to

expect) • Changes in plans

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(i) Ensuring predictability through simple instructionsi)For written instruction:- Guidelines for Easy-to-Read Materials (Tronbacke,

1997) - Make It Simple Guidelines (Freyhoff et al. 1998). - Use visually cued instruction (especially for children)

(Quill, 1997).ii) Verbal instruction may also need to be accompanied by a demonstrationiii) Changes in the venue, time, or experimental procedure – allow time for adjustment

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(ii) Alleviating social anxiety

• Always, always allow time for familiarisation!- a conversation- a silent time

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SV Related to Sensory Issues

• Sensory issues refer to the way some people process sensory information (taste, smell, hearing, tactile, proprioception)

• Sensory issues and the experimental environment:- Fluorescent light- Screen brightness- Sound stimuli- Visual stimuli- Etc.

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SV Related to Sensory Issues

• How to approach the problem:1) Be aware of sensory issues in ASD2) Develop stimuli materials with sensory issues in mind3) Ask each participant whether they have any sensory issues4) Make necessary amendments if possible

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SV Related to Attention

• A bias towards processing local sensory information with less account for global, contextual and semantic information

(Happe´ and Frith, 2006)

• Stimulus overselectivity phenomenon in autism - a part of the sensory information is neglected, causing “tunnel vision”, a focus on detail to the exclusion of the bigger picture

(Lovaas et al., 1971;Ploog, 2010)

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SV Related to Attention

• Scheduling regular breaks and being ready for improvised ones if necessary

• Designing stimuli materials with overselectivity in mind

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Eye tracking

(Cusimano, 2012)

Our eye tracking experiment

Participants: 20 ASD adults in the UK and 20 non-ASD adults in the UK

Materials: easy-read documents; text passages from the domains of education and newspaper articles

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Easy read documents: an example

21NHS, UK

Choice of eye tracking equipment for research on

ASDHead-mounted systems Video-based systems

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Choice of eye tracking equipment for research on

ASD• The use of a chin rest

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ASD-specific SV and eye tracking research

• room décor

• visually cued instruction and videos

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ASD-specific SV and eye tracking research

Instruction on body stature and movements

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ASD-specific SV and eye tracking research

Calibration

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ASD-specific SV and eye tracking research

Debriefing

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Summary :Procedural Guidelines for Psycholinguistic Experiments with

Autistic Participants

1. Time for familiarisation:Extra time in the beginning of the experiment: a guided conversation or a silent time?

2. Ensuring predictability through simple instructions:• Use simple written and verbal instructions (see guidelines)• Use of visually cued instruction• We recommend that instruction is accompanied by a

demonstration • Sufficient time should be allowed for the ASD-participants to get

used to changes28

Summary: Procedural Guidelines for Psycholinguistic Experiments with

Autistic Participants (2)

3. Sensory issues:• The experimenter needs to: (1) be familiar with sensory

issues, (2) make an enquiry, (3) make amendments• Experimental stimuli should not cause sensory overload 4. Attention:• Regular breaks – planned and improvised• Experimental stimuli and the overselectivity

phenomenon in mind • Prompt giving

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Summary :Procedural Guidelines for Psycholinguistic Experiments with

Autistic Participants (2)5. Eye tracking:• Choose an appropriate eye tracking system• Do not use chin rest to restrict head movements• Allocate time for familiarisation with the eye tracker• Provide a suitable room décor• Use visually cued instruction• Instruct participants to move as little as possible. Make sure this

does not cause a major discomfort. • Instruct participants about the calibration procedure (nine-point

calibration for adults and five- or two-point one for children) • Debrief the participant by showing them a video of their own eye

movements.

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ConclusionAre designed to

improve the experience and

the data collected

Should always be amended

Do not substitute the researcher’s

personal judgment

Are potentially Useful for other research areas

and populations

Aim to stir a discussion about

necessary amendments when working

with people with disabilities

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The proposed guidelines: