The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

In this poster, we will describe the procedures and preliminary findings from research examining the effectiveness of The Transporters DVD, a new intervention designed to improve emotion recognition in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Individuals with ASD display impairments in recognizing emotions in facial expressions, vocal intimations, and body language (Ashwin, Chapman, Colle, & Baron-Cohen, 2006; Blacher, Kraemer, & Schalow, 2003; Celani, Battacchi, & Arcidiacono, 1999; Golan, Baron-Cohen, & Golan, 2008; Humphreys, Minshew, Leonard, & Behrmanna, 2007). These deficits may contribute to the difficulty experienced by children and adults with ASD in forming and maintaining peer relationships (Herba & Phillips, 2004), placing this population at risk for social isolation (Knott, Dunlop, & Mackay, 2006; Koning & Magill-evans, 2001), victimization (Little, 2001), and depression (Butzer & Konstantareas, 2003).

The Transporters (www.thetransporters.com) is an animated children's series developed by Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues to help children (3-8 years old) with ASD learn to recognize and understand emotions. This series, which is available on DVD, consists of 15 five-minute episodes featuring eight animated vehicles onto which real-life faces of actors have been superimposed. The actors' ages, genders, and ethnicities were varied to enhance generalization. Each of the 15 episodes focuses on a particular emotion or mental state (e.g., happy, sad, angry, surprised). The developers believed that a series featuring vehicles that run on tracks or trolleys would be especially appealing to children with ASD, because the movement of the vehicles would be predictable and repetitive. They further reasoned that attaching faces to vehicles, which move in a predictable way, instead of to human bodies, which move in an unpredictable and confusing way, should enhance learning in children with ASD.

Methodology

Participants

Three groups of 20 participants (aged 3 to 8) will be recruited for this research: a clinical intervention group, a clinical control group, and a typical control group. Participants in the two clinical groups will have a diagnosis of Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Disorder, or Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.

Procedure

Participants will be assessed at three time points: Time 1 (baseline), Time 2 (after the intervention or approximately 1 month after baseline), and Time 3 (approximately 3 months after the intervention or the Time 2 assessment). Participants will be paid $20 for each visit to the CHD. All data collectors will be blind to participants’ group assignment.

Time 1: Pre-screening: Prospective clinical participants will be assessed for ASD using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS; Lord, Rutter, DiLavore, & Risi, 1999). Verbal IQ will be estimated using the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, Second Edition (KBIT-2; (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2004) to ensure that children’s cognitive functioning falls broadly within the normal range (i.e., standard score > 80). While their children are being tested, parents will complete the social skills subscale of the Social Skills Rating System - Parent Form (Elliott & Gresham, 1991). Children who score below 80 on the KBIT-2 and prospective clinical participants who do not receive a diagnosis of Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Disorder, or Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified will not be eligible to participate further in this research.

Assessment of Emotion Recognition: Participants’ emotion recognition skills will be assessed using Ekman's Pictures of Facial Affect (Ekman, 1993, 1999). In a procedure similar to that used by in research on children with autism (Lacroix, Guidetti, Rogé, & Reilly, 2009; Wishart, Cebula, Willis, & Pitcairn, 2007), two tasks will be employed: emotion matching and emotion identification; with each consisting of two practice trials and 15 test trials. In the emotion matching task participants will be shown a target photograph and three other photographs (two distracters and one matching) and asked to find the one who “feels the same way” as the target. In the emotion identification task participants will be presented with three photographs (two distracters, one correct) and asked to find the one that depicts a specified emotion. Order of presentation of the two emotion recognition tasks will be counterbalanced.

Time 2 and 3 assessments: Time 2 assessments will be conducted approximately one month after Time 1 assessments. Participants' emotion recognition skills will be assessed again using the two tasks described above. Parents will complete the social skills subscale of the SSRS-P a second time. Emotion recognition and social skills will be assessed again at Time 3, 3 months after the intervention (or 3 months after the Time 2 assessment for participants in the control groups).

Intervention

The intervention will be administered between Time 1 and Time 2. Parents of participants selected for the intervention group will receive by mail a copy of The Transporters DVD kit (North American version) and written instructions for implementing the intervention along with a return addressed stamped envelope. Parents will be instructed to have their child watch at least three episodes of The Transporters DVD every weekday for four weeks. Additionally, parents will be asked to keep a daily log of their child's viewing behavior to ensure compliance. A research assistant will contact parents within one week of mailing the DVD to answer any questions and insure parents understand the instructions. Finally, parents will be asked to return by mail The Transporters DVD kit along with the logs of their child's viewing behavior after the one-month intervention is complete.

Data Analyses

At the time of this poster presentation, we expect to have completed data collection for all participants at Time 1 and approximately half the participants at Time 2. In order to examine between group differences Time 1, separate analyses of covariance will be performed on each of the three dependent variables: the two emotion recognition scores and total scores on the SSRS-P with age, gender, and verbal IQ (if applicable) as covariates. Posthoc tests will be conducted in the presence of significant results. We anticipate that participants in the two clinical groups will score lower on the emotion recognition tasks and the SSRS-P then typical controls. A preliminary analysis of available data at Time 2 will be undertaken to examine the effects of the intervention. Three repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) will be performed on the two emotion recognition scores and total scores on the SSRS-P. Age, gender, and verbal IQ will be covariates. Post hoc analyses will be conducted in the presence of statistically significant effects at Time 2. We predict that at Time 2, emotion recognition and social skills scores will be higher in the clinical intervention group than those in the clinical control group and similar to those in the typical control group.

Practical Relevance

Interactions between people are a daily occurrence. Being able to correctly identify and interpret the facial expressions we see in others is necessary for successful interpersonal interactions (Wishart et al. 2007). For many individuals with autism, this ability is impaired (Ashwin, et al., 2006; Blacher, et al., 2003; Celani, et al., 1999; Golan, et al., 2008; Humphreys, et al., 2007). Lacking these skills, children with autism may have difficulty relating to their peers, teachers, siblings and parents. The Transformers DVD offers an opportunity to help young children with ASD learn to recognize facial expressions. Improving emotion recognition skills in children with ASD may lead to improvements in their social skills, which is important as they begin elementary school, and enhance their ability to develop and maintain relationships with others.