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This article describes how collaborative assistive technologies, housed on off-the-shelf, low-cost platforms such as the iPad, can be used to facilitate social relationships in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Through an empirical study of the use of a collaborative iPad game, Zody, we explore how assistive technologies can be used to support social relationships, even without intervention from adults. We discuss how specific design choices can encourage three levels of social relationship: membership, partnership, and friendship. This work contributes to research on both assistive technologies and collaborative gaming through a framework that describes how specific in-game elements can foster social skill development for children with ASD. . 2015. Evaluating a collaborative iPad game's impact on social relationships for children with autism spectrum disorder.

Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) may overcome barriers to mental health care and has proven efficacious. However, this approach currently exists outside the existing mental health care delivery system. Stepped care is a proposed framework for integrating digital mental health (DMH) into health systems by initiating iCBT and “stepping up” care to a more intensive intervention should iCBT prove ineffective. This study explores pre-treatment factors associated with reaching stepping criteria among patients receiving iCBT. This exploratory analysis of a stepped care arm of a larger randomized trial examined participants who were stepped to a more intensive intervention if they did not respond to iCBT. The association of pre-treatment factors on stepping were examined using Kruskal–Wallis and Chi-square tests. One-fifth of the 151 participants met criteria for stepping within the 20-week treatment period. Only pre-treatment depression severity and treatment preference were associated with increased likelihood of stepping (p = 0.049 and 0.048, respectively). The low number of individuals who stepped provides support for iCBT as an effective, low intensity treatment for depression. The modest association of pre-treatment depression and preference to not receive iCBT may be useful in identifying patients who are less likely to respond.

Working from home has become a mainstream work practice in many organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. While remote work has received much scholarly and public attention over the years, we still know little about how people with disabilities engage in remote work from their homes and what access means in this context. To understand and rethink accessibility in remote work, the present paper studies work-from-home practices of neurodivergent professionals who have Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia) and psychosocial disabilities (e.g., anxiety, depression). We report on interviews with 36 US-based neurodivergent professionals who have been working from home during the pandemic. Our findings reveal that while working from home, neurodivergent professionals create accessible physical and digital workspaces, negotiate accessible communication practices, and reconcile tensions between productivity and wellbeing. Our analysis reconsiders what access means in remote work for neurodivergent professionals and offers practical insights for inclusive work practices and accessibility improvements in remote collaboration tools.

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The use of online games and virtual worlds is becoming increasingly prominent, particularly in children and young adults. Parents have concerns about risks their children might encounter in these online spaces. Parents dynamically manage the boundaries between safe and unsafe spaces online through both explicit and implicit means. In this work, we use empirical data gathered from a digital ethnography of a Minecraft server, Autcraft, to explore how parents of children with autism continually create a "safe" virtual world through both implicit and explicit means. In particular, we demonstrate how their actions in these spaces define and produce "safety," shedding light on our theoretical understanding of child safety in online spaces.