Technology delivered self-monitoring application to promote successful inclusion of an elementary student with autism

Abstract

The ever-increasing prevalence of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is paralleled in public educational settings, including general education classrooms. Challenges with social/behavioral functioning, including limited self-management and behavior inhibition, can lead to off-task and disruptive behaviors that interfere with acquisition of academic and social skills. Without effective and efficient interventions, opportunities to participate in inclusive settings will likely be reduced. Self-monitoring (SM) is an intervention with strong evidence for increasing prosocial behaviors and decreasing challenging behaviors for students with ASD in educational settings, although the cuing mechanisms (e.g., timers, stopwatch) and tracking materials (e.g., paper, pencil) can be cumbersome and obtrusive. I-Connect is an SM application that allows for customizable prompts, recording, and data monitoring. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, utilizing an ABAB design, the functional relationship between implementation of I-Connect SM intervention and increases in on-task behavior with concurrent decreases in disruptive behavior for an elementary student with ASD in a general education classroom. Results indicate an immediate increase in on-task behavior as well as a decrease in disruptive behaviors with each introduction of I-Connect. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

The Effects of a Technology-Based Self-monitoring Intervention on On-Task, Disruptive, and Task-Completion Behaviors for Adolescents with Autism

“…Intervals were set at 30-s intervals for all four participants. This decision was based on previous research utilizing the device (e.g., Crutchfield et al, 2015, Rosenbloom et al, 2016, Wills & Mason, 2014 that demonstrated that 30 s was an appropriate interval length to use initially. Participants were asked during their training session if they would prefer a flashing screen or noise notification option.…”

“…The I-Connect Self-Monitoring (SM) intervention is one such technology-delivered application that is a single component system (i.e., a tablet) to deliver interval self-monitoring prompts and record data. The I-Connect SM intervention has increasing empirical support as an effective self-monitoring intervention (Clemons et al, 2016, Crutchfield et al, 2015Rosenbloom et al, 2016;Wills & Mason, 2014). Wills and Mason (2014) developed the I-Connect SM intervention to provide a non-obtrusive, self-monitoring delivery format.…”

“…While the majority of studies utilized paper and pencil selfmonitoring with a technological cue to help the process of reminding the individual to selfmonitor (efficiency), the individuals were still required to use a paper and pencil format to selfmonitor. Paper and pencil self-monitoring recording formats have several limitations, including increased potential for inconsistent implementation (Rosenbloom et al, 2016) and social stigmatization (Crutchfield et al, 2015). This procedure also does not account for potential fine motor difficulties individuals with ASD when using a pencil (Bouck, et al, 2014;Dawson & Watling, 2000).…”

“…Paper and pencil formats can also be difficult for individuals with ASD to master due to difficulties with fine motor functioning (Bouck et al, 2014;Dawson & Watling, 2000). Additionally, such strategies can be socially stigmatizing and obtrusive as compared to paper and pencil formats (Gulchak, 2008;Rosenbloom et al, 2016). One solution is to utilize technology to install applications that have the capabilities to record and store data, cue individuals, and customize prompts all in one device.…”

Agency of Autistic Children in Technology Research—A Critical Literature Review

“…Visual aids (e.g., [279]), on the other hand, allow carers to communicate tasks and events in the near future in a structured way to autistic children. Technologies aiming at general social communication are used to guide the children in behaviour that is deemed socially appropriate (e.g., [278]), to understand more about the current social-emotional context as established by others and one self (e.g., [211]) or prompt them to initiate social interaction, for example, through vocalisations (e.g., [118]). Finally, the application providing portable medical information to autistic children [136] can communicate certain needs to those assisting in crisis situations, where a child might not be able to express them otherwise.…”