Automated Assessment Tools For Various Attritbutes

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Ganondox
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13 Oct 2018, 4:50 pm

If you've been on the forum for awhile you might recognize me, though the only board I've used recently is the music one. I promise you I'm one of you, not just some random researcher dude, even though research is exactly why I came here today. See, I'm working on a research project where the objective is to recommend therapeutic games for people on the spectrum, and I'm writing a paper on a possible algorithm for the recommendation system. For this system to work, I need tools that can automatically test for several constructs which are typical areas of deficiency for people on the spectrum. I did not make this constructs (someone else on the team did in coordination with a local school) so I don't know exactly what is being looked for all of them, but these are the specific constructs I trying to test for:

Communication
Maintaining eye contact
Showing emotions
Responding to others
Introducing self
Awareness about sensitive subjects
Making friends
Handling feedback
Resolving conflict
Social etiquettes
Paying attention
Repetitive patterns of behavior
Difficulty in motor skills
Sensory difficulty (Listening, seeing)
Enjoying their leisure time
Health issues like gastrointestinal problems


For whatever tool is used, precision is more important than accuracy. That's because the goal is not the assess how people are doing, but to monitor improvement to act as feedback into the system. Because the objective is writing a paper, I care less about actual validity and more if the tools have any research claiming to support them so I can cite said research. So while I personally think the SBC is a hack and expression in the eyes or whatever it's called is utterly useless for actually gauging cognitive empathy for people on the spectrum, it would work as a tool for the project. If anyone else knows of any such tools I could use, that would be greatly appreciated.


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Ganondox
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13 Oct 2018, 8:43 pm

One other thing I forgot to mention, if anyone knows of any games that can help with "Awareness about sensitive subjects" or "Social etiquettes" that would also be helpful.


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Arganger
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13 Oct 2018, 9:11 pm

The following ones are a waste of time in trying to see "Improvement in" (In order from most to least);

Maintaining eye contact (This is often painful or overwhelming, and isn't necessary. If anything, faking may be useful.)
Repetitive patterns of behavior (Extremely important for showing emotion, as communication, and is necessary for regulating sensory system)
Awareness about sensitive subjects (Being willing to talk about and get into sensitive subjects is out right an important skill)
Showing emotions (It really is a pain, and learning to communicate how you feel is far more important)
(The last two I just don't see the point in)
Introducing self
Social etiquettes

Arguing online has been amazing for improving what I actually feel needs to be improved, and the most constructive form of this would be to take part in and learn about debate, especially on issues that are cared about, so my answer to the actual question is;

Debate

I could of easily misunderstood what is being asked of people, if so tell me.


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Ganondox
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15 Oct 2018, 2:27 am

Arganger wrote:
The following ones are a waste of time in trying to see "Improvement in" (In order from most to least);

Maintaining eye contact (This is often painful or overwhelming, and isn't necessary. If anything, faking may be useful.)
Repetitive patterns of behavior (Extremely important for showing emotion, as communication, and is necessary for regulating sensory system)
Awareness about sensitive subjects (Being willing to talk about and get into sensitive subjects is out right an important skill)
Showing emotions (It really is a pain, and learning to communicate how you feel is far more important)
(The last two I just don't see the point in)
Introducing self
Social etiquettes

Arguing online has been amazing for improving what I actually feel needs to be improved, and the most constructive form of this would be to take part in and learn about debate, especially on issues that are cared about, so my answer to the actual question is;

Debate

I could of easily misunderstood what is being asked of people, if so tell me.


Look, my job is not to question the usefulness of the therapy, it's to design a study to evaluate it's effectiveness as far as particular constructs are concerned. I don't actually care if there is any real improvement, just that whatever tool I'm using is capable of measuring "improvement" and I can justify my choice. If faking eye contact is enough to past the test, then I'm perfectly fine with this. Chances are we won't even conduct the study I'm proposing, but I still need to propose it for my grade.

As for the reason the specific constructs, here is why they want them:

1. In addition to being regarded as polite, neurotypicals use eye contact to read people. I agree trying to use eye contact to get autistic people to read people is idiotic, there is much better ways to get autistic people to learn to read people, but I'm not the one making the rules here.
2. Neurotypicals don't know how to read that. While the only issue with stims is social acceptability, I believe the construct also refers to special interests, where the problem is that if it's all consume it can interfere with learning vital skills. I think it's better to use special interests as leverage into other areas, but again, I'm not the only making the constructs.
3. There is a time and a place to discuss sensitive subjects, that's where awareness is needed.
4. You're not wrong, but again, that's not in my power.
5. Introducing yourself is a vital part of initiating relationships, which is probably the area that adults on the spectrum have the most difficulty with.
6. Violating social etiquette results in being snubbed, which can be the difference between getting a job or not. The main focus here is vocational skills.

No, you did not answer my question at all. I'm not asking for methods to improve, I'm looking for tools to test how people already perform in those various areas. The idea is that improvement would come as the result of playing video games.


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