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Enhancing Emotion Recognition in Children with Autism Spectrum Conditions: An Intervention Using Animated Vehicles with Real Emotional Faces

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Abstract

This study evaluated The Transporters, an animated series designed to enhance emotion comprehension in children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). n = 20 children with ASC (aged 4–7) watched The Transporters everyday for 4 weeks. Participants were tested before and after intervention on emotional vocabulary and emotion recognition at three levels of generalization. Two matched control groups of children (ASC group, n = 18 and typically developing group, n = 18) were also assessed twice without any intervention. The intervention group improved significantly more than the clinical control group on all task levels, performing comparably to typical controls at Time 2. We conclude that using The Transporters significantly improves emotion recognition in children with ASC. Future research should evaluate the series’ effectiveness with lower-functioning individuals.

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Notes

  1. The CAST was formerly the Childhood Asperger Syndrome test but was renamed as it is used to screen the whole autistic spectrum (Baron-Cohen et al. 2009).

  2. To test that the distributions of task scores do not differ from normal, one-sample Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests were conducted with all dependent measures. K–S Z scores were: At Time 1: EmoVoc = 0.9; SEM-Lvl 1 = 1.1; SEM-Lvl 2 = 0.9; SEM-Lvl3 = 0.8; At Time 2: EmoVoc = 1.2; SEM-Lvl1 = 1.1; SEM-Lvl2 = 1.1; SEM-Lvl3 = 1.0. p > 0.1 for all the tests.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Culture Online and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) for funding, and to Catalyst Ltd and Culture Online (particularly Claire Harcup, Paul Bason, Khairoun Abji and Jon Drori) for their production of the film. We are also indebted to the families who participated in the intervention. We also thank Gina Owens, Kimberly Peabody, Ben Weiner and Ayla Humphrey for valuable discussions.

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Author notes

  1. Yael Granader

    Present address: Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge University, Douglas House, 18B Trumpington Road, Cambridge, CB2 8AH, UK

    Ofer Golan, Emma Ashwin, Yael Granader, Suzy McClintock, Kate Day, Victoria Leggett & Simon Baron-Cohen

  2. Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, 52900, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Ofer Golan

Authors
  1. Ofer Golan
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  2. Emma Ashwin
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  3. Yael Granader
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  7. Simon Baron-Cohen
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Correspondence to Ofer Golan or Simon Baron-Cohen.

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This work was conducted in association with the NIHR CLAHRC and the NHS Foundation Trust for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

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Golan, O., Ashwin, E., Granader, Y. et al. Enhancing Emotion Recognition in Children with Autism Spectrum Conditions: An Intervention Using Animated Vehicles with Real Emotional Faces. J Autism Dev Disord 40, 269–279 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0862-9

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