Remote Social Training for Autistic Children during Covid-19 Lockdown

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Autism is a spectrum of developmental conditions that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. Social skills challenges lie at the heart of autism and require social skills training. Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the provision of social training for autistic children in the UK, due to school closures and restrictions on movement and travel.To address this problem, we provide an innovative product that helps children develop social skills while staying at home. The product is designed by autism and social experts, based on effective social training programmes. It uses intuitive, user-centred design; gamification; and responsive technology, to provide an accessible, engaging and safe product for autistic children.The project will be conducted and delivered under Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. The project team will work and collaborate remotely. We will build on work and research we conducted previously, to fast-track the technical development process, and deliver our product before the end of 2020\.The project is beneficial for autistic children, their families and society at large. It enables autistic children to develop their social skills, under Covid-19 restrictions. It builds their confidence and improves their social inclusion, enrolment in formal education, employment prospects and quality of life. It fosters social inclusion and cohesion, and benefits the national economy.The project responds to emerging challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and builds resilience to cope with any future lockdowns, due to the resurgence of Covid-19 or the potential emergence of new pandemics or other adverse events.The “Extension for Impact” funding will enable our team to conduct Human Centred Design (HCD) research with children and teachers; engage with stakeholders including parents, primary schools and local authorities; and conduct better and faster beta testing of our product. This will improve the quality of our product; increase our speed to market; and improve the impact of our product on users, stakeholders and society.