Remote Social Training for Autistic Children during Covid-19 Lockdown

自闭症是一种影响人们感知世界和与他人互动的一系列发育状况。社交技能挑战是自闭症的核心，需要社交技能培训。由于学校关闭，行动和旅行受到限制，Covid-19大流行中断了英国为自闭症儿童提供的社会培训。为了解决这个问题，我们提供了一种创新的产品，帮助孩子们在家里发展社交技能。该产品是由自闭症和社会专家根据有效的社会培训计划设计的。它采用直观的、以用户为中心的设计；游戏化;以及响应式技术，为自闭症儿童提供一种方便、吸引人、安全的产品。该项目将在Covid-19封锁限制下进行和交付。项目团队将远程工作和协作。我们将在之前开展的工作和研究的基础上，加快技术开发进程，并在2020年底之前交付我们的产品。这个项目对自闭症儿童、他们的家庭和整个社会都有好处。它使自闭症儿童能够在Covid-19限制下发展社交技能。它建立了他们的信心，并改善了他们的社会融入，正规教育的入学率，就业前景和生活质量。它促进社会包容和凝聚力，并有利于国民经济。该项目应对2019冠状病毒病大流行带来的新挑战，并建立抵御能力，以应对未来因2019冠状病毒病卷土重来或可能出现新的大流行或其他不利事件而导致的任何封锁。“扩展影响”拨款将使我们的团队能够与儿童和教师进行以人为本的设计（HCD）研究；与包括家长、小学和地方当局在内的利益攸关方接触；对我们的产品进行更好更快的测试。这将提高我们产品的质量；加快产品上市速度；提高我们的产品对用户、利益相关者和社会的影响。

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.