Novel Data Capture and Assessment Technology for Autism

描述(由申请者提供)：我们将开发和评估一个工具，旨在支持收集丰富的数据，以便在学校进行功能行为评估(FBA)，以支持为有特殊需要的儿童，特别是自闭症儿童(CWA)制定干预计划。拟议的存档系统将允许教育工作者只记录那些被判断为重要的数据或行为，以供以后检索和审查。所描述的“体验缓冲区”为记录提供了一种替代方案，这是在可能不能捕捉关键信息的隐秘笔记和由于需要查看大量信息以定位所需的关键数据而耗时的100%记录之间的权衡。在第一阶段，我们将在焦点小组的建议下修改初步系统，以便在学校环境中使用，探索潜在的隐私/法律障碍，在一项小型试点研究中评估可行性，并验证结果。在第二阶段，我们将以更严格的方式评估该系统，将其应用于对大量CWA种群的研究，并使用更传统的记录保存方法比较结果。鉴于家庭和学校环境中治疗的自闭症发病率巨大且不断增加，我们系统的商业潜力很高。除此之外，在CWA人群中的成功示范应该会使该系统在其他依赖于教育工作者深入分析的应用中具有吸引力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We will develop and evaluate a tool designed to support the collection of rich data for performing a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) in schools to support the development of intervention plans for children with special needs, specifically children with autism (CWA). The proposed archiving system will permit educators to record only those data or behaviors judged to be important for later retrieval and review. The "experience buffers" described provide an alternative for recording that is a trade-off between cryptic note-taking that may not capture critical information and 100% recording that is time-consuming because of the need to review a mass of information to locate the required critical data. In phase I, we will modify our preliminary system for use in a school environment with the aid of advice from focus groups, explore the potential privacy/legal hurdles, assess feasibility in a small pilot study, and verify the results. In phase II, we will evaluate the system in a more rigorous manner, applying it to the study of a large CWA population and comparing outcomes using a more traditional method of record-keeping. The commercial potential of our system is high given the large and increasing incidence of autism that is treated both in the home and in school environments. Beyond that, successful demonstration in the CWA population should make this system attractive in other applications that depend on in-depth analysis by educators.