Social Skills Intervention for Adolescents with High Functioning Autism/Asperger

描述（由申请人提供）：自闭症是一种复杂的神经系统疾病，影响着该国150万人。不适当的社交互动是自闭症患者常见的缺陷之一，会导致无数的负面结果，包括其他领域的功能低下以及就业和个人选择有限。神经系统内的结构和功能异常被认为是“社会智力”缺陷的一部分，独立于一般智力，在患有这种疾病的儿童中确定。训练干预计划，当基于研究的治疗方法，解决这一社会智力组成部分，可以改善这些问题的行为在儿童与高功能自闭症和自闭症综合征（HFA/AS），障碍往往分组在自闭症谱系。我们与北卡罗来纳州大学医学院精神病学系的TEACCH计划（自闭症和相关沟通障碍儿童的治疗和教育）以及最古老的虚拟世界社交网络平台DigitalSpace合作，提出了一项名为MeetMe的激励干预计划。MeetMe通过基于虚拟现实的社交网络和多媒体补偿技术增强了传统的同化指导治疗方法，以解决这一群体中发现的独特认知缺陷。实现集成了游戏，流媒体视频和共享虚拟世界的新颖组合，以系统地将社交情况划分为谨慎的行为，解释社交交流背后的含义，并通过在动态共享社交虚拟环境中与其他人进行实时练习来鼓励泛化。将通过基于泛化探针对学习到并转移到虚拟世界的社会行为进行前/后评估，对诊断为HFA/AS的青少年建立计划有效性。在第二阶段，目标行为将扩展到该患者年龄组在学校、家庭和公共环境中发现的多种社会智力缺陷，并将使用更大的受试者试验以严格的方式评估疗效。通过互联网提供所有课程和虚拟空间将保证广泛的地理覆盖面，使专业人员能够方便地与儿童进行远程互动，为服务不足的地区定制治疗，同时建立商业价值。这一应用将显著增加HFA/AS儿童所经历的社会缺陷的治疗选择，并为临床医生提供一种经过验证的干预方法，该方法可用于因地理限制而目前未得到服务的患者。这种社会能力的提高可以为这些人开辟新的生活和就业机会，并通过显着降低长期护理成本来造福社会，目前自闭症的平均成本为每年350亿美元。这个项目将提供一个激励和有效的新的行为干预计划，称为MeetMe，教适当的社会交往，以青少年自闭症。互联网提供将加强和扩大家庭、学校和没有受过训练的治疗师的偏远地区儿童的治疗方法。除了提供一种创新的干预工具外，通过该项目进行的研究还将促进关于使用多媒体工具治疗社交和学习障碍的科学知识，并促进对自闭症儿童行为干预策略的更好理解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Autism is a complex neurological disorder that affects 1.5 million individuals in this country. Inappropriate social interactions, one of the deficits common to individuals with autism, cause a myriad of negative outcomes including poor functioning in other areas and limited employment and personal options. Structural and functional abnormalities within the neural system are postulated to be part of the deficit in 'social intelligence', independent of general intelligence, identified in children with this disorder. Training intervention programs, when based on researched treatment methods that address this social intelligence component, can ameliorate these problematic behaviors in children with high functioning autism and Asperger Syndrome (HFA/AS), disorders often grouped in the autism spectrum. We have joined forces with the TEACCH program (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped Children) in the Department of Psychiatry at the University Of North Carolina School Of Medicine and DigitalSpace, the oldest virtual worlds social networking platform, to propose a motivating intervention program called MeetMe. MeetMe augments conventional assimilation instruction therapy methods with virtual reality-based social networking and multimedia compensation techniques to address unique cognitive deficits identified in this group. Implementation integrates novel combinations of gaming, streaming videos and shared virtual worlds to systematically segment social situations into discreet behaviors, explain denotation behind social exchanges, and encourage generalization through real-time practice with other people in dynamic shared social virtual environments. Program efficacy will be established with adolescents who have been diagnosed with HFA/AS through pre/post assessment of social behaviors learned and transferred to virtual worlds based on generalization probes. In Phase II the target behaviors will be extended to multiple social intelligence deficits identified in school, home, and public environments in this patient age group and efficacy will be assessed in a rigorous manner using larger subject trials. Internet delivery of all lessons and virtual spaces will guarantee broad geographic coverage and allow professionals to conveniently interact with children remotely, customizing therapy to underserved locations while establishing commercial value. This application will significantly increase treatment options for social deficits experienced by children with HFA/AS and provide clinicians with a proven intervention method that is usable with patients not now being served because of geographical limitations. This increased social competency can open new life and employment opportunities to these individuals and benefit society by significantly lowering long term care costs, now averaging $35 billion dollars a year for autism. This project would provide a motivating and effective new behavior intervention program called MeetMe to teach appropriate social interactions to adolescents with autism. Internet delivery will enhance and extend treatment methods possible for children at home, school, and remote locations where trained therapists are not available. In addition to contributing an innovative intervention tool, the research conducted through this project will advance scientific knowledge regarding the use of multimedia tools for treatment in social and learning disorders and promote greater understanding of behavior intervention strategies for children with autism.