A Comprehensive Tool for Supporting Social and Emotional Learning Instruction for Students with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

During Phase I (completed in 2015), the project team developed a prototype of the IvyScip, including the front end user interface through which special education practitioners complete an assessment battery on strengths and needs of individual students, and a back-end information management system to house and organize the data. The research team tested the prototype with 61 special education practitioners and administrators at the end of Phase I. Researchers reported that respondents found the prototype useful and easy to use, and were likely to use the full product if developed as intended. In Phase II, the team will fully develop the software engine which will generate Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for students based on the assessments, instructional materials for addressing student needs, and a mechanism to track student growth and needs over time. After development is complete, the research team will conduct a pilot study to assess the feasibility and usability, fidelity of implementation, and the promise of the platform for increasing the social and emotional learning of elementary school children with HF-ASD. The study will occur over six months and include 60 pairs of special education practitioners and grade school age students diagnosed with HF-ASD. Half of the pairs will be randomly assigned to use the product for the full six months and the other half will only use the platform for the final three months. Researchers will compare the pre-and-post scores of the groups on social emotional learning.