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ACE PROJECT

-AUTISM CONNECTIONS EUROPE-

Janja Kranjc, psychologist

Center for Autism Slovenia

London, 24.11.2011

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2-year Lifelong learning Grundtvig project for young adults withautistic spectrum disorder.

(October 2009 October 2011)

Partner organizations:

Center for autism Slovenia

Estonian Autism Society 

 Autism Romania

Oxford Brookes University, UK 

 Autism Europe

Imelda Agency, Slovenia

Institute of communication and health, University of Lugano

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T

he idea to use Facebook to connect young people with autism

throughout Europe.

To use Facebook as a mean of developing communicationand social skills of people with ASD.

To enable young people with ASD to meet, to travel, to

socialize.

T

o enable people with ASD to speak up about theirexperience and to gain more expert knowledge on ASD.

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ParticipantsVariable number:

In the beginning: 15 (6 female, 9 male)

In the end: 16 (5 female, 11 male)Age: 16 38 years

Slovenia, Romania, Estonia, UK

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Facebook Commonly used.

Enables safe distance communication.

Enables different kinds of communication, private orpublic (chat, private messages, comments, wall posts ).

Visibility.

Sense of belonging.

Structured environment.

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Internet safety

http://www.autism-ace.eu/datoteke_guide.html

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International meetings Ljubljana, Slovenia, may 2010

Catania, Italy, October 2010

Ljubljana, Slovenia, February 2011 Oxford, UK, April 2011

Tartu, Estonia, June 2011

Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 2011

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PILOT

ST

UDY

     Oxford Brookes University (John Lawson, Nicki Holland)

     Institute of communication and Health, University of 

Lugano (Maddalena Fiordelli)

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Focus of the study Social skills, general well being, autistic traits, the concept

of friendship.

Facebook activity. Facebook activity in relation to real-life social interaction.

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Research tools Social Communication Questionanire SCQ (Rutter et al,

2003)

The Autism Quotient (Baron-Cohen et al, 2001) The Social Skills Questionnaire, adult version SSQ-A

(Autism Asperger Consulting Group, 2008)

The Friendship Questionnaire, FQ (Baron-Cohen and

Wheelwright, 2003)

The General Well-being scale, GWB (Fahey et al, 2005)

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The Autism Connections Europe Interview, ACE-I (Lawson,

Holland, 2011)

Observing Facebook activity Semi-structured intervies with the participants

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Collecting data Time 1 beginning of the project (SCQ, AQ, SQQ-A, FQ,

GWB)

Time 2 the middle of the project (AQ, SQQ-A, FQ, GWB) Time 3 at the end of the project (AQ, SQQ-A, FQ, GWB,

ACE-I, participants interview)

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Results

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Figure 1. The AQ results at times 1-3

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Figure 2. The SSQ results at times 1-3

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Figure 3. The GWBQ results at times 1-3

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Figure 4. The FQ results at times 1-3

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ACE-I parent interview

confident and knows more about his abilities

she doesnt think of herself as being an idiot or a weirdo

anymore. Now she thinks she is a bit different , and that

is not necessarily a bad thing.

she trusts herself more and also has more courage to

interact with people.

his progress in communication and independence makes

my life easier

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ACE made her talk more with us, and talking more

helped us to understand her better. We never knew

how alone and different she felt.

more open and starts conversations more often

good news, a chance to socialise

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Facebook activity How to comment on somebodys photo?

How to write a compliment?

How to ask a personal question? How to respond to a personal question?

Why it is important to share your photos?

Who is your friend, acquaintance and what does being a

Facebook friend really mean?

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FB as a mean of maintaining contact, communicationincreased after meetings.

Little wall messages mostly birthday messages, not a lot

of comments (but did increase), most often used: likes.

Frequent private messages and chats.

Challenges:

- Language barriers- Private FB profiles

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Participants views Most prefer real life meetings.

The trigger to use FB: a notification.

Meetings provoce communication on FB. FB: a chance to discuss some topics that were not

discussed during meetings (personal questions).

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Benefits for the participants Learning to use internet and social networks safely.

Developing communication and social skills.

Improving English language skills. Travelling, learning about other cultures and habits.

Meeting new people with similar experience.

Establishing possible long term acquaintances and

friendships. Developing independent living skills.

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Future research and projects

«

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- Using internet social networks within the programs of 

teaching social and communication skills.

- Establishing national on-line groups socializing, self-advocay

- Encouraging membership in on-line interests groups.

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ACEbook - the real social network:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjKCvVyN

-N4

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Thank you for your attention.

More information about the ACE project:http://www.autism-ace.eu/about_ace.html

info@avtizem.org