title: Facilitating other-awareness in low-functioning children with autism and typically-developing preschoolers using dual-control technology.
abstract: Children with autism are said to lack other-awareness, which restricts their opportunities for peer collaboration. We assessed other-awareness in non-verbal children with autism and typically-developing preschoolers collaborating on a shared computerised picture-sorting task. The studies compared a novel interface, designed to support other-awareness, with a standard interface, with adult and peer partners. The autism group showed no active other-awareness using the standard interface, but revealed clear active other-awareness using the supportive interface. Both groups displayed more other-awareness with the technology than without and also when collaborating with a peer than with an adult partner. We argue that children with autism possess latent abilities to coordinate social interaction that only become evident with appropriate support.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Pevensey Building, University of Sussex, Falmer, BN1 9QH, UK, s.holt@sussex.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Holt
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yuill
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D001364:Awareness; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D014584:User-Computer Interface