Pre-vocational skills laboratory: designing interventions to improve employment skills for students with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

The use of information and communication technologies in educating children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is a dynamic field linking both special education and learning technologies research areas. This paper reports on the development of pre-vocational skills laboratory (PVS-Lab), a Web-based learning environment aiming to support students with ASD towards developing pre-vocational and employment skills. The first section addresses theoretical foundations and the design framework of PVS-Lab, as well as the structure and the functionality of the system. Following a particular intervention is presented including the analysis of the engagement of an autistic student with PVS-Lab and his tutors' monitoring, based on a psychophysiological signal recording system. The paper concludes with the need to advance future research towards new learning environments that can help (a) students with autism to acquire pre-vocational skills, and (b) tutors to harness the potential of multiple forms of information (PVS-Lab system log files, psychophysiological data, video records and observation notes) towards designing effective individualized interventions.