Navigating Social Situations through Computer Programs

A computer program ("B MY BUD") that helps children, particularly those of special needs, practice and navigate through social situations through simulated scenarios.

According to CDC studies, it is found that 17 percent of children aged 3-17 years had a developmental disability, and importantly, that this percentage increased over the two time periods compared 2009-2011 (16.2 percent) and 2015-2017 (17.8 percent). Specifically, diagnoses increased for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (8.5 percent to 9.5 percent), autism spectrum disorder (1.1 percent to 2.5 percent), and intellectual disabilities (0.9 percent to 1.2 percent) over the two time periods.  These diagnoses are generally known to affect social skills and significantly hinder children's social development. 

In my experience in working with children of special needs, I often notice that they usually have difficulties in social situations that neurotypical children often don’t struggle much in. Unfortunately, teaching social skills isn’t particularly easy, as there’s no rationalized explanation for them. In addition, there are little effective ways to practice these skills since it requires being surrounded by peers: they always must “wing it”. However, studies show that these social skills can be taught in a similar manner as other disciplines such as math or phonics. For these reasons, I’d like to attempt to design a computer program that could prepare these children to feel more comfortable with everyday social situations, allowing them to improve their social skills with little real-life consequences. Furthermore, the program will allow parents and educators to identify certain skills, like personal space and greetings, a child struggles in, so they may provide additional support or practice in that area.

The program presents concepts as scenarios (i.e. Gary met his friend in the hall). Each scenario is split into several sub-scenarios (Gary greets his friend, saying "Hi!" and they decide to chat, additional prompts show up during this conversation) and has responses that the child can choose from and. For each response there's an explanation for why it was appropriate or not. If the child chooses an inappropriate response, they will be given hints (such as through the listener's expressions or response) and will be given a second chance. If they fail the second time then an explanation will be given and a similar scenario is presented, from which the cycle repeats until they choose the appropriate response. The scenario that appears next in sequence depends on the responses chosen by the child (If Gary says "Hi!", he and his friend chat. Otherwise Gary meets another person) Difficulty gradually increases in each skill as the child successfully completes more scenarios. For each scenario completed they gain points, which can be bartered for customizations to their speaking- avatar (cosmetics, facial features, or voice). Results and progress will be available for a parent or educator to see, allowing them to determine which area the child struggles in so additional help can be provided.

The goal was to create a computer program that would help children, particularly those of special needs or with social anxiety, understand and navigate through social situations. This program could be used by children, possibly in schools, to help them prepare for future social interactions they encounter on a daily basis, such as in group activities, and feel less anxious about social interaction through exercising these skills without the real life consequences brought on by inappropriate responses, such as being outcast or scrutiny. This program can be useful in the underdeveloped communities especially for those who do not have easy access to special education programs. 

For a couple of years now I have been working with people, mostly children, of special needs and working with them alongside advice from other people involved helped me understand what methods worked best when teaching them new skills such as swimming or social behavior. The idea of the program came to me when I observed that most of the students had trouble understanding some social concepts like greetings. I reasoned that having a simple way to practice these skills at home would be worthwhile thing to have. This experience helped me to develop the educational content of the program.

I've been serving as an assistant coach for an adapted swimming program for three years and as a part-time support staff member for an inclusion and disabilities services program. From my experience, I've noticed that many of the children have difficulties with trivial social interactions such as greetings, personal space, taking turns, identifying emotions, etc. These weren't easy things to teach either, since the rules are pretty arbitrary, and the only effective way to learn these skills is through trial and error. Since these kids usually have negative experiences more often in everyday social situations, they may be learning but it isn't exactly a pleasant experience either, usually resulting in trauma despite them wanting to practice their skills. I came up with the idea to prevent this potential trauma and also give them a way to practice without real-life consequences, or at least help them recognize their mistakes in real life. I also did research on how to teach people of special needs social skills, mostly those with ASD or ADHD. I also had some family members (including some young kids) test the prototype program I created and received their feedback, some of which was implemented right after and others were planned for future adjustments.

While the United States and other European countries are known for their special education programs in their public schools, many other parts of the world do not have access to any social skills program or lack awareness of how to teach social skills or meet educational needs due to a lacking curriculum, poorly trained teachers, or an isolated learning environment. Not to mention that existing social skills classes can get rather pricey or are not covered by medical insurance. This program is simple to use and easy to understand with its basic language and drawings. If localized into other languages and cultures it could spread to more locations and people, both providing education to the people of special needs and, in addition, spreading awareness of the issue.

I'm going to provide more sub-scenarios in the program and have different routes in the sequence of events if certain responses are chosen. Since there's a fair amount of text in the program I may implement a voiceover to help those with reading difficulties. I also plan to consult with special education experts to gain their feedback and make more realistic situations.

I'm using the Unity Game Engine to create the program. If I have the time and resources I plan to include facial recognition and voice detection as well. I also researched how social skills are usually taught. Surprisingly, it can be taught in a similar manner in which math or phonics are taught, but no solid curriculum was developed, making social skills more difficult to teach at home or school. 

I haven't launched my solution as of now, but I'm currently teaching five adaptive swimming classes and also working as a support staff member in an inclusion and disability program. I could potentially provide the program to the disability department or my inclusion and disability program director for them to use as part of their curriculum.

I'm afraid that I may be missing something when I'm trying to educate children of special needs in social skills. While some technical advice to make the program more sophisticated would be helpful, getting advice from experts in emotional or social development in children would help me to create more realistic and specific scenarios in the program and, overall, educate children in a more effective way. I don't plan to profit from this, mostly because I'd like to be accessible to anyone.

I get my advice and will share my program with where I do my part-time job as support staff in a social skills class.

I'm currently teaching five adaptive swimming classes and also working as a support staff member in an inclusion and disability program. I could potentially provide the program to the disability department or my inclusion and disability program director for them to use as part of their curriculum. This is a computer program that could help children, particularly those of special needs or with social anxiety, understand and navigate through social situations. I haven't launched it as of now but I have created a prototype that has seen some success. It could be used by children, possibly in schools, to help them prepare for future social interactions they encounter on a daily basis, such as in group activities, and feel less anxious about social interaction through exercising these skills without the real life consequences brought on by inappropriate responses, such as being outcast or scrutiny. This program can be useful in the underdeveloped communities especially for those who do not have easy access to special education programs. 

I'm not profiting from this program, as I'd like it to be accessible to everyone. However, if I could expand on this program or make it more sophisticated with the help of experts, I could benefit a greater population with a better product.