1. Building Evidence for Technology and Autism
BETA:
Building Evidence for Technology and Autism
Vanessa Zervogianni, Sue Fletcher-Watson, Gerardo Herrera, Matthew Goodwin, Patricia Perez, Mark Brosnan, Ouriel Grynszpan

2. What will we do today?
1.Presentation of our motivation and methods: Collaborative study.
2. Share your experience about evidence for technology and autism with the researcher and other participants.
3. Use the online tool: Select a digital product for autistic users and rate its level of evidence under our guidance.
4. Q&A

3. Different stakeholders - Same concern
Autistic people and families: Money and time on interventions that actually work
Practitioners: Integrate into their practice and recommend appropriate tech
Best evidence?
Developers: How to support and validate their products

4. EBP Evidence-Based Practice
Term originating from the medical field
Best available research
Clinical expertise
Patient values & circumstances
Healthcare system policies
EBP
Evidence-Based Practice
What is it?

5. EBP In digital technology for autism
Plethora of apps
Promising claims
Personalised options
Varying goals
EBP
In digital technology
for autism
Why do we need it?

6. Rapid scientific publication rate

7. Thousands of ‘Autism apps’ on popular app stores

8. Reviews?

9. Different disciplines Different goals and methods
Informatics
Engineering
Design
Psychology
Health science
Education

10. What did we want to find out?
What evidence to look for
Where to look for evidence
How to assess the evidence

11. Delphi study The Delphi method
Experts on a field reach consensus on a specific topic
Communication on an online platform
Anonymous
Feedback managed by moderator at all stages

12. Goals, methods and participants per round
Brainstorming 1
Open questions about:
types of evidence they use
specific examples of evidence
Autistic people
Families
Professionals
Categorisation of evidence 2
Organise evidence in categories
Identify new types of evidence
Autistic people
Families
Professionals
Refinement 3
Ranking of a long list of items
Justification of choices
Autistic people
Families
Professionals
Researchers
Finalisation 4
Ranking of top items
Final modifications in wording
Autistic people
Families
Professionals
Researchers

13. For what aspects of technology do we need to look for evidence?
Reliability
Engagement
Effectiveness
The efficacy of a product at the level of engineering. Is it technically sound / functional? How well does it work? e.g. Does the face recognition functionality actually work? Does the app crash often?
The user perception of the technology. How usable, pleasant and accessible is the product for the specific users? Its ease of use / look & feel.
The outcome of using the product. How much impact does it have to the people using it? Does it make an observable difference in the user’s life/behaviour?

14. Academic papers / opinions
Sources of evidence
Trying it out
A trial version is available. Its functions can be explored.
Whether it is motivating to use in the short/medium/long term can be evaluated.
It is clear how the trial version differs from the full version.
Online reviews
Review websites and social media groups contain information about the product.
Reviews from autistic users and their families have been included.
People having used the product for a (relatively) long time have expressed their views.
Many reviews are available for comparison to improve objectivity.
Expert opinions
Opinions about the product have been made by experts (e.g., autistic people or other people with specialist skills and relevant experience with technology), relevant professionals (e.g, a specialist teacher, speech and language therapist, specialist psychologist, etc.), or relevant organisations / agencies (e.g., an autism society).
Academic papers / opinions
Academic/ scientific outputs (e.g., articles, interviews) evaluating the product are available and the quality of the research can be established (e.g. peer-reviews or systematics analyses combining results from multiple independent studies).
The scientist’s relevant qualifications, affiliations and potential conflicts of interest can be reviewed.

15. Discussion

16. Try out the online tool

17. Rate your chosen product for its level of evidence!
Go to this web address:
‘Click to rate the evidence of any digital product for autism’

18. http://www.asdtech.ed.ac.uk > Online resources

19. Q&A

20. Thank you! http://www.asdtech.ed.ac.uk/beta Visit (and subscribe):
for questions/info: