CRAE ANNUAL REPORT OCT 2018 - SEP 2019
CRAE ANNUAL REPORT Oct 2018 Sep 2019
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CONTENTS 4 6 8
Message from our Acting Director CRAE CRAE Members Oct 2018 - Sep 2019
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Research • Research Passport • Discover Autism Research and Employment (DARE) • Educational experiences of autistic people with extreme demand avoidance behaviours • Puberty in minimally verbal autistic girls with intellectual disabilities
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Engagement • Communications • CRAE in the news & events • School Partnerships
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Acknowledgements
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Appendix 1: Research Funding & Awards (Oct 2018 - Sep 2019) Appendix 2: Publications & Reports (Oct 2018 - Sep 2019) Appendix 3: Conferences & Presentations (Oct 2018 - Sep 2019) 33
Message from our Acting Director The academic year 2018-2019 has been one of (temporary!) change for the Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE). In 2019, we were delighted to welcome the newest member of the CRAE team, baby Finn, when CRAE Director Anna Remington welcomed her first child. We all send our warmest congratulations to Anna and her husband Aaron on this exciting news.
CRAE’s work could never be achieved without the support of our wonderful partners, collaborators, colleagues and friends. We are particularly indebted to The Pears Foundation, Ambitious about Autism, and Autistica, as well as UCL Institute of Education, for their encouragement and support of our work.
Whilst Anna has been on maternity leave, CRAE continued her commitment to developing our participatory research agenda, working closely with the autistic and broader autism communities across a range of CRAE projects.
Most importantly, we would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all the autistic people, families, schools and charities who have contributed to our work, attended our events, or engaged with our centre. Without you, we would not be able to produce our crucially important research, all of which aims to make a genuine positive difference to the lives of autistic children, young people and adults.
In our 2018-2019 annual report, you can read about some of the exciting projects we have been working on, as well as our engagement activities, over the past 12 months.
It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to oversee CRAE in Anna’s absence. We hope you enjoy finding our more about our research and engagement activities over the past 12 months in this report… Laura
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A bit more about CRAE’s Acting Director Laura Crane Laura joined CRAE in 2015, and holds the role of Associate Professor and Deputy Director of CRAE. Laura’s research focuses on understanding the educational experiences of autistic children and young people (in mainstream and special schools), and identifying evidence-based ways to support pupils, their parents and their educators. Laura is passionate about engaging education professionals in research - supporting them to identify priorities for research and co-designing research studies that positively impact on pupil outcomes and wellbeing. Laura also has expertise in the following areas: (1) examining the diagnostic experiences of autistic people, their families, and the professionals who work with them; and (2) promoting access to justice for witnesses on the autism spectrum (in both the criminal and family justice systems). Laura’s early work centered on cognition and autism (with a particular focus on autobiographical memory). Central to all of Laura’s work is a commitment to the involvement of the autistic and broader autism communities in the research process; ensuring that research has a strong participatory ethos and is of direct and practical relevance to those it affects. Laura is also a strong advocate of public engagement and community outreach; ensuring that research is accessible to autistic people, their families, and the professionals who work with them. You can find out more about Laura and her research here: https://crae.ioe.ac.uk/portfolio/laura-crane/
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Centre for Research in Autism and Educat At the Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), within the Department of Psychology and Human Development (PHD), UCL Institute of Education, our mission is to help enhance the lives of autistic people and their families. •
CRAE is a unique research centre that places equal value on conducting ground-breaking scientific research and involving the autistic community in that research. We aim to be the most successful autism research centre in the world at reaching out to those beyond academia, especially to those on the autism spectrum.
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We believe in cutting-edge scientific research that can enhance the lives of autistic people and their families, as well as those who support them (e.g., educators, practitioners, carers).
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To ensure that our findings make a real and immediate difference to people’s everyday lives, we continue to actively engage with translating our evidence-based knowledge. This happens via genuine collaboration with members of the autistic community, and developing an active programme of public engagement events.
CRAE was established in 2009, with the help of generous donations from The Clothworkers’ Foundation, Pears Foundation and Kirby Laing Foundation. We are also extremely grateful to the ongoing support from our funders, including Ambitious about Autism, Autistica, The Bloomsbury Colleges, The British Academy, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), European Research Council, National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), UCL Grand Challenges, Wellcome Trust, friends and alumni of the Institute.
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tion
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CRAE members Oct 2018 - Sep 2019
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Anna Remington Director and Associate Professor.
Laura Crane Acting Director and Associate Professor.
Pravina Tailor Centre Coordinator.
Anne Fritz Research Communications and Engagement Officer.
Alyssa Alcorn Post-doctoral Researcher on the DE-ENIGMA project.
Brett Heasman Post-doctoral Researcher on the DARE project.
Alria Williams: Research Assistant on the DE-ENIGMA project.
Jana Brinkert: PhD student investigating perceptual and working memory capacity of autistic people.
Maria Ashworth: Research Assistant on the Research Passport and DE-ENIGMA projects.
Kana Umagami: PhD student investigating loneliness in autism.
Alison Livemore: PhD student investigating Autism Resource Provisions for primary-age children.
Mel Romuladez: PhD student investigating the employment experiences of autistic people.
Ali Northcott: Artist-inResidence exploring links between neurodiversity and creativity.
Clare Truman: PhD student exploring pathological demand avoidance (PDA) and auitsm.
Beth Tobiansky: Placement student from the University of Manchester.
Ellie Buckley: PhD student investigating autism in the performing arts.
Monique Bellchambers Joseph: Placement student from the University of Manchester. 9
RESEARCH
RESEARCH
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Research Passport 12 Discover Autism Research and
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Employment (DARE) Educational experiences of autisic people
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with extreme demand avoidance behaviours Puberty in minimally verbal autistic girls
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Research Passport Autistic people say that they would be more likely to take part in research if they feel that their needs are met and their views are listened to. Yet autistic people and their families often report negative experiences of participating in research.
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Aware of this situation, Robyn Steward, an autistic Research Associate at CRAE, had the idea of developing a Research Passport – an easy and accessible way that people can share their needs and experiences with researchers, so that everyone feels comfortable to take part in research from start to finish. With funding from the autism research charity Autistica, CRAE researchers set out to create such a tool. Working closely with autistic people, their family members and autism researchers, the CRAE team has been identifying what a Research Passport might ‘look like’ and how to make it as useful as possible, for participants and researchers. The Research Passport will provide important information such as: • •
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personal details, contact information,
communication preferences (such as how the person wishes to be communicated with and they would like to communicate with others), information about sensory needs (such as noise or light sensitivities), and other personal information participants would like to share.
The idea is that researchers can use this information to adjust the research experience to best suit the needs of their participant. We also hope the Research Passport can help researchers to adjust their research procedures and communication styles so that everybody’s voice can be heard in research. To date we’ve worked with autistic adults, parents of autistic children and autism researchers to design a prototype Research Passport, which has been pilot tested in a few research studies. We have also been working with researchers across the UK to collate best practice examples of research documents, such as informed consent and information sheets, to promote inclusive, accessible autism research throughout the UK.
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Discover Autism Research & Employment There is a national autism-employment gap where autistic adults are less likely to be in full-time employment than people in other disability categories. To find out more, CRAE’s Anna Remington pioneered DARE, an evidence-gathering autism employment initiative, together with autism research charity Autistica.
barriers and enablers to employment for neurodivergent people.
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disclosure (if and why people may disclose their diagnosis, and their experiences of it),
The DARE team conduct research to understand the employment experiences of autistic people. They assess employment outcomes for autistic people and try to determine what meaningful employment looks like for autistic people with and without learning disabilities. DARE researchers also study the experiences of autistic people leaving employment, for example through dismissal, redundancy, or burnout.
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masking (strategies that some autistic people use to fit in), and
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adjustments (changes to the working environment and practice designed to make jobs and work more accessible).
Additionally, the DARE team look at the use of environmental supports at work and how effective existing workplace assessments are, in supporting adjustments for autistic people. To date, this research includes more than 500 participants, and preliminary research findings highlight several key
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These include:
So far, the research highlights that autistic participants think that a manager’s traits and values, such as their knowledge of autism, being empathetic, and a desire to retain staff, are major factors when it comes to employment practices for neurodivergent staff. Additionally, resources (such as financial costs, convenience for managers, and time and space for adjustments) were also seen as important barriers or enablers.
(DARE)
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Educational experiences of autistic peopl avoidance behaviours Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is a term used to describe autistic people who avoid everyday demands and expectations in a way that is considered extreme. PDA was first described in the 1980s by Elizabeth Newson, a clinical psychologist, but it remains controversial. Although PDA is not included in international diagnostic manuals (e.g., DSM-5 or ICD-11), it is increasingly being described as a presentation of autism, even being diagnosed by some clinicians in the UK. Whilst some clinicians and self-advocates find the diagnosis of PDA helps with signposting to appropriate support, others argue that there is insufficient evidence for the need for a separate diagnostic label and that it could do more harm than good to describe people in this way.
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There is currently very little known about the ways in which a diagnosis of PDA (or the traits associated with it) affect autistic people’s educational experiences or their ability to get support from educational professionals. CRAE PhD student Clare Truman is examining the educational experiences of autistic people with and without a diagnosuis of PDA. Her research aims to identify any similarities or differences in the educational experiences of these groups and to examine the extent to which a diagnosis of PDA may (or may not) provide access to better and more appropriate support for autistic children who display extreme demand avoidance behaviours.
le with extreme demand
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Puberty in minimally verbal autistic girls w Puberty is a time of huge change, which may present particular challenges for autistic people. Despite this, little research exists on the experiences of puberty for autistic girls, and even less for those who speak little or no words, and have additional intellectual disability. CRAE researchers studied the experiences of puberty in autistic girls who were minimally verbal with additional intellectual disability. The goal was to identify any concerns prior to the girls’ onset of puberty, and finding out the most effective ways of supporting the girls (and their parents and educators) through this crucial developmental stage. We interviewed ten parents and ten educators about their views and experiences of supporting these girls through puberty. Key findings were: • The girls had a wide range of
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individual experiences and needs – some girls were unfazed by their experiences, whilst others struggled in a range of ways; • It was crucial to promote the dignity and respect of the girls, and a key role of parents and teachers was to be sensitive to subtle changes in the girls’ behaviour and respond accordingly; • Small, gradual steps were felt to be needed to support girls through puberty, as well as individualised support (what may benefit one girl may not benefit another). It will be important for future research in this area to focus on identifying developmentally-sensitive ways to elicit the girls’ voices on their experiences of puberty. To read this study in full, visit: https://bit.ly/2JhbawA
with intellectual disabilities
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ENGAGEMENT
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Communications CRAE in the News CRAE Events School Partnerships
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Communications Sharing our research CRAE continues to develop its active communication strategy by boosting its online presence and engagement through different digital platforms. Our aim is to increase the accessibility of autism research (our own and that of others), working towards wider acceptance of autism. Furthermore, by enhancing our social media reach, we expand the profile of our research centre. Some highlights include:
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The CRAE website (crae.ioe.ac.uk) has maintained the same number of visitors (6,000 visitors/year), of which 80% are organic users versus 20% returning visitors. We believe that with our newly designed website (launching in November 2019), we will see a significant jump in traffic.
CRAE’s Facebook Page has seen a big growth, more than doubling our followers and page ‘likes’ (over 3000 now).
CRAE members have been invited to present their research nationally and internationally at conferences, academic institutions, schools, charities, companies and festivals in the England, Northern Ireland, France, Canada, Israel, and Australia.
CRAE’s Twitter account (@CRAE_IOE) has also seen continued growth, with more than 8,000 followers, and being consecutively listed as a Top Ten Influencer (via Symplur) when attending conferences. By live tweeting from events we reach millions of people worldwide with the latest autism research and news.
As part of World Autism Awareness Week (WAAW) 2019, CRAE invited five autistic staff members/collaborators to take over the CRAE Twitter and Facebook accounts, to share their views and experiences of autism research. During this five-day period, the posts were seen by 15,000 per day.
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CRAE in the News News In January 2019, DE-ENIGMA was featured in “How robots can help autistic children better understand their emotions” on UCL Institute of Education’s YouTube channel (with 2,400 subscribers). In February 2019, Anna Remington’s research was featured in The Irish News ahead of the NI Science Festival. In July 2019, The Project Repository Journal published an article about the DE-ENIGMA project.
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6th CRAE Christmas Card Competition! CRAE launched their 6th Christmas Card Design Competition in November 2018, receiving hundreds of entries from autism schools across Greater London and beyond. The overall winning design (from students at Queensmill School) was printed as our CRAE Xmas card and shared with over 750 of our colleagues, collaborators, friends, families and, importantly, all our participants and those with whom we work.
Events Evening of CRAEtivity: Celebrating autistic people in the arts In December 2018, CRAE’s very own Artist-in-Residence, Ali Northcott, hosted a charity evening celebrating autistic people in the arts. For this extra special event, we welcomed world-renowned concert pianist Derek Paravicini. Derek is blind, autistic and has severe learning difficulties and is one of the most extraordinary pianists and musical entertainers of his generation, rapidly learning musical pieces simply by listening to them. Derek was joined on stage by Professor Adam Ockelford, Director of the Applied Music Research Centre at the University of Roehampton, whose research focuses on educational needs and music for those with disabilities. We were also thrilled to have autistic artist Patrick Samuel, who did incredible live-painting during the performance. His phenomenal artworks were displayed for guests to enjoy at their leisure, and also now grace the walls of the CRAE offices!
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Events CRAE’s 9th Annual Lecture with Peter Vermeulen In March 2019, we were delighted to host our 9th annual lecture, hosted by the brilliant Dr Peter Vermeulen. With a MSc and PhD in Psychology and Educational Sciences, Peter has worked with autistic people and their families for more than 30 years. Founder of “Autism in Context” and Senior Lecturer at Autisme Centraal (a Training and Education Centre for Autism), Peter is an internationally respected lecturer/trainer and presents all over Europe and beyond. Peter has written more than 15 books and several articles on autism. At this lecture, Peter explained that with more than ten scientific articles published per day, autism is just about
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the most studied condition in the world. Yet he noted that happiness has received little attention in the field of autism. Outcome and intervention studies, for instance, rarely consider emotional well-being as a desired outcome; and when the focus is on well-being, it is often from a negative perspective (i.e., the lack of well-being and quality of life amongst autistic people). In his lecture, Peter called for a radical change in our approach, moving towards a shared and positive focus - after all, we all want to be happy. In other words: let’s move from neurodiversity to neuroharmony! This sold-out talk attracted an audience of over 300 people. If you were unable to attend, you can see a mini interview with Peter here: https://bit.ly/2zcGsna
DISCOVER: Autism and Employment Companies are finally starting to realised the potential of autistic people, but how should an employer made adjustment to recruit autistic people and make employees feel valued and supported at work? In 2018, CRAE in collaboration with autism charity Autistica, organised a series of lectures to explore exactly that. Audience members were able to: • Hear about employers that are changing the way they work to attract autistic employees. • Hear from an autistic adult who kickstarted his career with a city firm specifically seeking autistic staff. • Learn how researchers are defining ‘good practice’ for autistic employers, and how Autistica is supporting more companies to adopt a neurodiverse work culture.
Bloomsbury Festival CRAE’s PhD student Jana Brinkert, and former Master’s student, Sarah Crockford, engaged with Bloomsbury Festival attendees as part of the Activism Festival Hub at UCL about their attitudes, perceptions and knowledge around brain imaging. The researchers engaged festival-goers through interactive brainsensing Muse™ headbands to help the general public develop awareness and understanding of imaging, in addition to taking a brain-selfie in the pop-up photo booth, and crafting brain cells and brainwaves – helping to grow the tailor-made tapestry. 27
School Partnerships
CRAE is honoured to work closely with a number of schools through our research partnerships. The Pan London Autism Schools Network (PLASN) is a network of schools from across London that all specialise in autism. The PLASN-Research group is a subgroup of PLASN that provides links between these schools and autism researchers (from a range of universities). This research-practice link enables us to identify priority topics for research that have a positive impact on the educational experiences of autistic children and young people. By working collaboratively, we ensure that schools adopt evidence-based practice.
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The network is chaired by CRAE’s Laura Crane, together with Lucia Santi (Head Teacher at The Grove School in Harringey). PLASN-R now has more than 15 educators and staff from 15 autism special school, and researchers from the UCL Institute of Eduaction, King’s College London, University of East London, City University and the Evelina London. CRAE also work to produce the biannual PLASN-R newsletters, which detail the latest research projects that members are currently involved in. We have released Issues 1 - 4 to date. All are made freely available for wider dissemination to share best practice. Find them here: https://crae.ioe.ac.uk/plasn-r/
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Acknowledgements Acknowledgements A huge thank you to all the autistic children, young people and adults, their families and those who support them, and to all of the schools with whom we work. Our work would simply not be possible without their continued support. We are also extremely grateful to our funders, including Pears Foundation, Ambitious about Autism, Autistica, National Institute for Health Research, British Academy, Economic and Social Research Council, European Research Council, UCL Grand Challenges, and Wellcome Trust. We would also like to thank those who helped draft the report, and to all the individuals, families and schools who contributed photographs. Thank you all ever so much.
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Appendix 1: Research Funding & Awards Research Funding Discover Autism Research and Employment Service (DARE) Year 2, funded by Autistica (Principal Investigator: Anna Remington, Co-Investigator: Brett Heasman). Largescale longitudinal initiative to investigate autism in employment. £80.2k, 2019-2020. Interventions to improve mental health in people with autism spectrum disorder, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (CRAE Investigator: Laura Crane). Undertaking a systematic review and network meta-analysis of research on mental health in autistic people. £141.7k, 2019-2020. Research Passport, funded by Autistica (Principal Investigator: Laura, Crane, CoInvestigators: Melissa Bovis, Robyn Steward and Liz Pellicano). Project to develop a tool aimed at improving the experience of autistic people who are participating in research. £28.6k, 2018-2020. Finished at School, funded by Ambitious about Autism (Principal Investigators: Laura Crane and Anna Remington). Project working with a team of young autistic people to investigate post-16 pathways and outcomes for young autistic people in England. £20.6k, 2019-2020.
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UCL Impact Case Study. Development research on autism in the family courts as an Impact Case Study in advance of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework assessment exercise (Principal Investigator: Anna Remington, Co-Investigator: Rob George, UCL Law). £3.7k, 2018. British Council UK-Israel Lectureship Scheme, secured by Anna Remington to build collaborations with researchers at Hebrew University and Bar Ilan University, and to give seminars/lectures about participatory autism research and the value of seeing autism as a difference (rather than as a deficit). £1.5k, 2019.
Awards CRAE’s research on an internship programme for autistic graduates at Deutsche Bank UK was included in the #MadeAtUCL Award series – a showcase of the 100 most impactful research stories from UCL. Anna Remington was nominated for a UCL Inspirational Delivery Teaching Award, as part of the Student Choice Awards.
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Appendix 2: Publications & Reports Cummins, C., Pellicano, E., & Crane, L. (2018). Supporting minimally verbal autistic girls with intellectual disabilities through puberty: Perspectives of parents and educators. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3782-8 Crane, L., Davidson, I., Prosser, R., & Pellicano, E. (2019). Understanding psychiatrists’ knowledge, attitudes and experiences in identifying and supporting their patients on the autism spectrum: Online survey. BJPsych open, 5(e33), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2019.12 Crane, L., Jones, L., Prosser, R., Taghrizi, M., & Pellicano, E. (2019). Parents’ views and experiences of talking about autism with their children. Autism, 23(8), 1969-1981. https:// doi.org/10.1177/1362361319836257 Crane, L. & Maras, K.L. (2018). General Memory Abilities for Autobiographical Events in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In Goodman, G.S., Johnson, J.L., & Mundy, P.C. (2018). The Wiley Handbook of Autobiographical Memory, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the Law. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons https:// doi.org/10.1002/9781119158431.ch8 Eades, D., Leung, P., Cronin, A., Monteiro, J., Johnson, A., & Remington, A. (2019). UK dental professionals’ knowledge, experience and confidence when treating patients on the autism spectrum. British Dental Journal, 227(6), 504-510. https:// doi.org/10.1038/s41415-019-0786-5 Heasman, B., & Gillespie, A. (2019). Participants over-estimate how helpful they are in a twoplayer game scenario towards an artificial confederate that discloses a diagnosis of autism. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1349. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01349 Heasman, B., & Gillespie, A. (2019). Learning how to read autistic behaviour from interactions between autistic people. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 42(e93). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X18002364
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Heasman, B., & Gillespie, A. (2019). Neurodivergent intersubjectivity: Distinctive features of how autistic people create shared understanding. Autism, 23(4), 910-921. https:// doi.org/10.1177/1362361318785172 Hussein, A. M., Pellicano, E., & Crane, L. (2019). Understanding and awareness of autism among Somali parents living in the United Kingdom. Autism, 23(6), 1408-1418. https:// doi.org/10.1177/1362361318813996 Kapp, S. K., Steward, R., Crane, L., Elliott, D., Elphick, C., Pellicano, E., & Russell, G. (2019). ‘People should be allowed to do what they like’: Autistic adults’ views and experiences of stimming. Autism, 23 (7),1782-1792. https:// doi.org/10.1177/1362361319829628 Remington, A., Hanley, M., O’Brien, S., Riby, D. M., & Swettenham, J. (2019). Implications of capacity in the classroom: Simplifying tasks for autistic children may not be the answer. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 85, 197204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2018.12.006 Remington, A., & Pellicano, E. (2019). ‘Sometimes you just need someone to take a chance on you’: An internship programme for autistic graduates at Deutsche Bank, UK. Journal of Management & Organization, 25(4), 516-534. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2018.66 Sedgewick, F., Crane, L., Hill, V., & Pellicano, E.. (2019). Friends and lovers: The relationships of autistic and neurotypical women. Autism in Adulthood, 1(2), 112-123. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2018.0028 Harper, G., Smith, E., Heasman, B., Remington, A., Girdler, S., Appleton, VJ., Cameron C., Fell, C., (2019). Autistic Action Briefing: Employment, which strongly urges the Government, public research funders and public, private and third sector employers to act on the briefing’s information. https:// www.autistica.org.uk/downloads/files/ Autistica-Action-Briefing-Employment.pdf
Appendix 3: CRAE Key Conference Presentations (Oct 2018 – Sep 2019)
Appendix 3: Conferences & Presentations International Society for Autism Research (INSAR 2019), Montreal, Canada. CRAE members presented their autism research via nine posters and one oral presentations over the conference duration to over 2,500 international autism researchers from more than 50 countries. Autism Europe (2019), Nice, France. CRAE members presented two posters, presented two talks, ran one workshop and chaired one oral session. Autistica Discover Conference (2019), Reading, UK. CRAE members presented two posters, gave one flashtalk and two presentations. Anna Remington gave two invited talks in Derry and Belfast, as part of the Northern Ireland Science Festival, in February 2019. In March 2019 Anna Remington gave a talk about CRAE and her work with HeartnSoul at the Hub; a sold-out event at the Wellcome Collection. Anna Remington gave the keynote lecture at the Participatory Research Conference at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Anna Remington was invited to lead a seminar on participatory research at the Golan Lab and Bonneh Lab at the Bar Ilan University in Israel. Anna Remington spoke at the Centre for Educational Neuroscience Seminar Series, The London Autism Special Interest Group Conference, The Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, and Salford University. Laura Crane was invited to present a talk entitled “Know Your Normal: Mental health in young autistic people” at the RCPsych International Congress in London (as part of a symposium on mental health and autism). Laura Crane was invited to present a talk entitled “Something needs to change:
Mental health in young autistic adults” for the Educational Psychology Special Interest Group at UCL Institute of Education.
At this event, multiple researchers who had partnered with the school were present to talk to parents and staff about their work.
Laura Crane gave an invited talk entitled “Participatory autism research: Challenges and opportunities” to the ARCH autism research group at King’s College London.
Eleanor Buckley was invited to present a talk at the UCL Institute of Child Health and ARCH lecture series at King’s College London, titled “Scholars of human expression: The experiences of autistic art performing professionals and attitudes of performing arts employers in the UK.”
Laura Crane gave an invited talk about the work of CRAE at the Playing A/Part conference at the University of Kent. DE-ENIGMA members gave a presentation/ workshop on ‘Social robotics for autistic children: Lessons from DE-ENIGMA’ at the Futures of NeuroRobotics symposium at Macquarie University, Australia. Alria Williams presented a talk at the Birkbeck Centre for Educational Neuroscience on “Designing education robot activities for children on the autism spectrum”. Alyssa Alcorn was invited to give a talk at the UCL Centre for Speech and Language Intervention Research (CSLIR) seminar event under the theme of ‘Research informing Speech and Language Therapy services for children with ASD’. Alyssa’s talk was titled “Constructing triangles of interaction: Planning technology use to practice communication skills”.
Brett Heasman was invited to talk and run workshops at JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank (Birmingham), Travelex, Guild of Human Resource Professionals, Public Health England, Knowledge Quarter, CIPD Festival of Work, and Neurodiversity Works. Laura Crane gave an invited keynote talk for Autism@Manchester at the Manchester Museum. Open to the public, her soldout talk was entitled “Participatory autism research: Challenges and opportunities”. Anna Remington gave a keynote lecture at the London South Bank University Autism and Entrepreneurship Conference.
Alyssa Alcorn and Eloise Ainger presented on general DE-ENIGMA project progress to audience of head teachers/schools involved in research at the Pan London Autism Schools Network Research Group (at UCL Institute of Education). They also gave a talk for staff members at College Park School, sharing the results of the usability studies and teacher interviews in which the school participated. In 2019, DE-ENIGMA (represented by CRAE member Alyssa Alcorn) participated in the Queensmill School Research and Development Board Celebration Evening.
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Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE) Department of Psychology and Human Development UCL Institute of Education University College London (UCL) 55-59 Gordon Square London WC1H 0NU © 2019 UCL Institute of Education
