THE CHALLENGES

Time management and planning were the two largest challenges for this workshop. The research team had turned to an advisory board of autistic youth and allies to select a series of core learning objectives for the thirteen-day program. Alongside these learning objectives, it was important to create space for graduate student research as well as data collection from the youth in the form of a series of research probes. Creating a schedule that made it possible to teach all the learning objectives and made time for the research objectives in a neurodiversity-affirming way in the time allotted definitely made for a tight schedule.

Alongside this, with so many different learners of so many different ages (ranging from very young teens to young adults in their early twenties) in the room, who we were explicitly teaching to self-advocate, we needed to create as much space as possible for flexibility and changes of plans. This made keeping to a predetermined schedule another one of the greatest challenges for this project.

We also had to help students to advocate for themselves in the interpersonal relationships that they were forming in the workshop. It was important that students felt heard when they disagreed with each other while also maintaining group cohesion and making sure that students felt able to stay in the space and work through difficult moments.

THE PROCESS

Ahead of the workshops, Soft Chaos met with the NSF research team to understand their priorities and needs. From there, we rewrote the syllabus and curriculum for the program based on learning objectives established by the project's advisory board, which included seventy distinct lessons and activities to be taught over thirteen days as well as a final project in the form of a game per student. We iterated on the schedule many times until we found a variation that satisfied all the different needs of the program.

Soft Chaos divided up the syllabus between the three of us, with each of us writing about 20 lessons on topics related to the different learning objectives, including 2D art and animation, programming in Bitsy, game design and game rules, how games tell stories, how to give and receive feedback, and more. Some of the self-advocacy and job skill materials were provided by and taught by the NSF researcher team based on previous years.

We helped manage different stakeholder needs, such as collecting research data, providing ample time for student feedback and questions, and teaching all of the required learning objectives. From there, we began to teach the workshops and gathered student feedback at different points in the program. We adapted subsequent lessons and activities based on student feedback mid-program. We then taught the entire workshop again to a new group of students while adapting to their needs.

THE OUTCOME

Out of about forty students across the two workshops, twenty-eight made games as part of the program. This is higher than in any other year that the workshop has taken place. The students almost universally said that they enjoyed the workshop and learned valuable skills from it. Students learned game design, self-advocacy and job-related skills and said that they had a great time learning with us!

We were also able to help the NSF Research team to gather research data about the student experience. This research has subsequently been adapted into papers and posters about autistic youth and their learning experience. Some of these publications are linked below.

Soft Chaos also learned more about formal practices for working with neurodivergent people (including ourselves), neurodiversity-affirming principles, and how to continue our work of fostering inclusive spaces!

Research Papers

Grossman, E., O’Brien, S., Cole, A.K., Marcotte, J.R., Squinkifer, D., Dlott, K., Eder, S., & Gillespie-Lynch, K. (2024, May 16). Are Creativity Frameworks Valuable to Autistic Teens? Perhaps, but They Must be Sustained and Applied Over Time [Poster presentation]. International Society for Autism Research Annual Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.

O’Brien, S., Grossman, E., Kilgallon, E., Marcotte, J.R., Cole, A.K., Squinkifer, D., Delos Santos, J., Dwyer, P., Batkin, D., Shibble, S., Riccio, A., Hurst, A., Valvik, J., Ceseña, C., Gravelle, D., Kofner, B., Hwang-Geddes, L., Yan, A., Jerome, S., Rosenberg, B., Shevchuk-Hill, S., Rico, J., Leon, B., Martin, W., & Gillespie-Lynch, K., (2024, May 18). “It was fun and I got a lot of help and I learned a lot”: Assessing the Social Validity and Initial Efficacy of Game Design and Employment Workshops for Autistic Youth. [Poster session]. International Society for Autism Research Annual Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.

O’Brien, S.,Grossman, E., Kilgallon, E., Batkin, D., Grevalle, D., Delos Santos, J., Dwyer, P., Riccio, A., Kofner, B., Yan, A., Hwang-Geddes, L., Shevchuk-Hill, S., Dave, S., Gravitch, K., Tricarico, N., Hayes, A., Rico, J., Kosminoff, K., Leon, B., Malik, A., Thomas, J., Siper, M., Messina, C., Williams, D., Shibble, H., Mujukian, S., Katyarmal, S., Boyarko, A., Brill, N., Bataille, L., Gabel, A., Herrell, J., Biswas, S., Pak, E., Cole, A. K., Marcotte, J. R., D. Squinkifier, Valvik, J., Zhang, Z., Alvarez, E., Ceseña, C., Lam, M., Edano, C., Suarez, J., Dorelien, A., Martin, W., Rosenberg, B., Hurst, A., & Gillespie-Lynch, K. (2024, May 18). “You took feedback and made it better”: Autistic youth's advocacy in game-design and employment workshops. [Poster session]. International Society for Autism Research Annual Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.