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Affective Social Quest 137

tion is the same for both modes until the correct doll is selected. Working with
researchers at the Dan Marino Center, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, we designed the
system to track performance information requested by the therapists. For each
session, it recorded the child profiles, system configuration, clip configuration,
1
and child response times .
3. Evaluation and Results

A pilot study was conducted to determine whether ASQ was engaging to
children with autism and whether this type of application may potentially help
children learn emotion recognition.
Subjects were recruited as volunteers through advertisements posted at the
Dan Marino Center. Standardized assessment tools, as well as direct observa-
tion by trained psychologists and neurologists, were used to identify children
whose primary deficits are related to social-emotional responding and appro-
priate affect. To participate in the pilot study, children needed to come to the
center to play with ASQ for at least three days of sessions, each day’s session
lasting up to one hour. Nineteen children with deficits along the pervasive de-
velopment disorder (PDD) or autism spectrum were exposed to ASQ. Six of
these nineteen children were observed over three days. The therapy room was
eight by eight feet, with one outside window and one window to another office.
A laptop ran the ASQ application. The four dwarf dolls were the child’s input
devices to the application. Each toy doll was loosely positioned on the table
on a reclining board adhered to the table with Velcro pads. The dolls could
be picked up easily by the child, but were intended to remain on their stand
because it was found to be easier for the child to press the belt-buckle of the
chosen doll when the doll was on a hard surface (figure 16.3).

Figure 16.3. Child Testing.

The goal was to see if children can correctly match the emotion presented
on the child-screen to the emotion represented by each doll. For experimental
control the same dolls were used with each child, and all children were tested