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Attention and Autism

Develop your insight and skills to better understand how attention works in autistic people with this online teaching course from the University of Birmingham.

Duration

4 weeks

Weekly study

4 hours

100% online

How it works

Unlimited subscription

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Build strategies to meet the needs of children with autism

As more people are diagnosed with autism, it is very likely that a teacher will have to teach an autistic child at some point in their career. Research has shown that adapting strategies to meet the needs of autistic children can benefit all children in a classroom.

On this four-week course from the University of Birmingham, you’ll explore the concept of attention and its impact on autistic people. Given the potential benefits of attention on broader academic attainment and inclusion, this course will help you develop tools to assess and teach attention in autistic children at school.

Explore attention control and sustained attention on the autism spectrum

Attention control is comprised of several relatively high-level cognitive mechanisms, all of which are critical for learning.

This course will guide you through the ideas of attention and its links to neurodivergence such as autism and ADHD. You’ll look at studies showing the different ways that attention can be improved in students with poorer sustained attention.

Discover techniques and technologies to support attention training

Technology seems so appealing for many individuals with autism and can significantly help with attention and learning. Technology can be a useful educational tool in a teacher’s toolbox to use based on pedagogical decisions, especially for children with autism.

You’ll explore the various technologies used to support autistic children’s learning, as well as the research studies and evidence on the topic.

Dive into Computerized Progressive Attentional Training program

Throughout the final week of this course, you’ll focus on the Computerized Progressive Attentional Training (CPAT) program and how you can use CPAT to support attention training in autism.

Week 1
Introduction to autism and attention
- Welcome to the course
  In this first activity, you will be introduced to the learning aims of the week. You will also be provided with information to help guide you through this course.
- Introduction to autism
  In this activity, you will be introduced to the topic of autism, and its prevalence in the population and its cross-cultural tendencies as well as other key facts about the condition.
- Introduction to attention
  In this activity, you will be introduced to the topic of attention. We will define attention on a systematic level, and discuss how fundamental it is to almost everything we do.
- Summary
  In the final activity of the week, Dr Lila Kossyvaki provides a short summary of the topics covered in week 1, and provides a sneak peek into week 2.
Week 2
Attention and learning in autism
- Welcome to week 2
  Dr Carmel Mevorach introduces the second week of the course and provides an overview of the topics that will be covered throughout the week.
- Introduction to attention and learning
  In this activity, we take a look at how attention functions contribute to academic skills and consequently how important it is for educational practitioners to consider the attention demands involved in certain academic skills.
- Attention in autism
  In this activity, we introduce the concept of attention atypicality in autism. We will use the three attention functions to review what we know about them in autism and how they may be associated with the behaviours of autism.
- Summary
  In this activity, Dr Carmel Mevorach provides an overview of the topics covered throughout week 2 and gives a sneak peak into week 3.
Week 3
Technology and attention training
- Welcome to week 3
  Dr Lila Kossyvaki introduces week 3 of the course and provides an overview of the topics that will be covered throughout the week.
- Technology as a useful tool to teach individuals with autism
  In this activity, we consider the benefits of using technology for teaching people with autism. We will discuss the types of technology used and why it might be 'fit for purpose' when teaching children with autism.
- Cognitive training
  In this activity, we will learn about approaches for cognitive training, specifically the direct process approach. We will also introduce the Computerised Progressive Attention Training (CPAT) program.
- Summary
  Dr Lila Kossyvaki provides a short summary of the topics covered throughout week 3, and gives a sneak preview of week 4.
Week 4
Computerised progressive attentional training (CPAT)
- Welcome to week 4
  In the final week of the course, we take a deeper look at the Computerised Progressive Attentional Training (CPAT) app.
- The SEARCH activity
  In this activity, we take a look at the first of the three CPAT activities, 'Search'.
- The CPT activity
  In this activity, we take a look at the second of the three CPAT activities, 'CPT'.
- The GLOBAL/LOCAL activity
  In this activity, we take a look at the final of the three CPAT activities, 'Global/Local'.
- CPAT Instructions
  In this activity, we go through all of the CPAT instructions, step by step.
- Implementation
  In this activity, we provide some helpful resources for using CPAT. We also take a look at some of the challenges in the context of the principles of the direct intervention cognitive training approach.
- Summary
  In this final activity, Dr Carmel Mevorach provides an overview of the week, and brings the course to a close.