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Does the Emotion Trainer work?
Unlike most other software available, research evidence has shown the Emotion Trainer to be an effective teaching tool, making significant changes in the emotional understanding of people who use it.
Research Evidence
A randomised controlled trial looked at the effect of the Emotion Trainer
on able children with autism or Asperger's syndrome. Two groups of
eleven children (age 12-18) at two special schools participated.
Individuals in one group used the computer program for 10 half-hour
sessions over two weeks and were compared to the other group who
received no intervention. Data collected within the program showed a
significant reduction in errors made from first to last use. Students
were assessed pre and post intervention using facial expression
photographs, cartoons depicting emotion-laden situations, and
non-literal stories. Scores were not related to age or verbal ability.
The experimental group made gains relative to the control group on all
three measures, reaching significance on the cartoons and stories,
despite the small sample size. Gains correlated significantly with the
number of times the computer program was used. Results suggest strong
positive effects of using the computer program. Further
research will be undertaken to assess whether these gains generalised
into real life or improved performance on "Theory of Mind" measures. We
would like to find out whether the effects are as positive when the
Emotion Trainer is used at home, rather than in a school setting. We
hope that through further research we can find out whether there are
positive effects on people other than children with autism/AS, such as
adults on the autistic spectrum, or children and adults with learning
disabilities.
Reference :- Silver,
S. & Oakes, P. (2001) 'Evaluation of a new computer intervention to
teach people with autism or Asperger syndrome to recognize and predict
emotions in others', Autism, 5(3), 299-316.
 View the paper in PDF format here
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