Can a DVD Teach Emotions?

http://discovermagazine.com/2009/mar/04-can-a-dvd-teach-kids-with-autism-to-understand-emotions

Autism is on the rise. It may be from vaccinations or better diagnosing or a higher awareness, but whatever it is, more children have autism now. It had risen ten times in the past two decades. One of the very sad symptoms of autism is that the children have trouble comprehending emotions, especially complex ones, such as jealousy. Simon Baron-Cohen has created a DVD that strives to lessen this gap. He has created a DVD that actually tries to teach emotions.
His DVD, The Transporters, features animated trains with human faces. Actual human faces are used to help the children familiarize what happens in the movies with real life. Children with autism love trains and predictable, one-way movement. Trains are perfect for this because kids with autism like mechanical objects and linear movements. There are eight characters that all move slowly and predictably along the tracks. Simple story lines are incorporated, such as a surprise party or a train stuck on the tracks. The actors portray very clear facial expressions, such as surprise, and the movie names each emotion with a close up of the actor’s face. The movies are about fifteen minutes long and have interactive quizzes and questions, including a guide for the parents. Parent involvement is crucial to the success of the videos; the lessons have to be reinforced in the home.
The DVD was tested by taking three groups of twenty children. The first two groups were formed of highly functioning autistic children very close in age, skills, language, parent background and IQs. The third group consisted of children in the same age bracket that did not have autism. For four weeks Group one watched the videos while groups two and three did not. They were then tested on recognition of facial expressions they had seen in the DVD in new situations with new characters they had not yet seen. Group one improved dramatically and actually tested near the children without autism who had not watched the videos in their ability to recognize and understand emotions.
The videos are believed to work because of Baron-Cohen’s theory of systemizing. Everyone learns, and everyone has to have a way to understand things. People learn and understand things differently and understand on different levels. Autistic children tend to seem separate, lost in their own world. This is because they are extremely aware of things happening- hypersystemizing. Trying to understand the way these kids think is a big part of being able to connect with them and help them learn difficult things.
Some critics thought that the facial expressions were too subtle for autistic children to notice, especially with the eyes. Others mentioned that they thought the videos were unpredictable and hard to follow. This would be a very unfortunate flaw, because the whole video has to do with systematic thinking and movement, especially since it is such a big interest to autistic children.
There are many treatments or attempts of treatments for autism out there. The reality is, with more kids diagnosed with autism, more kids need help. This may be a small step in the right direction but sometimes a small step can be huge to a family. Even if the video doesn’t work a miracle- which it does not claim to do by the way- it is very promising and encouraging and not going to hurt any possible development.

My response: I have no idea why there are so many more autistic children now, but I think it is really great that there is now a DVD to try to help teach them emotions. The fact that he tries to understand the way they think is key. This program is designed to be interesting and interactive while being very helpful. It doesn’t simply repeat and emotion and name it. It is hard to think of not being able to understand emotions- something I can’t really wrap my mind around. That must be very frustrating and confusing. It would be very important for a parent or sibling to be able to connect with their autistic family member in any way, even if it is small thing. I do agree that with autistic or disabled kids that very small things can mean the world and really change things. Even if this DVD is not perfect, I believe that it is a step in the right direction and I hope more people will catch onto this. It is encouraging to see research and programs being developed in a growing area of need. The parents of autistic children would probably be very ready to try this, as it seems to be effective. I haven’t seen any of the videos but this is probably something worth trying over a medication or something with possible side effects. It’s a video. It’s spending time with your child. It just might work. It definitely sounds good to me.