Research

Dive into the research from the University of California, San Diego Department of Education Studies about the positive outcomes from our film and curriculum interactive classroom experience.

---

“If we don’t take the time to try to learn about our students and identify them and REALLY get to know them, it’s going to be really hard for us to make a difference.”

Participating Teacher

---

Executive Summary

Significance

In California, 12% of all children receiving services have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD)diagnosis. ASD is a disability with signature deficits in language, communication, and social reciprocity. For children with autism, social skills may be difficult to develop yet they are important for children to succeed in school. Children who are socio-emotionally healthy have stronger interpersonal relationships and do better academically (Bond et. al., 2007). Schools are important contexts for supporting healthy social-emotional development, yet state and local pressures to address content standards often drive teachers to focus on academic skills at the cost of attending to social emotional matters. This report analyzes the findings from a year-long study examining student and teacher participation in a social emotional curriculum, Autism Is, anchored by a documentary called Bass Clef Bliss: Terrence’s Path.

Study Objectives

In order to understand the effects of this curriculum, we used an iterative research and development approach to: (1) understand the impacts of inclusion for children with ASD and for typically developing children; (2) use the Autism Is curriculum to support the inclusion of children with ASD in general education classrooms; and (3) adapt, refine and measure student impact of the Autism Is curriculum in preparation for future implementation. We developed structured and semi-structured activities during within a workshop model that exposed teacher participants to new ways of thinking about inclusive practices, autism, and social emotional learning. In the workshops we also worked with teachers to develop detailed and student centered lesson plans that supported the documentary film and also met content standards. Teacher surveys were collected at the end of the workshops. To measure student impact we used Social Network Surveys at three different time points over the academic year and student focus group interviews throughout the year. The findings in this report describe the findings related to the social network analyses, the student focus group interviews, and the teacher workshops.

Key findings

From the Social Network Analyses we learned that:

• Students reported the largest gains in friendship and recess ties from Time 1 to Time 2.
• Students reported having better quality friendships from Time 2 to Time 3.

From the Student Focus Group Interviews we learned that:

• Students had comprehensive definitions of friendship, the evolution of friendship ties, and how to be a good friend.
• Students had strong emotional connections to the film Bass Clef Bliss: Terrence’s Path; they identified key scenes that supported their understandings of concepts such as fear, overcoming challenges, and making new friends.
• Students made astute and mature reflections about how these lessons and a socio-emotional curriculum in general, is necessary for students to thrive in school.

From the Workshop/Teacher Surveys we learned that:

• Teacher participants reported more confidence and competence in their understandings of concepts such as inclusive practices and social emotional development.
• Teachers described feeling much more willing to start difficult conversations with students to support their mental health.
• Teachers were positively affected by the study design including the workshops, the social network analyses, and the focus on inclusive practices.