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Investigating the use of circles in social networks to support independence of individuals with autism

Published: 27 April 2013 Publication History

Abstract

Building social support networks is crucial both for less-independent individuals with autism and for their primary caregivers. In this paper, we describe a four-week exploratory study of a social network service (SNS) that allows young adults with autism to garner support from their family and friends. We explore the unique benefits and challenges of using SNSs to mediate requests for help or advice. In particular, we examine the extent to which specialized features of an SNS can engage users in communicating with their network members to get advice in varied situations. Our findings indicate that technology-supported communication particularly strengthened the relationship between the individual and extended network members, mitigating concerns about over-reliance on primary caregivers. Our work identifies implications for the design of social networking services tailored to meet the needs of this special needs population.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI '13: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    April 2013
    3550 pages
    ISBN:9781450318990
    DOI:10.1145/2470654
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    Published: 27 April 2013

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    Author Tags

    1. autism
    2. independence
    3. social networks
    4. social support

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    • (2024)Unlock Life with a Chat(GPT): Integrating Conversational AI with Large Language Models into Everyday Lives of Autistic IndividualsProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3641989(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
    • (2024)A Systematic Review of Ability-diverse Collaboration through Ability-based Lens in HCIProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3641930(1-21)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
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