Ongoing projects and activities

We are running the following projects and activities

1. Applying CPAT in schools to improve attention and reduce anxiety in autism. We are currently running a study in which CPAT is used by school staff (rather than researchers) in different schools in the region to not only develop attention in autistic students but also to help reduce anxiety. As such this project looks at both feasibility of using CPAT by school staff and on its impact on mental health. So far, we see high feasibility with very limited dropouts and schools aiming to continue working with the app following the end of the study. We are now starting to look at the impact results on anxiety and will update once data has been collected and analysed.

2. Developing bespoke training activities. In another project we are currently running, we partnered again with NASEN (National Association for Special Educational Needs) and the Staffordshire Autism Inclusion Team (AIT). The project aims to generate training materials to be used by the AIT (and other similar services) to train teachers and SENCOs. Here too, we are testing the real-world uses of developing attention in autism with training delivered by practitioners in real settings rather than by researchers within a research project. The Staffordshire team will deliver the new training online through the NASEN platform (you can see it here: https://nasen.org.uk/events/attention-autism-computerised-progressive-attention-training-cpat). We will also follow-up the participants in these training sessions to assess the impact of the training on their knowledge and practices to learn about the effectiveness of this training approach. 

3. Public engagement at the Exchange. We are holding an event at the Exchange, in Birmingham city centre (registration now open) on the 9^th December 2024, where we will introduce these activities and what we learned from them about training and implementation within schools. We will also share the findings from the study on CPAT and anxiety and will have a discussion with participants about effective ways to provide training and critical knowledge.