The results show that children with autism improved on emotion recognition and socialization after taking the intervention, suggesting the intervention was effective in helping children learn socio-emotional skills.
Those results echo the feedback from the parents of children with ASC who were part of the intervention group:
- 78.9% of the parents noticed a positive change in their child’s behaviour and emotion related abilities
- 95.2% of the parents said they would recommend Camp-exploration to other families
Parents and children also provided valuable suggestions to further improve the environment which will be applied in the ongoing development of the environment.
This project was led by some of the top autism researchers, including Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen (Cambridge University) Prof. Sven Bölte (Karolinska Institute), and Prof. Ofer Golan (Bar Ilan University) together with Autism-Europe organization and additional technology and autism specialists. It is a collaborative project among seven organisations across Europe, funded by the the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7, 2007-2013).
About the Seventh Framework Programme
The Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7) is the European Union’s main instrument for funding research in Europe. FP7, which applies to the years 2007-2013, is the natural successor to the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), and is the result of years of consultation with the scientific community, research and policy making institutions, and other interested parties.
Since their launch in 1984, the Framework Programmes have played a lead role in multidisciplinary research and cooperative activities in Europe and beyond. FP7 continues that task, and is both larger and more comprehensive than earlier Framework Programmes. Running from 2007 to 2013, the programme has a budget of 53.2 billion euros over its seven-year lifespan, the largest funding allocation yet for such programmes.