Developing a Tutor to Teach Social Skills to Students with Cognitive Disabilities

This research work focuses on developing a software-based tutor to teach social skills to students with cognitive disabilities, and examining the real-world implications of such a tutor. My proposed social tutor, called SAM (social ability modeler), will integrate a computer game-based edutainment platform together with a social interaction environment. The goal of using a computer game-based platform is to enhance the intrinsic motivation of the students, or their natural inclination to use SAM. Numerous prior studies have found that computer games are intrinsically motivating to youth. A growing body of research has also shown that children who are intrinsically motivated will put more effort into learning new material (Lumbsden, 1994). The initial hypothesis is that the capability of a software program to adapt to an individual's particular strengths and weaknesses will enable SAM to support stronger generalization and transfer of learning than traditional SST. However, traditional methods will still, nonetheless, complement SAM's instruction; using SAM in conjunction with traditional methods for teaching social skills rather than alone will likely enhance its effectiveness, reliability, and versatility