Kate Woodcock

In the Flexible Scheduling Project, the team has completed the initial phase of development of an early intervention for preventing disability linked to unexpected changes in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. Such disabilities are common in people with diagnoses of a range of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and several genetic syndromes. The development work was supported by the Medical Research Council and we conducted it in collaboration with Prof. Gaia Scerif from the University of Oxford and Dr Sarah Miller from Queen’s University Belfast. In the Flexible Scheduling project, we developed and tested a prototype of a gamified online system to help parents to expose children to the kinds of environments that are important for them developing the cognitive skills they need to be able to manage change successfully. Our findings showed that the system is acceptable and feasible for families of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. We are currently writing up and publishing the findings before seeking financial support for the further development of this approach.