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Free attention training programme for autistic children

A new, free to access, attention training programme to help young autistic people has been launched at nasen Live by researchers from the University of Birmingham. The programme, called CPAT (Computerised Progressive Attentional Training), is designed for use by teachers and other educational professionals who work with autistic children. It was designed to develop basic attention skills among school-aged children.  The training is designed to be carried out over a period of several weeks, consisting of at least 18 one-hour sessions. The programme covers four areas of attention through a variety of engaging tasks namely:

  • Sustained Attention
  • Selective Attention
  • Orienting Attention
  • Executive Attention

The launch of the new CPAT version is accompanied by a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), to educate teachers and other educational professionals about the impact autism has on attention, how attention is intrinsically linked to learning, and how CPAT can be used to help develop attention. This is also free to access and can be completed in around 12 hours, over a four-week period.
 

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