Intervention Procedure 113

Training for Participants: Concept Mapping. The training protocol for the participants was adapted from Roberts & Joiner (2007). On the first day of camp participants were informed about the purpose of concept mapping and how it could be applied to help facilitate their learning process and skill development over the course of the camp program. All of the participants took part in two one-hour training sessions on how to create a concept map. The first session taught the participants how to create concept maps using the application called Inspiration©. Inspiration©was chosen because of its current availability within the schools that our participants attended. Having access to this software outside of the camp enhanced the applicability of this intervention to the local community, and facilitated the opportunity for the transfer and generalization of concept mapping into the school environment. In addition, Inspiration©concept mapping software has been highlighted within the academic literature (DeSimone, Schmid & McEwen, 2001; Eppler, 2006; Liu, Chen & Chang, 2010; Roberts & Joiner, 2007; Novak & Canas, 2008) and has won numerous awards from various educational and technical organizations (Inspiration Software Inc., n.d.). The initial training session acted as a general introduction to the application, followed by an activity where the participants worked together as a group collaboratively to create a concept map on the chalkboard with the researcher’s guidance. Each participant individually completed an additional map about their personal topics of interest using the Inspiration© application.

The second session was conducted later in the day and consisted of creating a concept map embedded within a lesson to help consolidate the learning process. The concept mapping activity consisted of using Inspiration© software to map out process(s) of building social connections with peers using the Cognitive Orientation to Daily

were then encouraged to share their maps with the researchers as well as their peers in order to help increase comfort with concept mapping, and to facilitate the development of a learner-centred teaching environment (Blumberg, 2008; Stewart, Brown, Weston, McWhinney, McWilliam & Freeman, 2006; Weimer, 2013).

Learner-centred teaching parallels client-centred practice, which is a foundational approach in occupational therapy practice, concept mapping and the CO-OP approach (Stewart et al., 2006; Townsend & Polatajko, 2007). The learner-centred model includes six interactive components of the teaching and learning process which are: 1) exploring both learning needs and aspirations; 2) understanding the whole person; 3) finding common group; 4) building on previous learning; 5) enhancing the learner-teacher

relationship; and 6) being realistic (Stewart et al., 2006; Weimer, 2013). It is important to highlight the way the learning environment was constructed to ensure theoretical

cohesiveness was maintained throughout all aspects of the research study.

Implementation of Group Goals and the Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) Approach. On the first day of the summer camp program the participants were also introduced to the Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach and the global strategy of Goal-Plan-Do- Check (Polatajko & Mandich, 2004; Rodger & Polatajko, 2010). Information booklets (found in Appendix A) containing information about the CO-OP approach and the day- to-day timetables of the camp were given to parents/caregivers and the participants on the first day of camp. Parents/caregivers and participants were encouraged to review the material together and attempt to implement some of the activity suggestions in their home environment (e.g. using the Goal-Plan-Do-Check framework make yourself a sandwich for a snack when you get home from school). These information packages were provided with the intention of preparing the participants ahead of time to what the day at camp would involve and to underscore our expectations of each of the participants (Polatajko & Mandich, 2004; Wenzel & Rowley, 2010). Parents/caregivers were given permission to observe any or all of the camp sessions in order to a gain deeper understanding of how to

implement the CO-OP approach, use the iPads and facilitate their child’s skill acquisition through the method of concept mapping (Polatajko & Mandich, 2004). Every day during the camp the global strategy of Goal-Plan-Do-Check was reviewed and applied through the method of concept mapping to a weekly group goal.

The weekly goal sessions were facilitated in a group format with the conscious involvement of all participants. Literature is emerging supporting social skill instruction within a group format for individuals with higher functioning ASD (Cappadocia & Weiss, 2011; DeRosier, Swick, Ornstein Davis, Sturtz McMillen & Mathews, 2011; Flynn & Healy, 2012). There is a paucity in the current literature surrounding the implementation of interventions focused on enhancing the occupational performance of individuals with ASD in their activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) during adolescence and adulthood (Haertl, Callahan, Markovics & Sheppard, 2013; Matson, Hattier & Belva, 2012; Palmen, Didden & Lang, 2012). It is important to address these occupational domains with adolescents with ASD in order to facilitate successful life transitions, and promote their independence at home, school, the workplace and within the community (Haertl et al., 2013; Smith, Maenner, Seltzer, 2012; Test, Smith & Carter, 2014).

Research is beginning to focus on the efficacy of implementing the CO-OP approach for children with Development Coordination Disorder (DCD) within group settings to facilitate unique opportunities for occupational development. These

opportunities include the enhanced use of dynamic performance analysis on oneself and others, building collaborative experiences among the participants, seeing the

implementation of different cognitive strategies in solving performance problems, and engaging the social aspect of group learning through problem solving and fun activities (Dunford, 2011; Martini, Mandich & Green, 2014; Wilson et al., 2014b). Group

intervention for children with disabilities is becoming an alternative method for the administration of services in occupational therapy practice. Research indicates that group interventions increase psychological support for children and their families, enhance

participant motivation, provide the increased opportunity for the practice of new skills, facilitates social connections, and can be a cost effective format for service delivery (Camaden, Tetreault & Swaine, 2012; Laforme Fiss, 2012; Martini et al., 2014).