Overview

About 4% of children and young adults in the U.S. are diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disabilities, characterized by difficulties such as impaired motor function, learning, language, and non-verbal communication. Young adults affected by those disabilities are significantly less likely to find employment and have smaller earnings if they become employed. This project focuses on future workers with mild to moderate neurodevelopmental disabilities. The objective of this project is to gain scientific understanding and to develop technology to support stronger participation of neurodiverse individuals in a future workforce. The project will focus on entry-level information technology (IT) jobs because: (1) the demand for IT skills is growing, (2) neurodiverse individuals often have abilities desirable in many IT jobs, and (3) IT jobs provide opportunities to work regular and flexible hours, which is important for this population of workers. The outcome of the project will be an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled software platform that creates a synergy between future workers, employers, and intermediate job coaches in a way that reduces accommodation costs and supervision needs, and increases worker productivity and job satisfaction.

This project brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers with expertise in data science, software engineering, human-computer interaction, behavioral science, and special education, who will collaborate with vocational programs and employers to transform the current state of employment for young adults with mild to moderate neurodevelopmental disabilities. This project will integrate scientific knowledge from applied behavior analysis and best practices in job micro-tasking to guide the development of an AI-enabled software platform that implements effective strategies for job customization, job training, and on-job support. The platform will allow employers and job coaches to easily design and put into production job tasks for their neurodiverse workers. This project will address important interdisciplinary research challenges: (a) what tasks are appropriate for what segment of the neurodiverse worker population; (b) what are the basic task analysis principles that enable job decomposition and chaining; (c) what user interface design principles can minimize cognitive burden of workers; (d) what aspects of worker behavior and performance can be observed unobtrusively and ethically, and when and how to provide support; and (e) how communication between workers, employers, job coaches, and researchers can be more effective. Success in this project translates to increased autonomy and inclusivity of neurodiverse individuals in the workforce, reduced job training and on-job support costs, improved public health, and a more productive economy.

Team

Faculty

• Slobodan Vucetic @ Temple University
• Donald Hantula @ Temple University
• Eduard Dragut @ Temple University
• Matt Tincani @ Temple University
• Sungsoo Hong (Ray) @ George Mason University

Students

• Elisabeth Garrison @ Temple University, PhD
• Ashis Chanda @ Temple University, PhD
• Dalvir Singh @ Temple University, Undergraduate

Publications

• Publication 1
• Publication 2
• Publication 3

Research Experience for Undergraduates

• Publication 1
• Publication 2
• Publication 3