A Conceptual Analysis of Difficult Situations – developing systems for teenagers with ASD

The project, HANDS (Helping Autism-diagnosed teenagers Navigate and Develop Socially), studies how teenagers with ASD and with IQ within the normal range (IQ > 70) can handle what they see as difficult situations using mobile technology. HANDS is a project sponsored by the European Commission as part of the 7th Framework Programme. It is the basic hypothesis in HANDS that it is possible to improve quality of life for teenagers with ASD by providing a mobile ICT toolset supporting them in many daily situations. In this paper, it is argued that a careful conceptual analysis of the idea of “handling difficult situations” can be very useful as a basis for understanding the potential in a system supporting teenagers with ASD. It is also argued that such a conceptual analysis can be based on a combinations of i) psychological insights regarding teenagers with ASD, ii) so-called “usage narratives” describing difficult situations for teenagers with ASD, and iii) central ideas from temporal logic describing formally what it could mean to handle a difficult situation. Furthermore, it is argued that the conceptual analysis can be combined with ideas from so-called persuasive design (PD) in a very straightforward manner. It is finally shown that this conceptual analysis gives rise to a rather strong argument for certain specific system requirements regarding the future HANDS toolset.