How can extra-curricular activity providers become more inclusive with their offer for children? An animator and neuroscientist explore factors hindering and facilitating the engagement of autistic children.

When Press Play Films director and animator Lara Leslie observed that autistic children attending her stop-motion animation workshops were especially engaged and returning to sessions, she wanted to delve deeper into why that could be. And, by doing so, help other extra-curricular activity providers better understand how to engage both autistic and neurotypical children.

As a Community Interest Company, Press Play Films works with children, teenagers and families to make animation production accessible to all. The organisation also facilitates research and wellbeing workshops in the community using creativity in film and animation therapeutically to explore and answer important questions.

Supported by the Centre’s Collaborate fund, Lara was matched with Dr Sophie Forster (Reader in Psychology, University of Sussex), a specialist researching the science of engaging attention.

Together, they explored Lara’s initial observations from her workshops and the research question: What is it about producing a stop-motion animation that engages autistic children? And how can cultural sector practitioners design extra-curricular activities to be effective in engaging autistic and neurotypical children alike?

Brainwaves and focus groups – a mixed-methods approach

Sophie’s research began by observing Lara’s stop-motion animation workshops with children to understand the practitioner’s work and how the children responded and engaged.

A series of small focus groups with parents of autistic children and autistic adults allowed the team to explore further what can help autistic children engage in extra-curricular activities. This initial research was followed by a larger-scale questionnaire study encompassing parents of neurotypical and neurodiverse children to dig deeper into those factors.

Using a mixed-methods approach, Lara and Sophie incorporated an exploratory study using electroencephalogram (EEG). This neuroscience technique measured the brain’s electrical activity while participants were busy creating their animations, monitoring their engagement while moving through different tasks in a workshop.

Lara and Sophie have found exclusion to be a central barrier for autistic children taking part in extra-curricular activities. There are many reasons for this. For example, practitioners may not fully understand how children may present when they are paying attention in a workshop or activity setting. However, they have also identified various factors that can support attention in autistic and neurotypical children taking part in activities. And they believe these findings will be helpful to others working with children in an extra-curricular setting.

Taking findings into real-world practice

Moving forward, Lara is keen to put the preliminary research findings into practice through her stop-motion animation workshops and to explore how animation and technology can be used in primary school settings to enhance the curriculum for SEND children. Lara and Sophie also have plans to develop a set of guidelines for other cultural extra-curricular activity providers to use to make their offer more inclusive to all children.

Reflecting on the project, Lara said:

This project has been really worthwhile in expanding my understanding of research practice and has provided a valuable stepping stone in my hope to help animation become more inclusive and creative for primary school children with SEND.

Sophie adds:

Although understanding the engagement of attention is a key aim of my research, it is rare that I get to study it outside of the laboratory. Seeing how Lara engaged the children in her activities and collaborating to learn more about inclusion in extra-curricular activities was a great experience that will inform my research practice.

Lara and Sophie share more about their collaborative research in this video:

Discover more about the project and watch animations created by participants on the project website.