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2023 | Track 1 | Designing AI as a Mental Health Resource for Autistic Adults: Enhancing Therapeutic Approaches with Multimodal Interactions

Rho Team Photo

TRACK 1 SEED GRANT | Whole Health Consortium

Designing AI as a Mental Health Resource for Autistic Adults: Enhancing Therapeutic Approaches with Multimodal Interactions 

TEAM:

  • Eugenia Rho, Computer Science
  • Angela Scarpa, Virginia Tech’s Autism Research Center
  • Caroline Branscome, Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Myounghoon Jeon, Industrial and Systems Engineering
  • Sunwook Kim, Industrial and Systems Engineering
  • Sol Lim, Industrial and Systems Engineering
  • Adam Burke, Health and Social Siences, San Francisco State University 
  • Julie Carper, The Auburn School 
  • Deanna Swain, University of Colorado Medicine 
  • Parthenia Dinora, Partnership for People with Disabilities, Virginia Commonwealth University

The goal of this proposed research is to collaboratively design an interactive artificial intelligence (AI) system using large language models (LLMs) to support the mental health needs of autistic adults. The system will integrate visual, auditory, and tactile modalities to offer a more personalized and accessible form of therapeutic engagement. The specific purpose of this mental health resource is to help autistic individuals cope with repetitive negative self-talk, which is more likely in autistic adults and associated with anxiety, behavior outbursts and other mental health challenges. The design and evaluation of this system will involve three projects to examine how visual (Project 1), auditory (Project 2), and tactile (Project 3) modalities can be integrated into an AI system to enhance therapeutic strategies for managing negative self-talk among autistic adults. We will subsequently combine these projects into a joint proposal for an external grant submission in Fall 2025. We will use the Advancing Partnership grant to conduct three developmental activities (A. Preliminary Data Collection and Analysis, B. Stakeholder-Engagement and Team Development, and C. Participatory Design Studies). These activities will provide key preliminary insights to advance Projects 1–3 as part of our external grant submission.