Let's Face It

Face Camp 2012 Registration has begun!

Are you ready for this summer’s Safari Face Camp? University of Victoria psychologist Dr. Jim Tanaka is seeking children ages 5-12 to participate in a research project examining children’s face recognition. Campers will learn about the scientific principles of face recognition by doing fun, hands-on activities, creating their own computer animal morphs and participating in real-live psychology lab experiments. Campers will also demo new computer games currently being developed by our tech team. Face Camp is a FREE, fun, and educational camp for children of all abilities. Face Camp volunteers are composed of UVIC faculty, students, and community professionals. A FREE pizza lunch and snacks will be provided.  AND campers will receive a cool Face Camp T-shirt!

LOCATION: UVIC CAMPUS

TIME: 9 AM to 3 PM

DATES:

SAT JULY 7^th Ages 11 to 12

SUN JULY 8^th Ages 9 to 10

SAT JULY 14^th Ages 7 to 8

SUN JULY 15^th Ages 5-6 (Special Time: 9AM to Noon)

To Register for Face Camp, please email Face Camp Parent Liaison Jenna Hatter: lfi@uvic.ca

About Let's Face It!

Let's Face It! is a joint project between the University of Victoria Brain and Cognition Lab and the Yale Child Study Centre. The program is a multimedia, computer-based intervention that is designed to teach face processing skills to children with autism. Research has shown that in addition to their difficulties with language and social communication, children with autism may experience difficulties in their ability to recognize facial identity and emotions. Our goal is to design, implement, and evaluate science-based interventions in face processing based on research findings in psychology and neuroscience. Our aim is to develop effective treatments that will enhance the face processing skills of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) as well as other populations that exhibit impairments in facial processing.

The Let's Face It! (LFI!) program guides the child through a series of engaging, interactive game modules designed to teach basic face processing skills. The games are further described in the Computer Fun section on this site. Each module targets some aspect of face processing, such as the recognition of facial emotions, interpretation of eye gaze and eye contact and the recognition of people across changes in facial expression. For further information into the research background and context in which LFI! has been created, please check out our Face Activities page. These activities were created so that parents, teachers and interventionists can get the most out of the LFI! program.         

The Let's Face It! Philosophy

The Let's Face It! (LFI!) group is composed of faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students from the Cognitive and Brain Sciences program at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia. The group's mission is to develop state-of-the-art interventions in face processing for children with autism spectrum disorders and children with specialized learning needs. The LFI! interventions are science-based and grounded in the latest research findings from our lab: VizCogLab

We are committed to an integrative inreach/outreach model of intervention where parents, teachers, practitioners and children play an active role in shaping the goals and content of our treatment programs.

The LFI! interventions incorporate cutting-edge computer technologies with practical, hands-on materials. We strongly believe that the LFI! treatment programs and materials should be free and readily accessible to the autism community and all of our content can be downloaded at no charge from our web site.