Personal and social development game for children with autism

Objective  To study the effect of using a tablet-based game application for developing personal and social skills in children with autism at schools.

Materials and methods  We designed a game application using participatory design theory targeting personal and social skill development. The game used in this study resulted from participation among occupational therapists, game designers, and children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). We developed the game application on the android platform for use on tablets. The game application was used as a tool in this research. We conducted a four-week experiment with 16 ASD participants, aged between 7 and 15, from two Special Education Centers. During the experiment, the ASD participants played the game while the participants' teacher provides help if they need it. Before and after the intervention, the teachers and parents evaluated the participants' skills with ATEC (autism treatment evaluation checklists) and personal and social skill assessment forms. The assessment data were statistically analyzed by comparing the pre-test and post-test data.

Results  In this study, 93.8 percent of the ASD participants were male. The average age was 10 years old (SD.= 2.12). The average personal and social skill assessment after the intervention was significantly greater than before the intervention (p < 0.05) in the canteen and total domain. After the intervention, the average ATEC score decreased, but there was no statistically significant.

Conclusion  A tablet-based game application can potentially be used as a tool to develop learning, personal and social skills in children with autism, especially in canteen and total domain.