A framework to design vocabulary-based serious games for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
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A framework to design vocabulary‑based serious games for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) Kamran Khowaja1 · Siti Salwah Salim2
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract The use of serious games to help children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learn different skills has increased in the recent past. Games, however, have not been exploited to enhance the vocabulary of these children. The serious game design framework (SGDF) and its components provide support throughout the design process, but there are no existing SGDFs that can be used to design serious games for these children to learn vocabulary skills. Therefore, in this research, a SGDF is proposed to overcome the problem of designing serious games for children with ASD. The components of the framework were identified after an extensive review of the literature on ASD and existing SGDFs. The input, process and output model was used as an underlying structure of the framework, and the identified components were logically placed in each phase of the model. The proposed framework was iteratively evaluated through expert reviews with academic experts and researchers working in the area of serious games, as well as game designers. The modified version of the framework was produced based on the comments provided by experts. This modified version was then used in the applicability evaluation of the framework with researchers and game designers. A proposed SGDF was produced based on the comments of experts. The main findings from expert reviews show that the structure, components and details of the proposed framework have been effectively refined. The use of the framework to produce serious game design and the prototype demonstrates its use in real time. The evaluation of the prototype with autistic children shows the improvement in their vocabulary learning before and after using the prototype. Keywords Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) · Language comprehension skills · Vocabulary · Computer-based intervention (CBI) · Serious game design · Prototype development · Virtual reality · Augmented reality
1 Introduction The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in 2014 that out of every 68 children, one is diagnosed with autism. These children face difficulties in social communication or interaction and have restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour or interests. The symptoms and severity vary from one child to another. This means that while all individuals with autism may share certain similar difficulties, the symptoms and severity may affect their lives differently. One common problem found among these children is that while they are able to read the text, they may face * Kamran Khowaja [email protected] 1
Isra University, Hyderabad, Pakistan
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2
difficulty interpreting the meaning of the text, and vocabulary plays a vital role in overcoming this problem [1, 2]. According to the research conducted by Fukkink et al. [3], for readers
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