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A Review of Serious Games for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

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Serious Games Development and Applications (SGDA 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNIP,volume 8778))

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Abstract

This paper reviews 40 serious games designed for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and these games/studies are classified into four categories; technology platform, computer graphics, gaming aspect and user interaction. Moreover, the paper discusses serious games designed for the improvement of communication skills and social behavior, social conversation, imaginative skills, sensory integration and learning accounts in ASD children. The children usually interact with these games by ordinary IO (input/output) e.g. keyboard and mouse or touchscreen tools. Previous researches show the effectiveness of playing serious games on mobiles or tablet devices in helping ASD children to express their feelings and improve the level of engagement with others. However, there are limitations in designing games for helping autistic children with sensory processing disorder (SPD), improving imaginative play, and teaching first aid. Further, there is not much research that addresses repetitive behavior in ASD children.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Digital Design Studio, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK

    Hanan Makki Zakari & Minhua Ma

  2. School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    David Simmons

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  1. Hanan Makki Zakari
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  2. Minhua Ma
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  3. David Simmons
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Digital Design Studio, Glasgow School of Art, The Hub Building, Pacific Quay, G51 1EA, Glasgow, UK

    Minhua Ma

  2. Industrial Management SINTEF Technology and Society, Norway

    Manuel Fradinho Oliveira

  3. Bremen Institute for Production & Logistics (BIBA), University of Bremen, High school ring 20, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Jannicke Baalsrud Hauge

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Zakari, H.M., Ma, M., Simmons, D. (2014). A Review of Serious Games for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In: Ma, M., Oliveira, M.F., Baalsrud Hauge, J. (eds) Serious Games Development and Applications. SGDA 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8778. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11623-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11623-5_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-11622-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-11623-5

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