JCSG 2016: Serious Games pp 116-127 | Cite as

Building Social Awareness for Teens and Young Adults with Autism via Gamification

Conference paper
First Online:
Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, volume 9894)

Abstract

Teens and young adults are in one of the most challenging phases of their life in terms of discovering new and complex emotions and situations. This is particularly the case for a demographic diagnosed with conditions commonly referred to as Autistic Spectrum Disorders, which is inclusive of Asperger’s Syndrome. Through a video game medium, it is possible to place the players in virtual situations that explore these the intricacies of social interaction and relationships. This could be powerful for communicating such concepts: players can be explained to, practice and given feedback in a comfortable, non-threatening, and perhaps even familiar environment.

Our objective is to build such a game by modifying an already popular video game. Through modification, a game’s already existing mechanisms and resources may be repurposed for serious functions. In the case of our team, this is to allow the player to have conversations that dynamically change depending on their input. Characters in the game can be manipulated to communicate verbally and non-verbally, delivering emotive lines recorded by voice actors whilst projecting certain facial expressions and body language.

We created a tangible video game learning resource that can be trialed to investigate its value to build social awareness.

Keywords

Game-based learning Autism Role-play Social awareness 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Susan Bruck, David Cretney and Vicki Gibbs from ASPECT (Autism Spectrum Australia) for their feedback on this project.

References

  1. 1.
    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html
  2. 2.
    Rao, P., Beidel, D., Murray, M.: Social Skills Interventions for Children with Asperger’s Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism: A Review and Recommendations. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 38(2), 353–361 (2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    Autism Speaks, Autism Apps (2015c). https://www.autismspeaks.org/autism-apps. Viewed 13 November 2013
  4. 4.
    Shane, H.C., Laubscher, E.H., Schlosser, R.W., Flynn, S., Sorce, J.F., Abramson, J.: Applying technology to visually support language and communication in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 42(6), 1228–1235 (2012). doi: 10.1007/s10803-011-1304-z CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Barber, A.: Multilinguistic components of spelling: an overview. SIG 1 Perspect. Lang. Learn. Educ. 20(4), 124–128 (2013)MathSciNetCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Mazurek, M., et al.: Video games from the perspective of adults with autism spectrum disorder. Comput. Hum. Behav. 51, 122–130 (2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Ferguson, B.R., Gillis, J.M., Sevlever, M.: A brief group intervention using video games to teach sportsmanship skills to children with autism spectrum disorders. Child Family Behav. Therapy 35(4), 293–306 (2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Meindl, J.N., Cannella, H.I.: Initiating and responding to joint attention bids in children with autism: a review of the literature. Res. Dev. Disabil. 32(5), 1441–1454 (2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Khandaker, M.: Thinking About People: Designing Games for Social Simulation (2015). http://mitu.nu/2015/03/22/thinking-about-people/. Viewed 20 November 2015
  10. 10.
    Khandaker, M.: Designing affective video games to support the social-emotional development of teenagers with autism spectrum disorders. Ann. Rev. Cybertherapy Telemed. 7, 37–39 (2009)Google Scholar
  11. 11.
    Goldberg, B.A., Cannon-Bowers, J.: Feedback source modality effects on training outcomes in a serious game: pedagogical agents make a difference. Comput. Hum. Behav. 52, 1–11 (2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    TeachTown 2015, ‘Computer-Based Lessons’. http://web.teachtown.com/products/teachtown-basics-classroom/online-lessons. Viewed November 19 2015
  13. 13.
    Secret Agent Society. http://www.sst-institute.net/
  14. 14.
    Morshirnia, A.V., Walker, A.C.: Reciprocal innovation in modding communities as a means of increasing cultural diversity and historical accuracy within video games. In: Situated Play – Proceedings of 2007 DiGRA Conference, pp. 362–368 (2007). http://www.digra.org/dl/db/07311.28264.pdf. Accessed 28 Feb 2012
  15. 15.
  16. 16.
    Tang, S., Hanneghan, M.: Designing educational games: a pedagogical approach. In: Zemliansky, P., Wilcox, D. (eds.) Design and Implementation of Educational Games: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives, pp. 108–125. IGI Global, Hershey (2010)Google Scholar
  17. 17.
    ASPECT LaunchPad, leaving school and leading your own life. http://www.autismlaunchpad.org.au/
  18. 18.
    Baker, J.: Preparing for life: the complete guide for transitioning to adulthood for those with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. ISBN: 9781932565331Google Scholar
  19. 19.
    ASPECT MEET. www.aspect.com.au
  20. 20.
    Pooley, A.: Captive at Sea v0.1, video playlist, YouTube (2015). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL8CsGqh-ic&list=PLjnj9yyST-am8uar5UqH9KLznHmQzfKMD. Published 9 August 2015
  21. 21.
    Knight, V., McKissick, B.R., Saunders, A.: A review of technology-based interventions to teach academic skills to students with autism spectrum disorder. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 43(11), 2628–2648 (2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. 22.
    Ploog, B.O., Scharf, A., Nelson, D., Brooks, P.J.: Use of computer-assisted technologies (CAT) to enhance social, communicative, and language development in children with autism spectrum disorders. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 43(2), 301–322 (2013). doi: 10.1007/s10803-012-1571-3 CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Faculty of Engineering and ITUniversity of Technology SydneyUltimoAustralia

Personalised recommendations