Presentation of Serious Games for People with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism

1. Review on Serious Games for People
with Intellectual Disabilities and
Autism
Stavros Tsikinas, s.tsikinas@uom.gr
Stelios Xinogalos, stelios@uom.gr
Maya Satratzemi, maya@uom.gr
Department of Applied Informatics
University of Macedonia
Thessaloniki, Greece
Study Goal:
Explore the state-of-the-art in Serious
Games for people with Intellectual
Disabilities and Autism

2. What is Intellectual Disability
What is Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Intellectual Disabilities (AAIDD):
• Developmental Disorder that affects:
• Adaptive Behaviour
• Conceptual
• Social
• Practical
• Intellectual Functioning
• General Mental Abilities (IQ Test)
• Autism Spectrum Disorder:
• Limitations in:
• Social
• Emotional
• Communicational
Existence of People with Both

3. Serious Games to Improve Skills
New technological intervention method
Combines learning and entertainment
Different Games addressing different skills

4. Review Method (I/II)
• Connolly et. al (2012)
• Defined Databases covering the fields
• Science, Medicine, Computer Science
• Terms/Keywords
• Serious Games, Educational Games, Game-based Learning, Computer Games, Video Games,
Computer Interventions, Interactive Multimedia, Software Design
• Intellectual Disabilities, Autism, Special Education, Cognitive Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder,
Therapy Skills, Mental Impairments

5. Review Method (II/II)
• Connolly et. al (2012)
• Filtering
• 2005-2016
• Intellectual Disabilities or Autism
• Exclude other mental impairments
• Gaming Experience
• Design/Development/Evaluation
50 Studies, 43 Serious Games

6. Presentation
• Category of Skills (based on AAIDD)
• Author(s)
• Target Audience
• Name of Project/Game
• Purpose
• Type/Platform: desktop-based, web-based and app-based, console
• Evaluation
• Type of Testing (usability testing, purpose testing)
• Effect (positive, negative, neutral, not available)
• Availability

7. Examples
• Evaluation
• Type of Testing: “UT”=usability testing, “PT”=purpose testing
• Effect: “+”=positive effect, “-“=negative effect, “N”=neutral effect & “NA”=not available
• Purpose testing: “ST” = short term & “LT” = long term
• Availability is denoted by an * after the games name

8. Studies Classification
SGs for ID
& ASD
Adaptive Behaviour
(38)
Conceptual (6)
Language, Literacy (2)
Money (2)
Time (1)
Numbers (1)
Self-Direction
Social (20)
Interpersonal (19)
Social Responsibility (1)
Self-esteem
Gullibility
Naiveté
Social Problem Solving
Follow Rules
Avoid Victimized
Practical (12) Personal Care (2)
Work-Related (2)
Healthcare (4)
Travel & Transportation (1)
Schedules (1)
Safety (1)
Use of Money/Telephone (1)
Intellectual
Functioning (5)
Cognitive (5)

9. Results (I/IV)
• Conceptual Skills:
• Addressed mainly to children with ID
• All types of platforms are used
• People with ID do not have particular limitation using hardware
• Purpose Testing with positive effects

10. Results (II/IV)
• Social Skills
• Most tackled category
• Interpersonal skills (Communication, Collaboration, Emotions)
• Addressed mainly to people with ASD
• Purpose Testing for nearly half of the games with positive effects (Short-Term) in most cases
• Skills, such as self-esteem, gullibility and naïveté, are not covered

11. Results (III/IV)
• Practical Skills
• All AAIDD skills covered
• However, limited number of studies
• Majority commercially distributed
• Commercial games used for “serious” purpose
• Usability Testing

12. Results (IV/IV)
• Intellectual Functioning
• Most of studies present sets of mini-games
• Cover multiple cognitive skills
• Limited studies
• More challenging topic
• No long-term effects evaluated

13. Conclusions &
Future Work
• PC overpowers other consoles
• New studies, use new generation platforms (Smartphones, Tablets)
• Game Consoles not popular
• SG Evaluations with long-term effects is limited
• Intellectual Functioning studies are limited
• Investigate evaluation methods/practices
• Develop new solution to address multiple skills

14. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!