Designing Gamified Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Serious games and gamified interventions have become increasingly popular among researchers and therapists dealing with the autistic audience. The number of studies on technology for autism has multiplied, with the aim to foster independence and improve learning outcomes. Nevertheless, designing interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder is challenging, due to the complex clinical conditions and the broad range of symptoms covered by the disturbance. Thus, this systematic review investigates the current status of gamification resources for autism, with a special interest in the gamification elements and the User Interface design. We describe the planning and the searching procedures and present the data extracted from 30 primary sources. The studies analyzed show a multitude of gamification elements and a plethora of methods and strategies to support decision-making and improve accessibility in the development of autism-specific software. It is concluded that the existence of methodological gaps related to the definition of the target audience and the conduction of testing may impose additional challenges to the development process, whilst the combination of gamification elements is generally positive.

Gamified Environments and Serious Games for Students With Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Review of Research

“… Literature review to establish guidelines for designing environments to improve EI. Camargo et al ( 2019 ). Brazil.…”

“…Constain et al ( 2019 ) study the state of the art in relation to the use of gamification techniques in the development of applications. Camargo et al ( 2019 ) and Mubin and Poh ( 2019 ) review the suitability of resources and methods included in the design of gamified environments for people from this group. Mubin et al ( 2020 ) analyze the advantages of gamification to stimulate social skills in people with ASD.…”

Advancing autism technology

“…Game‐based training, or gamification, allows the child to engage in a video game or game‐based principles to target a specified behavior (Kang & Chang, 2019). The design of this training is rooted in game design principlesーincorporating a plotline, goals, rewards, increasing level of difficulty, feedback, and choice options (Camargo et al, 2019; Whyte et al, 2015). Video game‐based assessment and intervention are facilitated via numerous technological modalities, which commonly include the use of apps or websites accessed on a personal device (smartphone, laptop, desktop, etc.).…”

“…The use of gamification has resulted in increased motivation and engagement across various psychiatric conditions, including autism spectrum disorder (Camargo et al, 2019). For individuals on the autism spectrum, gamification has resulted in a reduction in anxiety (Wijnhoven et al, 2015), functional language and vocabulary (Bosseler & Massaro, 2003), and social understanding or social skills (Bernard-Opitz et al, 2001).…”

O papel da gamificação no desenvolvimento das habilidades cognitivas e na aprendizagem de estudantes autistas: revisão sistemática da literatura

“…Camargo e colaboradores, em sua revisão sistemática, pesquisaram sobre jogos educacionaiss como recursos de gamificação para autistas (CAMARGO et al, 2019). O objetivo dos autores foi investigar acerca de intervenções gamificadas, enfatizando elementos de representação de design dos métodos aplicados no processo de desenvolvimento de software.…”