PaU

An exergame on an elastic surface for practicing pushing movements for children with ASD.

Ivonne Monarca, Researcher

2017-2018

Research | Design |

Overview

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have difficulty controlling their strength when pushing objects. There is evidence that repeating pushing movements using different levels of strength could improve strength control in children with ASD.

Following a user-centered design methodology, we designed Push and Up (PaU), an exergame on an elastic surface for practicing pushing movements for children with ASD.

Reflecting on the design process, three design implications were proposed that could be useful for other researchers interested in designing exergames and elastic surfaces for children with ASD.

Toolkit: Unity 3D, C#, JavaScript

Research

Research goals

Design a virtual reality game to raise awareness among children with cancer about their illness and treatment.

Methodology

Interviews with experts
Design sessions
Prototype

Results

The interviews were analyzed using qualitative techniques to identify emerging themes and create an affinity diagram. To actively involve specialists in the design process, the interviews were supplemented with three design sessions. These sessions involved experts in HCI, psychology, and music.

Based on the design implications, three low-fidelity prototypes were developed: pushing a hot air balloon, cleaning the elastic surface, and pushing balls. Since the prototype of pushing the hot air balloon promotes repetitive pushing movements, has attractive visualizations, and can be generalized to other scenarios, the specialists selected this option as the most appropriate for an exergame on an elastic surface.

The game is projected onto an elastic surface, and children with ASD must push the surface to play (see Figure 1). PaU has three levels: water, land, space.

Design considerations

As a result of interviews and design sessions, the following design implications were obtained for developing an exergame that promotes pushing movement on an elastic surface:

1. Use of Positive Reinforcements: Exergames on elastic surfaces should develop a rewards and feedback model that encourages children with autism to use the surface and perform repetitive movements. Specialists suggested using sounds as feedback for movements and animations as rewards.

2. Use of Engaging Sensory Stimuli: Elastic surfaces should incorporate visualizations and sounds that are engaging enough to help maintain the attention of children with ASD while providing tactile feedback of their strength. For example, specialists proposed using cartoon-like images and colorful elements as visual stimuli, and sounds related to the visualizations (e.g., using wind stream sounds if the scenario is in the sky). This helps capture the attention of children with ASD and keep them engaged.

3. Avoiding Frustration: To prevent frustration among children with ASD when using an exergame on an elastic surface, it is suggested that the exergame integrate simple and clear instructions. Specialists suggested that exergames should initially provide verbal instructions, meaning the exergame should clearly state the movement to be performed (e.g., "Push"). If the child's attention is not captured, the exergame should then provide modeled instruction, meaning a visual animation should accompany the instruction and show the child what to do. It is important to avoid frustration so that children with autism will want to continue playing.

4. Use of Analogies to Motivate Pushing Movement with Different Levels of Force: During therapy, children should explore different levels of force using one or both hands. Therefore, specialists suggested using analogies of catapulting an object to obtain rewards that are near or far, depending on the applied force.

Related publications:

Monarca, G. I., Morales-Téllez, A., Cibrian, F. L., & Tentori, M. (2018). PaU: Diseño de un exergame en una superficie elástica para niños con autismo severo. Avances en Interacción Humano-Computadora, (1), 30-33. https://doi.org/10.47756/aihc.y3i1.39

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