Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Towards a serious games design framework for people with intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder

  • Published:
Education and Information Technologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Designing serious games (SGs) for people with intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), requires proper planning and decision making. In this article, a proposal of a serious games design framework (GDF) that aims to assist designers and special education teachers and professionals develop successful SGs for people with ID and people with ASD, is presented. In order to create this GDF, an extraction of SGs design guidelines from existing SGs for people with ID and ASD and a comparative analysis with common GDF that are used for designing SGs in general was conducted. The proposed design guidelines and the conclusions of the comparative analysis of existing general purpose GDFs were used as a tool to design a computer-based SG that aims to improve independent living skills of people with ID and people with ASD. Based on this previous work the proposed GDF that is analyzed in this article was devised. This work aims to fill the gap in the field of designing SGs for people with ID and ASD by providing a specialized and informed GDF.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Afonseca, C., & Badia, S. B. (2013). Supporting collective learning experiences in special education. In 2013 IEEE 2nd International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (SeGAH), (pp. 1-7). IEEE.

  • Anderson, A., Moore, D. W., Godfrey, R., & Fletcher-Flinn, C. M. (2004). Social skills assessment of children with autism in free-play situations. Autism, 8(4), 369–385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Annetta, L. A. (2010). The “I's” have it: A framework for serious educational game design. Review of General Psychology, 14(2), 105–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bamasak, O., Al-Tayari, H., Al-Harbi, S., Al-Semairi, G., & Abu-Hnaidi, M. 2013). Improving Autistic Children’s Social Skills Using Virtual Reality. In International Conference of Design, User Experience, and Usability, (pp. 342–351). Springer Berlin, Heidelberg.

  • Bargagna, S., Bozza, M., Buzzi, M.C., Buzzi, M., Doccini, E. & Perrone, E. (2014). Computer-Based Cognitive Training in Adults with Down’s syndrome. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction, (pp. 197-208).

  • Bernardini, S., Porayska-Pomsta, K., & Smith, T. J. (2014). ECHOES: An intelligent serious game for fostering social communication in children with autism. Information Sciences, 264, 41–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boleracki, M., Farkas, F., Meszely, A., Szikszai, Z., & Sik, L. C. (2015). Developing an animal counting game in second life for a young adult with down syndrome. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 217, 71–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonet-Codina, N., von Barnekow, A., & Tost, D. (2015). IntegraGame: a real-life inspired serious game for social and professional training of people with intellectual disability. In Proceedings of the 3rd 2015 Workshop on ICTs for improving Patients Rehabilitation Research Techniques, (pp. 10-13).

  • Bottino, R.M., Canessa, A., Ott, M. & Tavella, M. (2014). SMART VIEW: A serious game supporting spatial orientation of subjects with cognitive impairments. In Proceedings of International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction, pp. 489–500.

  • Bremer, C. D., & Smith, J. (2004). Teaching social skills. Information Brief, 3(5), 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, D. J., McHugh, D., Standen, P., Evett, L., Shopland, N., & Battersby, S. (2011). Designing location-based learning experiences for people with intellectual disabilities and additional sensory impairments. Computers & Education, 56(1), 11–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cano, A. R., Fernández-Manjón, B., & García-Tejedor, Á. J. (2018). Using game learning analytics for validating the design of a learning game for adults with intellectual disabilities. British Journal of Educational Technology, 49(4), 659–672.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caria, S., Paternò, F., Santoro, C., & Semucci, V. (2018). The Design of web Games for helping young high-functioning autistics in learning how to manage money. Mobile Networks and Applications, 1–14.

  • Chang, M., Kuo, R., Lyu, C. W., & Heh, J. S. (2012). A situated game for autistic children learning activities of daily living. In IEEE 4th International Conference on Digital Game and Intelligent Toy Enhanced Learning (DIGITEL), (pp. 217-220). IEEE.

  • Christinaki, E., Vidakis, N., & Triantafyllidis, G. (2014). A novel educational game for teaching emotion identification skills to preschoolers with autism diagnosis. Computer Science and Information Systems, 11(2), 723–743.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, T. M., Boyle, E. A., MacArthur, E., Hainey, T., & Boyle, J. M. (2012). A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games. Computers & Education, 59(2), 661–686.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corrales-Astorgano, M., Escudero-Mancebo, D., Gutiérrez-González, Y., Flores-Lucas, V., González-Ferreras, C., & Cardenoso-Payo, V. (2016). On the Use of a Serious Game for Recording a Speech Corpus of People with Intellectual Disabilities. In Proceedings of the LREC, (pp. 2094-2099).

  • Curatelli, F., & Martinengo, C. (2012). Design criteria for educational tools to overcome mathematics learning difficulties. Procedia Computer Science, 15, 92–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daouadji-Amina, K., & Fatima, B. (2018). MEDIUS: A serious game for autistic children based on decision system. Simulation & Gaming.

  • Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13, 319–339.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M., Otero, N., Dautenhahn, K., Nehaniv, C.L., & Powell, S.D. (2007). Creating a software to promote understanding about narrative in children with autism: Reflecting on the design of feedback and opportunities to reason. In IEEE 6th International Conference on Development and Learning, (ICDL), (pp. 64-69). IEEE.

  • De Freitas, S. & Jarvis, S. (2006). A framework for developing serious games to meet learner needs. In the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference.

  • Deriso, D., Susskind, J., Krieger, L., & Bartlett, M. (2012). Emotion mirror: A novel intervention for autism based on real-time expression recognition. In European Conference on Computer Vision, (pp. 671-674). Springer, Berlin Heidelberg.

  • Djaouti, D., Alvarez, J., & Jessel, J. P. (2011). Classifying serious games: The G/P/S model. Handbook of research on improving learning and motivation through educational games: Multidisciplinary approaches, 2, 118–136.

  • Ernest, J. M., Heckaman, K. A., Thompson, S. E., Hull, K. M., & Carter, S. W. (2011). Increasing the teaching efficacy of a beginning special education teacher using differentiated instruction: A case study. International Journal of Special Education, 26(1), 191–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Everhart, J. M., Alber-Morgan, S. R., & Park, J. H. (2011). Effects of computer-based practice on the acquisition and maintenance of basic academic skills for children with moderate to intensive educational needs. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 556-564.

  • Freina, L., Bottino, R., & Tavella, M. (2016). From e-learning to VR-learning: An example of learning in an immersive virtual world. Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society, 12(2), 101–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freire, M., Serrano-Laguna, A., Manero, B., Martínez-Ortiz, I., Moreno-Ger, P., & Fernández-Manjón, B. (2016). Game learning analytics: Learning analytics for serious games. Learning, Design, and Technology, 1–29.

  • Fridenson-Hayo, S., Berggren, S., Lassalle, A., Tal, S., Pigat, D., Meir-Goren, N., O’Reilly, H., Ben-Zur, S., Bölte, S., Baron-Cohen, S., & Golan, O. (2017). Emotiplay’: A serious game for learning about emotions in children with autism: Results of a cross-cultural evaluation. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 26(8), 979–992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garzotto, F., Gelsomini, M., Oliveto, L., & Valoriani, M. (2014). Motion-based touchless interaction for ASD children: A case study. In Proceedings of the 2014 International Working Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces, (pp. 117-120). ACM.

  • Hofmann, A., Hoppe, I., & Jantke, K. P. (2010). The Need for Special Games for Gamers with Special Needs. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU), (pp. 220-225).

  • Hussaan, A. M., Sehaba, K., & Mille, A. (2011). Tailoring serious games with adaptive pedagogical scenarios: A serious game for persons with cognitive disabilities. In Proceedings of the 11th IEEE International Conference on the Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT), (pp. 486-490).

  • Ibrahim, R. & Jaafar, A. (2009). Educational games (EG) design framework: combination of game design, pedagogy and content modeling. In the International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Informatics, (pp. 293-298).

  • Iovannone, R., Dunlap, G., Huber, H., & Kincaid, D. (2003). Effective educational practices for students with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on autism and other developmental disabilities, 18(3), 150–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ismail, R., Ibrahim, R., & Yaacob, S. (2019). Participatory Design Method to Unfold Educational Game Design Issues: A Systematic Review of Trends and Outcome. In 2019 5th International Conference on Information Management (ICIM) (pp. 134-138). IEEE.

  • Kerns, K. A., Macoun, S., MacSween, J., Pei, J., & Hutchison, M. (2016). Attention and working memory training: A feasibility study in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Applied Neuropsychology: Child, 1–18.

  • Khaled, R., & Vasalou, A. (2014). Bridging serious games and participatory design. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 2(2), 93–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khowaja, K., & Salim, S. S. (2019). Serious game for children with autism to learn vocabulary: An experimental evaluation. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 35(1), 1–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kiili, K. (2005). Digital game-based learning: Toward an experiential gaming model. Internet and Higher Education, 8, 13–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwon, J., & Lee, Y. (2016). Serious games for the job training of persons with developmental disabilities. Computers & Education, 95, 328–339.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanyi, C. S., & Brown, D. J. (2010). Design of serious games for students with intellectual disability. IHCI, 10, 44–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanyi, C. S., Klung, J., & Szücs, V. (2014). “Logical Blocks” Multimedia Game Development for Students with Intellectual Disabilities. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, (pp. 371-375).

  • Lopez-Basterretxea, A., Mendez-Zorrilla, A., & Garcia-Zapirain, B. (2014). A telemonitoring tool based on serious games addressing money management skills for people with intellectual disability. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 11(3), 2361–2380.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Elsabbagh, M., Baird, G., & Veenstra-Vanderweele, J. (2018). Autism spectrum disorder. The Lancet, 392(10146), 508–520.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, K., & Sherry, J. L. (2004). Sex differences in video game play: A communication-based explanation. Communication Research, 31(5), 499–523.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mancil, G. R., & Pearl, C. E. (2008). Restricted interests as motivators: Improving academic engagement and outcomes of children on the autism Spectrum. TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, 4(6), n6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michael, D.R. & Chen, S.L. (2005). Serious games: Games that educate, train and inform. Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade.

  • Moore, D., Cheng, Y., McGrath, P., & Powell, N. J. (2005). Collaborative virtual environment technology for people with autism. Focus on autism and other developmental disabilities, 20(4), 231–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller, M. J. (2009). Participatory design: The third space in HCI. In Human-computer Interaction (pp. 181-202). CRC press.

  • Olsen, T., Procci, K., & Bowers, C. (2011). Serious games usability testing: How to ensure proper usability, playability, and effectiveness. In International Conference of Design, User Experience, and Usability, (pp. 625-634). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

  • Parsons, S. (2015). Learning to work together: Designing a multi-user virtual reality game for social collaboration and perspective-taking for children with autism. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 6, 28–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perera, N. T., Wijerathne, I. S., Wijesooriya, M. M., Dharmarathne, A., & Weerasinghe, R. (2014). A game based learning approach to enrich the special education in Sri Lanka. ICTer, 7(2).

  • Piper, A. M., O'Brien, E., Morris, M. R., & Winograd, T. (2006). SIDES: A cooperative tabletop computer game for social skills development. In 20th anniversary conference on computer supported cooperative work, (pp. 1-10). ACM.

  • Politis, Y., Robb, N., Yakkundi, A., Dillenburger, K., Herbertson, N., Charlesworth, B., & Goodman, L. (2017). People with disabilities leading the Design of Serious Games and Virtual Worlds. International Journal of Serious Games, 4(2), 87–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polychronopoulou S. (2010). ΠΑΙΔΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΕΦΗΒΟΙ ΜΕ ΕΙΔΙΚΕΣ ΑΝΑΓΚΕΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΥΝΑΤΟΤΗΤΕΣ, ΤΟΜΟΣ Β’ [children and teenagers with special needs and capabilities, 2nd volume]. Athens, 2010.

  • Rahman, M.M., Ferdous, S.M., & Ahmed, S.I. (2010). Increasing intelligibility in the speech of the autistic children by an interactive computer game. In IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia (ISM), (pp. 383-387). IEEE.

  • Ribeiro, P. C., & Raposo, A. B. (2014). ComFiM: a game for multitouch devices to encourage communication between people with autism. In 2014 IEEE 3rd International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (SeGAH), (pp. 1-8). IEEE.

  • Robb, N., Waller, A., & Woodcock, K. A. (2019). Developing a task switching training game for children with a rare genetic syndrome linked to intellectual disability. Simulation & Gaming, 50(2), 160–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slegers, K., Duysburgh, P., & Hendriks, N. (2015). Ethical issues in participatory design with people living with cognitive or sensory impairments. CHI 2015 Workshop on Ethical Encounters in HCI: Research in Sensitive Settings.

  • Snell, M. E., Luckasson, R., Borthwick-Duffy, W. S., Bradley, V., Buntinx, W. H., Coulter, D. L., & Schalock, R. L. (2009). Characteristics and needs of people with intellectual disability who have higher IQs. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 47(3), 220–233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Squire, K. (2011). Video games and learning. Teaching and participatory culture in the digital age.

  • Tan, C. T., Harrold, N., & Rosser, D. (2013). Can you CopyMe?: an expression mimicking serious game. In: SIGGRAPH Asia Symposium on Mobile Graphics and Interactive Applications, (pp. 73). ACM.

  • Tanaka, J. W., Wolf, J. M., Klaiman, C., Koenig, K., Cockburn, J., Herlihy, L., Brown, C., Stahl, S., Kaiser, M. D., & Schultz, R. T. (2010). Using computerized games to teach face recognition skills to children with autism spectrum disorder: The Let’s face it! Program. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51(8), 944–952.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomlinson, C. A. (2000). Differentiation of instruction in the elementary grades. ERIC Digest.

  • Torrente, J., Del Blanco, Á., Moreno-Ger, P., & Fernández-Manjón, B. (2012). Designing serious games for adult students with cognitive disabilities,” In Proceedings of the Neural Information Processing, (pp. 603–610).

  • Tsikinas, S., & Xinogalos, S. (2018). Designing effective serious games for people with intellectual disabilities. In 2018 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) (pp. 1896–1903). IEEE.

  • Tsikinas, S., & Xinogalos, S. (2019a). Studying the effects of computer serious games on people with intellectual disabilities or autism spectrum disorder: A systematic literature review. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 35(1), 61–73.

  • Tsikinas S., Xinogalos S. (2019b). Design Guidelines for Serious Games Targeted to People with Autism. In: Uskov V., Howlett R., Jain L. (eds) Smart Education and e-Learning 2019. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 144, (pp. 489-499). Springer, Singapore

  • Tsikinas, S., Xinogalos, S., & Satratzemi, M. (2016). Review on serious games for people with intellectual disabilities and autism. In 10th European Conference on Games Based Learning (ECGBL 16), (pp. 696-703). Academic Conferences International Limited.

  • Tsikinas, S., Xinogalos, S., Satratzemi, M., & Kartasidou, L. (2019). Designing a Serious Game for Independent Living Skills in Special Education. In the 13th European Conference on Game Based Learning (ECGBL19), (pp. 748–756).

  • Van Staalduinen, J. P., & de Freitas, S. (2011). A game-based learning framework: Linking game design and learning. Learning to play: exploring the future of education with video games, 53, 29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wehmeyer, M., Hughes, C., Agran, M., Garner, N., & Yeager, D. (2003). Student-directed learning strategies to promote the progress of students with intellectual disability in inclusive classrooms. International Journal Inclusive Education, 7(4), 415–428.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, P. L., Bialik, P., & Kizony, R. (2003). Virtual reality provides leisure time opportunities for young adults with physical and intellectual disabilities. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 6(3), 335–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whyte, E. M., Smyth, J. M., & Scherf, K. S. (2015). Designing serious game interventions for individuals with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(12), 3820–3831.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xinogalos S., Tsikinas S. (2019) Designing Serious Games for People with Special Needs: Implications from a Survey. In: Liapis A., Yannakakis G., Gentile M., Ninaus M. (eds) Games and Learning Alliance. GALA 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 11899. Springer, Cham.

  • Yan, F. (2011). A sunny day: Ann and Ron’s world an iPad application for children with autism. In conference of Serious Games Development and Applications, (pp. 129–138). Springer Berlin, Heidelberg.

  • Yusoff, A., Crowder, R., Gilbert, L., & Wills, G. (2009). A conceptual framework for serious games. In the 9th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT), (pp. 21-23).

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research is funded by the University of Macedonia Research Committee as part of the “Principal Research 2019” funding program.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Informatics, School of Information Sciences, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street, GR-54636, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Stavros Tsikinas & Stelios Xinogalos

Authors
  1. Stavros Tsikinas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stelios Xinogalos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stelios Xinogalos.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tsikinas, S., Xinogalos, S. Towards a serious games design framework for people with intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder. Educ Inf Technol 25, 3405–3423 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10124-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10124-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation