An Interactive Play Environment on Mathematics and Cognitive Training with Behavioral Tracking for Children with Autism

摘要

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have atypical cognitive behaviors, including impairment of social interaction, communication, and intellectual deficit; effective intervention from behavioral and educational approaches have demonstrated effective and adopted at home and schools. s. A number of tablet applications are available to children with autism for practicing mathematical and cognitive skills, yet few of them provide behavioral data of users for health professionals to monitor their progress for personalized training accordingly which motivated our design. Specifically, we developed a tablet-based math game to strengthen the capabilities of mathematics and cognition for children with autism. It provides several basic math practices on counting, recognition, and measurements in the form of a game which increas-es children's acceptance and encourages their engagement. It lessens the bur-den of special education teachers from repeatedly teaching mathematical and cognitive knowledge, which we observed during our multiple field visits. The application can record all user interaction and stored as the behavioral data on which intelligent behavioral modeling can be performed for health professionals. In addition, application use is not restricted in schools which thus offers children continuous opportunities to practice these skills after class.