The design principles of edutainment system for autistic children with communication difficulties

• Main Authors: Hussain, Azham, Abdullah, Adil, Husni, Husniza
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/19515/; http://doi.org/10.1063/1.4960887
• Institution: Universiti Utara Malaysia

Approximately 50% of all individuals with Autism have difficulties in developing functional language owing to communication deterioration. Mobile devices with installed educational games help these individuals feel more comfortable and relaxed doing such activities. Although numerous mobile applications are available for individuals with Autism, they are difficult to use; particularly in terms of user-interface design. From the analysis of existing apps for autistic children, an app design principles are proposed based on interaction design (IxD), that would fulfil the users’ requirements in a better manner. Five applications were involved in this analysis. The analysis identified fifteen suggestions for the design principles. These recommendations are offered by this paper towards designing and developing a prototype app for autistic children. This paper introduces an edutainment-system design principle formulated to help develop the communication skills of children with Autism-spectrum disorders.