Short Introduction:
The Game:
How often has a family member burst into your bedroom unannounced? This happens quite frequently and can be frustrating. Families with a child that has an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may find difficulty in communicating appropriate boundaries. We designed an educational game that will mediate social interactions between typical children and children with all levels of autism spectrum disorders from Asperger's Syndrome to Kanner's Syndrome. Our target group is between the ages of 4-5 years old, with a primary focus on boys since they are the largest group affected by ASD.
The Game:
Based on interviews with parents and observations of children with ASD in clinical situations, we took a user-centered approach. Our intent for this design solution was to focus on improving communication within families and providing a tool for siblings to connect with one another in a game-play experience that would focus on teaching a basic life skill. The ultimate objective is for the children to have fun together, and at the same time learn to ask permission, take turns, find hidden things and get dressed. It is our hope that this activity will increase social interaction between siblings and other typical family members by providing a base for children with ASD to increase independence and autonomy at home. It will also teach important life skill lessons about how to respect personal space, establish appropriate boundaries, and reinforce social conventions in the areas of asking and granting permission. Another secondary benefit is for typical peers to better understand how to communicate with a child with ASD.
The game we designed is "Monkey Pants." The game play will take place at home on an Xbox 360 Kinect. We chose the Kinect platform after visiting the Iowa State University Child Development Lab School and observing children ages 0-5 interacting with each other. During our second visit to the Lab School, we spoke with a teacher that talked about the difficulties that children have with the keyboard and mouse from their room's computer. Mainly, she said that the typical mouse used by an adult is too large for children's small hands and that she had glued a small Velcro patch onto the left mouse button. Since most kids are just learning the difference between right and left between these ages, they needed an indicator of which was the correct button to press.
The storyline for "Monkey Pants" is Flapjack the monkey needs to get dressed for school, but cannot find his clothes. He needs to go to his brother and sisters' rooms to find his clothes. But in order to do so, he must first ask permission to enter. This is accomplished by knocking on the door. For children that are non-verbal, they learn to knock and obtain permission before entering.
Since the Kinect recognizes body movements, the game is controlled by two players' body movements. One child controls Flapjack by standing up, while the other child sits down. The children take turns standing vs. sitting until all items of clothing (shoes, pants, shirt) are found from all three rooms. We included adjustable volume controls within the game that the children can control if they experience sensitivity to the music.
We used an ABA technique of mass trialing for the teaching mechanism of the game. The first item is introduced to the child in isolation until the child clearly demonstrates a knowledge of the item, the second is then introduced in a mass trial in isolation until it is mastered and then it is introduced into game play for selection against know items to increase the complexity of the game, and the final choice is then introduced and taught in isolation until it is learned and then it is put into the selection pool as a known item as well.
Instructions on game play for a parent or teacher to read to the children.
Certificate of completion
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