User Requirements for Accessible Digital Pretend Play Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Human Centered Design Approach

Louisa Bremner, Duke Gledhill, Jo Jolliffe Wood

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Pretend play is a stage in early childhood development where children learn and develop language and social skills through acting out imaginary scenarios. Pretend play skills are typically delayed for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Digital technology has been successfully used to engage children with ASD in pretend play, however research around the needs and requirements of the user is often omitted in these designs. Human Centered Design (HCD) provides a way of including these needs and making interventions suitably accessible to the target user. This paper presents the results of a multi-stage HCD process including observations, interviews and a Delphi study, using both the primary group (children with ASD) and their proxies (professionals who work closely with the group). The final result is a set of User Requirements which emerged from the data in the HCD stages. The User Requirements and guidelines presented provide researchers with a tool for developing digital pretend play interventions for children with ASD. Future research could benefit by incorporating the User Requirements when designing digital pretend play interventions, which is a small but growing area of research.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationUniversal Access in Human-Computer Interaction
Subtitle of host publication17th International Conference, UAHCI 2023, Held as Part of the 25th HCI International Conference, HCII 2023, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 23–28, 2023, Proceedings, Part I
EditorsMargherita Antona, Constantine Stephanidis
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer, Cham
Pages527-545
Number of pages19
VolumeLNCS 14020
Edition1st
ISBN (Electronic)9783031356810
ISBN (Print)9783031356803
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2023
Event25th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction - AC Bella Sky Hotel and Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
Duration: 23 Jul 202328 Jul 2023
Conference number: 25
https://2023.hci.international/index.html
https://2023.hci.international/

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
PublisherSpringer
VolumeLNCS 14020
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference25th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction
Abbreviated titleHCII 2023
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CityCopenhagen
Period23/07/2328/07/23
Internet address

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