Design and development of an augmented reality educational application for children with ASD

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause a range of social, communication, behavioural, and learning difficulties. It is estimated that 1.85% of children have ASD and this number is on the rise. Children with ASD require higher levels of support in education and special needs education schools aid caregivers by helping to identify each child’s preferred learning style to optimize their learning. Even though there is an increase in percentage of students receiving special education services in recent years, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused the delay of this intervention that is crucial to these children’s developmental needs. Due to the accessibility of Augmented Reality (AR) technology, educational institutions have been utilising AR to improve the remote learning experience for their students. Children with ASD have also been found to benefit greatly from AR used in therapy. Therefore, the objective of this project is to develop a mobile application that leverages on AR technology to aid remote learning for children with ASD. Key features of this application will include AR image-tracking games to learn about the money concept, an AR shooting game to test their knowledge of the money concept, an AR face-tracking reward system, and a real-time dashboard for caregivers to gain insights about their child’s learning needs.