A Full-body interactive videogame used as a tool to foster social initiation conducts in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Background Game-based interventions that involve the use of technology have shown to facilitate motivation and learning processes in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The purpose of this observational study project was to conduct a feasibility study to compare the amount of social initiation conducts performed during a full-body interaction videogame versus the amount of social initiation conducts occurred during a free-play activity in children with ASD. We hypothesized that the videogame could elicit a higher number of these conducts and therefore could be proposed as a tool to promote social initiation skills. Method A total of 15 children (ages 4–6) participated in four sessions with two sections: playing with the videogame Pico’s Adventure and free play time. Social skills conducts were codified according to an observational scale. Results Results show that the videogame elicited more social initiation conducts than free play in children with ASD when they were playing alone or playing with a peer. Furthermore, it showed to be as effective as free play in promoting social initiation while playing with parents. The videogame was also effective in reducing repetitive behaviors and increasing gestures. Conclusions Considering all these results, the videogame could be considered as an appropriate tool to foster social behaviors but future work is needed in order to obtain further data that supports this hypothesis. Finding new attractive types of treatment would be useful to complement more traditional therapies.The authors wish to thank the European M4ALL project, in the European Lifelong Learning Programme and the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission (Politecnico di Milano) for funding the project 531219-LLP-1-2012-1-IT- KA3 – KA3MP. The Multidisciplinar Autism Spectrum Disorders Unit from Hospital Sant Joan de Déu. We would also like to thank the families and the children who participated in this study