Understanding Clinician Experiences with Game-Based Interventions for Autistic Children to Inform a Future Game Platform Focused on Improving Motor Skills

TL;DR

This study explores clinicians' experiences with game-based interventions for autistic children, identifying key themes and proposing a flexible, modular platform to improve clinical adoption and effectiveness.

Contribution

It introduces AutMotion Studio, a modular, customizable platform designed to address rigidity in serious games for health, informed by clinician insights.

Findings

Identified 8 key themes in current interventions and barriers to adoption.

Developed a modular platform enabling flexible, community-contributed interventions.

Proposed a speculative design to enhance the adaptability of serious games for health.

Abstract

Motor challenges are prevalent among autistic children, and games are able to simultaneously produce clinically meaningful results and provide a motivating context, but many current solutions are too rigid. We conducted a two-phase qualitative study comprised of semi-structured interviews and participatory design workshops with 7 pediatric physical and 5 occupational therapists (PTs/OTs) to investigate their perspectives and experiences with game and play-based interventions. We identified 8 prominent themes describing key characteristics of current successful interventions, opportunities, and barriers to adoption in clinical practice. We present a speculative design informed by thematic analysis that addresses current challenges of rigidity in Serious Games for Health (SG4H). Our modular platform (AutMotion Studio) hosts a suite of interventions as customizable minigames, allowing community members to contribute to and employ Wizard of Oz paradigms for flexible appropriation strategies.