Communicating with others is one of the major difficulties of children with Autism. Asking for help, initiating social interaction and sharing their emotions become skills that need to be learned from exercises and therapies. In this context the Cognitive Media Technologies group of University Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain) together with the Specialized Unit in Developmental Disorders of Hospital Sant Joan de Déu (Barcelona, Spain), have created “Pico’s Adventure", a video game to encourage social interaction in children with Autism.

 

The game, based on the use of the Kinect device and available for Windows, aims at facilitating social interaction through a series of fun and collaborative experiences. A friendly alien, who has landed on the Earth due to a problem in his spaceship, will accompany the child in a collection of adventures aimed at promoting target behaviors such as asking for help, taking turns and giving instructions to others. 

 

The first experimental studies carried out with autistic children have shown the effectiveness of this videogame to promote social interaction among children, suggesting its potential as a complement to traditional therapies.

 

The game is part of the European project "Motion -based adaptive playful learning experiences for Children with Intellectual Disabilities and engine ( M4All )," a research project under EC Lifelong Learning Programme .

 

The game is available for free download at the following link: http://m4all.widetesting.info/

 

For more information: http://lab4.ccp.upf.edu/

 

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