Lands of Fog: Helping Children with Autism in Social Interaction through a Full-Body Interactive Experience

Autism Spectrum Disorder is characterized by impaired social communication capacities which can prevent the formation of social relationships with peers. In recent years, potential programs for people with ASD have increasingly used Information and Communication Technologies mainly motivated by the affinity that people with ASD show towards technology-supported tasks. We present the design of a full-body interaction experience called Lands of Fog, in which a child with ASD plays together with a typically developed child. The system is aimed towards fostering social interaction behaviors and collaboration. We have undertaken user trials with 34 ASD children through which Lands of Fog has proven to be a useful tool to foster social interaction. In this paper, we focus on the description of the interaction design process, methods and criteria that support the final experience. We then provide preliminary results from the user trials which provide a first hint of the efficacy of the system in fostering user's engagement and making socialization attitudes emerge.

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