A Collaborative Virtual Environment for Conducting Design Sessions with Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

IntroductionInvolving users in the design of technology through participatory and user-centred design (UCD) methodologies is widely acknowledged as an important step in developing appropriate and usable programs (1). Traditionally, the involvement of users in the design and development process of technology intended for use in an educational context has focused on adult users (2). However, over the past 20 years, this process has gradually moved away from seeking this information from proxies such as parents or teachers only, towards obtaining additional information directly from the children themselves (3-5). There has been a marked increase in research that has involved child end-users in design (e.g. 6-10). Most researchers now acknowledge the importance of consulting children on technology design as they often have different capabilities and experiences with technology and therefore different requirements (10). Children have been involved in the design process through many different types of UCD activities (e.g. prototype testing activities, workshops, evaluation questionnaires) and through various roles such as user, tester, informant, and design partner (11). The use of technology for supporting and engaging children with autism spectrum conditions has been shown to be effective (12-16) and software that has been developed specifically for this user group is on the increase (17). However, despite the increasing involvement of children in technology design, the number of cases where children with special needs, and in particular, autism, have been involved are relatively small (18, 19) and adult proxies (e.g. see 20-23) or their typically developing (TD) peers (e.g. 24) are usually involved instead.Encouragingly, users with special needs and autism are becoming more involved in technology design projects (25, 19). However, when children with autism are involved in design, their role is usually limited to that of a tester, where they are observed whilst trying out an already existing prototype (25). Researchers and teachers observed children with autism in their exploration of prototypes to inform the design of the ReacTickles software suite (26). Similarly, Madsen et al (27) reported conducting participatory design sessions with seven adolescents (aged 10 to 17 years) with ASD by observing their interactions with a prototype. Millen et al (28) developed and tested a 'design a game' method that was adapted to meet the needs of children with ASD through a structured process that was supported with visual aids and prompts. Benton et al (19) also tested an adapted participatory design method for generating ideas with children with autism for a mathematics program.Researchers are faced with a number of challenges to overcome when seeking to involving children with autism in the design process. Children with autism may find communicating their views and opinions difficult, they may have limited imagination skills and they may have difficulties in understanding another person's viewpoint (28). Additionally, they may require more time to understand, accept and adapt to changes (29) and have limited motivation and a fear of failure (30). Children with autism are therefore less likely to be involved in the design process due to these perceived challenges; those authors that do report involving children with special needs in design tend to provide little detail and guidance about the methods used (31). The result is that there is very little in the way of recommended methods or guidelines for involving this user group (32, 19). Due to the specific needs of children with autism, an adapted or "special" approach is required when seeking to involve this user group (21). This is something we have been exploring through our work in the COSPATIAL project (see 28, 32) in which we developed CVEs for supporting students in developing social competence and collaboration skills. In COSPATIAL, CVEs were chosen because they offer a way for students with ASD to communicate without the need for face-to-face communication which they may find difficult (32). …