Co-design of Augmented Reality Storybooks for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Spectrum of autism is one of the most serious disorders that negatively affect the normal development of the brain. Children with autism usually face different levels of difficulties in communication and practicing essential life skills such as reading due to language delays and intellectual disability. The limitations in manipulating written text as well as understanding it make it challenging for them to read and enjoy storybooks, and here where technology-based interventions can take place. Yohka is an Arabic augmented reality storybook application designed for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their caregivers to enhance their reading experience and communication. It shows a more interactive and animated version of the story that helps the child to understand the story and the interactions between its characters, which make it enjoyable and therapeutic at the same time. The design of reading companions is rapidly growing in the interaction design domains. While the promise of interactive learning technologies has widely been demonstrated and relevant research is proliferating, little is known about how augmented reality applications might play a positive role in this development and the effective design process is not necessarily recognized. This paper describes the collective creative co-design process that was followed in Yohka as a user-centered design project for developing augmented reality application for - and with - children on the autism spectrum and its consequences on the finished application. It discusses the design innovation modules for ASD technologies and the effective role of relevant stakeholders and expert evaluation in achieving high standards while designing such technologies. Children, parents, specialists, and caregivers have been actively involved since early stages of the project as co-designers and have contributed hugely through different ways and mediums that are covered in this paper. Designing with the users through several iterations helps in promoting usability especially for this kind of educational and therapeutic technologies. Design implications and future directions for this work are also discussed.