Move&Learn: An adaptive exergame to support visual-motor skills of children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Abstract

Several neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and intellectual developmental disorders (including Down syndrome), are characterized by deficits in motor coordination, including visual-motor coordination. Deficits in visual-motor coordination can hinder an individual's ability to perform academic activities and activities of daily living hindering their independence. Exergames are a potential tool for supporting the cognitive and motor skills of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. This work presents the design and implementation of Move&Learn, and adaptive exergame to support cognitive and motor coordination skills of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Move&Learn helps children with neurodevelopmental disorders by executing visual-motor coordination exercises using the players' upper limbs. The exergame can adapt the gameplay according to the players' performance. We validated Move&Learn through a focus group with nine participants, including psychotherapists, parents, a neuropsychologist, and an applied behavior analyst. The results indicate that Move&Learn was perceived as useful and easy to use by the participants. A set of improvements are discussed as future work resulting from the design validation.