We Play and Learn Rhythmically: Gesture-based Rhythm Game for Children with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities to Learn Manual Sign

Abstract

Manual sign systems have been introduced to improve the communication of children with intellectual developmental disabilities (IDD). Due to the lack of learning support tools, teachers face many practical challenges in teaching manual sign to children, such as low attention span and the need for persistent intervention. To address these issues, we collaborated with teachers to develop the Sondam Rhythm Game, a gesture-based rhythm game that assists in teaching manual sign language, and ran a four-week empirical study with five teachers and eight children with IDD. Based on video annotation and post-hoc interviews, our game-based learning approach has the potential to be effective at teaching manual sign to children with IDD. Our approach improved children attention span and motivation while also increasing the number of voluntary gestures made without the need for prompting. Other practical issues and learning challenges were also uncovered to improve teaching paradigms for children with IDD.