Improving Usability of a Mobile Application for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Heuristic Evaluation

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex clinical condition that includes social, behavioral, and communication deficits. As numbers in ASD prevalence rise significantly, the tools for computer-assisted interventions also increase proportionally, which can be confirmed by the growth in the literature body addressing the issue. The development of autism-specific software is far from being straightforward: it often requires a user-centered approach, with a cross-functional team, and a primary focus on usability and accessibility. One of the most popular methods for finding usability problems is the heuristic evaluation, which is performed by having a group of experts testing the User Interface and providing feedback based on predetermined acceptance criteria. Thus, this paper informs on the assessment of a mobile application for autistic individuals using the heuristic evaluation. The software subjected to evaluation – prototyped in a previous study – addresses organization and behavioral patterns in ASD children. Through the heuristic evaluation, improvements could be performed in the application. Also, lessons learned with the evaluation process include recommendations to help the selection of methods and materials, the conduction of the evaluation, and the definition of the follow-up strategy. By describing the method stepwise and sharing lessons learned, the aim is to provide knowledgeable insights for development teams handling autism-specific software.