Serious Games for Developing Social Skills in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review
Healthcare
Carneiro, T., Carvalho, A., et al. (2024).
Healthcare, 12(5), 508.
<div>This systematic review investigates the effects of serious games on social skills in children and adolescents, birth to 18 years old, on the autism spectrum.</div>
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
2011 to December 2023
<div>Intervention studies with 15 or more participants. Excludes systematic reviews, meta-analyses, books or book chapters, and dissertations.</div>
9
<div>Serious games significantly improved at least one social skill for children and adolescents on the autism spectrum across all studies. Specific domain outcomes include the following:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Broad social skills improved in 6/7 studies.</li>
<li>Emotional recognition improved in 2/2 studies.</li>
<li>Perspective thinking improved in 3/3 studies.</li>
<li>Eye gaze processing improved in 2/2 studies.</li>
<li>Behavior difficulties decreased in 2/2 studies.</li>
</ul>
<div>The authors suggested using caution when interpreting these findings. Limitations of this review include the narrow scope of available evidence, heterogeneity of participant skill levels, and lack of studies involving younger (less than 5 years old) and older (more than 12 years old) participants. Additional research with rigorous methodology is needed to investigate serious games for enhancing academic, interpersonal, and occupational outcomes in individuals on the autism spectrum.</div>
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