Blended Learning Through an Interactive Mobile Application for Teaching Autistic Kindergarten Students

Abstract

The mobile applications industry has had significant growth in the last few years. Mobile phones are everywhere since we use them in every part of our daily lives for entertainment, communication and other various uses. Unfortunately, there was also a substantial increase the number of autism cases in kids around the world, which has prompted for a dire need of a therapy method that is cheap, reliable and accessible for everyone who needs it. Researchers have tried several methods, like robotics and virtual reality, to help in the therapy of autistic children. While their results were promising, these technologies are still out of reach of most users due to their high cost. Mobile phones, however, are much more accessible since everyone has one, and they have a wide array of useful gadgets that can be used in making the therapy sessions more engaging and fun such as cameras, accelerometers, speakers, microphones and others. This project aims to design and implement an interactive learning environment based on a mobile application for teaching kids with special needs.