International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM) – eISSN: 1865-7923 – Vol. 15, No. 06, 2021 Paper—Assisting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Educational Mobile Apps to Acquire… Assisting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Educational Mobile Apps to Acquire Language and Communication Skills: A Review https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v15i06.20621 Azham Hussain () Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia hussazham@yandex.com Emmanuel O.C. Mkpojiogu Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria Pauline Chiamaka Okoroafor Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria Abstract—This systematic literature review was set out to review available literature on autism spectrum disorder and educational mobile apps with the aim of investigating available educational mobile app and how teachers can utilize these apps in assisting autistic children in acquiring language and communication skills. In order to achieve the aim of the study, the researchers employed a sys- tematic method of investigation. Fifty papers in the areas of autism, educational apps and teaching method for autistic children were downloaded. Twenty-six were carefully selected because of their relevance to the study. The papers were analyzed and the result showed that there are available educational apps that are effective in helping autistic children in acquiring language and communication skills. Keywords—Autism spectrum disorder, educational mobile apps, language and communication skills 1 Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as defined by Individuals with Disabilities Edu- cation Act, refers to “a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and non- verbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associ- ated with autism are engaging in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, re- sistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences”. [13] Observed that many children with autism also function in the mentally retarded range, but are different from children with uncomplicated mental retardation in the development of their social skills, communication and behaviours. iJIM ‒ Vol. 15, No. 06, 2021 161 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v15i06.20621 mailto:hussazham@yandex.com Paper—Assisting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Educational Mobile Apps to Acquire… According to World Health Organisation, 1 in 160 children worldwide have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It begins in childhood and tends to persist into adolescence and adulthood. While some people with ASD can live independently, others have se- vere disabilities and require life-long care and support [32]. People with ASD are often subjected to stigma, discrimination and human rights violations [32]. Globally, access to services and support for people with ASD is inadequate. Available scientific evi- dence suggests that there are probably many factors that make a child more likely to have an ASD, including environmental and genetic factors. Interventions for people with ASD need to be accompanied by broader actions for making their physical, social and attitudinal environments more accessible, inclusive and supportive. Assistive tech- nology, such as argumentative and alternative communication, can benefit people with autism by supporting and enhancing communication, promoting independence, and in- creasing social interactions [32]. A mobile app is a software application developed specifically for use on small, wire- less computing devices, such as smartphones and tablets, rather than desktop or laptop computers [29] [17-20] [16]. Educational App for children with ASDs is developed for iOS and Android devices to focus on giving a solution to verbal communication prob- lems, which can give children with ASD a useful way of communication and interaction with others [5]. Many children with ASD are visual learners and tend to be drawn to- wards computers, which makes e-learning systems a natural choice for them as static and dynamic images as well as videos can be incorporated as part of the learning pro- cess. According to [10] mobile devices should be seriously considered when seeking to acquire communication and social skills, as well as social behaviour improvements in people with ASD [11]. Educational App is created to help children with ASDs to im- prove their communication skills with others [5]. By using this app, children with ASDs can follow the process of learning by listening to the audio sound after interacting with the picture of the object. The app can also help their parents to understand the needs of their children because it can avoid any unwanted miscommunication [5]. According to research, there are nearly 700 mobile device apps listed on “Autism Apps” section on Autism Speaks website [3]. However, only a small portion of these apps labelled as having evidence were found to actually have any actual clinical evidence supporting their use or benefit. The vast majority of apps targeting Autism offered no clear indirect or direct evidence [22]. This paper is therefore set out to investigate educational apps available for autistic students and how teachers can utilize these apps in assisting ASD children to acquire language and communication skills [34-36]. The objectives of the study are: i) to discover available educational mobile apps for autistic children; ii) to discover ways school teachers can utilize educational mobile apps in assisting autistic student to acquire language and communication skills. These objectives are in response to the following research questions: i) what are the available educational apps for autistic children? and ii) how can educational mobile apps be uti- lized by school teachers in assisting children with ASD to acquire language and com- munication skills? This study is delimited to autistic children in schools and to mobile educational apps. 162 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—Assisting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Educational Mobile Apps to Acquire… 2 Literature Review A number of theories support the understanding of children with ASD. One is the Theory of the Mind which refers to the intuitive understanding of one's own and other people's minds or mental states which includes thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, knowledge, intentions, desires, and emotions and of how those mental states influence behaviour [2]. According to [6], difficulty in understanding other minds is a core cog- nitive feature of autism spectrum condition. People often speculate what is in other minds. This is important because it helps human beings to make sense of behaviour, and predict what that person might do next [6]. Baron-Cohen also stated that some au- tistic children suffer from moderate or severe degrees of mental learning difficulties suggesting that they have autistic plus more diffuse problems. The proportion of chil- dren with autism who also have learning difficulties is reported to be 65-75%, with a corresponding 25-35% having intelligence (IQ) in the average or above average range [6]. [28] In his critique argued that the fundamental problem of the Theory of the Mind is its failure to account for the everyday experience of each one of us in our relationship with others. Next is the Weak Central Coherence Theory which refers to the detail-focused pro- cessing style proposed to characterise autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The theory of Weak Central Coherence asserts that ASD is characterized by an imbalance in the inte- gration of information at different levels; individuals with ASD see the parts rather than a whole and lack the cognitive capacity to integrate the parts into a whole [14]. [15] Reviewed research on the cognitive profiles of individuals with ASD. The findings from the research demonstrated a pattern in the cognitive profile of individuals with ASD. Frith demonstrated that individuals with ASD have small islets of ability, and they often performed well when context was unimportant and demonstrated skill at rote learning. Further, she argued that these factors are most successfully accounted for by the Theory of Central Coherence. [14] Found that the strengths and weaknesses of cog- nition in individuals with ASD all had a common denominator. Such individuals per- formed much better on tasks requiring attention to one piece of information than on tasks where they were required to pull together information [26]. Frith believed that other theories might account for the core deficits of individuals with ASDs, but could not account for their amazing strengths. For instance, some individuals with ASDs have “savant” skills –a remarkable ability in areas such as music, memory, or calculation. People on this spectrum tend to excel at focusing on extreme detail, and so are able to pick out a tiny element from a mass of complex data or objects. The notion of “weak central coherence” could explain both deficits and strengths. When a task required a person to extract global meaning from many details, to get the “big picture”, people with ASDs would be at a major disadvantage. When picking out extreme detail from surrounding masses of information required, people with ASDs would be in a position to shine. They would be good at parts, but not at wholes. Executive Functioning Theory is the next. It refers to a person's ability to process information. It includes skills such as: organizing, planning, paying attention, inhibiting inappropriate responses. Many people with autism have difficulty with executive func- tioning. They may have trouble with certain skills like planning, staying organized, iJIM ‒ Vol. 15, No. 06, 2021 163 Paper—Assisting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Educational Mobile Apps to Acquire… sequencing information, and self-regulating emotions. Some people pay attention to minor details, but have trouble seeing how these details fit into a bigger picture. Others have trouble maintaining their attention in the classroom or other settings. When pre- paring to do a task, some may find it hard to organize their thoughts and actions in order to figure out what sequence of steps are needed. Executive functioning difficulties can also be associated with poor impulse control. Executive functioning issues can cause challenges in the classroom setting [4]. Many scholars have done research on the use of educational mobile apps in assisting children with ASD. Researches show that there are available educational apps that can help autistic children in acquiring language and communication skill and also how teachers can utilize these apps for effectiveness. [1], in their work entitled “AutiAid: A Learning Mobile Application for Autistic Children” discovered that autistic patients tend to respond well towards visual cues such as images or videos, which make it easier for concept processing. DISSERO, an application introduced to improve mental and social skills, shows how the learning process may be developed along with apt media attention towards the needs of autistic learners. This application provides a basic inter- face for the patient to select what they would like to perform, in terms of visualization. Providing a variety of necessary options such as learning and needs; it helps to branch out to the basic requirements of an autistic child. [8] in their work “Interactive Tech- nologies for Autistic Children: A Review” focuses on two aims: i) to provide an over- view of the recent ICT applications used in the treatment of autism and ii) to focus on the early development of imitation and joint attention in the context of children with autism as well as robotics. They discovered that ICT-based approaches and methods are used for the therapy and special education of children with ASD. According to [24] using devices like tablets and other hand-held devices are useful tools, because they are flexible and portable unlike other dedicated Augmentative Al- ternative Communication (AAC) devices that often can be heavy and cumbersome. A hand-held device is easily carried and can promote peer acceptance. The touch screen and layout are more accessible for individuals with coordination or learning difficul- ties—sliding and tapping are easier than typing. Technology can improve communica- tion with others by the timely use of email or texting, which has a cost and time savings. Technology allows for adaptability and motivation. Using an iPad as a Speech-Gener- ating Device (SGD) may become a key to open the door of spontaneous, functional communication for students with ASD [33] A SGD provides speech that is generated by touching/pressing an icon, which may be a symbol or image on a communication device, resulting in the audible expression of the icon selected. It was found that chil- dren who were taught to use individual SGDs with line drawing symbols to represent messages such as “I want a snack, please,” “more,” and “I need help.” with a naturalistic teaching procedure such as child-preferred stimuli, natural cues (e.g. expectant delays and questioning looks to elicit communication), and non-intrusive prompting tech- niques increased their interactions with classroom staff [33] in [30]. Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) has been found effective in assisting children to ac- quire communication skills [23]. PECS involves teaching children to communicate via handing their partner a picture or symbol card which depicts the child’s communicative intent [23] in [7]. 164 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—Assisting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Educational Mobile Apps to Acquire… In addition, [25] in their study “Use of iPad/iPods with Individuals with Autism and other Developmental Disabilities: A Meta-analysis of Communication Interventions” reviewed a total of 15 studies to determine the effectiveness of the intervention on com- munication skills. The results showed that tablet-based devices, especially iOS devices (i.e., iPad and iPod Touch) were highly effective in increasing the communication skills of individuals with autism and developmental disabilities. Also, the results provided evidence that several participants were able to continue communicating using the de- vices and to use them in novel contexts. Also, the findings show that systematic instruc- tions are the most effective teaching methods in Augmentative and Alternative Com- munication (AAC) interventions [25] in their work entitled “Implementing Tablet- Based Devices to Improve Communication Skills of Students with Autism” proposed the following guidelines on how to assist students with ASD in acquiring communica- tion skills based on their findings: there should be collaboration in gathering infor- mation about the student’s abilities, health status, linguistic and paralinguistic skill, be- havioural problem and cognitive abilities. Appropriate iPad and Augmentative and Al- ternative Communication (AAC) apps to help students with low vision should be se- lected. Limiting the icons for student with short attention span should be considered. Placing the iPad or iPod inside a case with sound amplifier should also be put into consideration. Checklist should be used in assessing the student’s skills before moving to the other steps. Functional evaluation of Assistive Technology or the student Envi- ronment Task Technology Framework should also be used in the selection and imple- mentation of iPad or iPod-based Speech Generating Device (SGD) intervention. [3] Also proposed a Systematic Instructional Methods in assisting children with ASD in acquiring communication skills. This is in line with [25] findings. 3 Methodology In order to identify the existing literature that deals with autism spectrum disorder and educational apps, this study used a systematic literature review approach to search for the relevant works on the use of educational apps in assisting autistic children in acquiring language and communication skills. According to [19] “The strategy for con- ducting a systematic review is based on the selecting of search parameters carefully, writing of research questions, downloading primary articles, selecting related papers, extracting and summarizing information from them, and finally analysing results” [16]. Planning a Review: The aim of this phase is to collect important and appropriate data related to the study. The research used both primary and secondary data. These data were gotten from articles published by organizations, and academic journals. The articles were recent issues on Autism Spectrum Disorder and educational apps for lan- guage and communication skill intervention. The search was carried out employing the following search strings, inter alia: S1 (“Autism Spectrum Disorder”) and S2 (“Educa- tional Mobile Apps). Thus, the full string utilized in the review was: S1 AND S2. Sec- ondary data were obtained in the course of primary search through citation and refer- ences. However, emphasis was given to recent studies ranging from the year 2003 to 2019. This provides current issues on autism and educational apps. However, there were iJIM ‒ Vol. 15, No. 06, 2021 165 Paper—Assisting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Educational Mobile Apps to Acquire… also few theories on autism spectrum disorder which date between 1989 and 1995. Ta- ble 1 below describes the selected journals and conference proceedings. Table 1. Selected Journals and Number of Papers Journals Conference Proceedings Journal of Telecommunication, Electronic and Computer Engineering. 2017 IEEE 19th International Conference on e- Health Networking Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis. Applications and Services (Healthcom) Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders. Journal of Technology in Behavioural Science. Australasian Psychiatry Journal Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education. Table 2. Number of Papers per Journal Journals/Conference Proceedings Number of papers JTECE 1 JABA 1 JADD 2 ELSEVIER 4 JTBS 1 SAGEJ 1 IEEE 1 ASJ 1 CJNSE 1 Total 13 Table 2 shows the total number of papers gotten from journals and conference pro- ceedings. These papers were carefully selected due to their relatedness to the study. Table 3. List of the Selected Paper Paper ID Authors Year AE1 Aburukba, R, et al. 2017 AE2 Alic, M. 2009 AE3 Alzrayer, N., & Banda, D. 2017 AE4 Aziz, M, et al 2014 AE5 Bondy, A., & Frost, A. 2003 AE6 Boucenna, S, et al. 2014 AE7 Fiktorius, T. 2013 AE8 Hussain, A, et al. 2016 AE9 Kim, J, et al. 2018 AE10 Koegel, L, et al. 2011 AE11 Lofland, K. 2019 AE12 lzrayer, N, et al. 2014 AE13 Pennington, B. 1997 AE14 Rouse, M. 2013 AE15 Schepis, M, et al. 1998 AE16 Shane, H, et al. 2012 166 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—Assisting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Educational Mobile Apps to Acquire… AE17 Xin, J., & Leonard, D. 2014 AE18 Alzrayer, N et al 2014 AE19 WHO. 2019 AE20 Baron-Cohen. 2001 AE21 Plasow. 2012 AE22 Frith & Happ 1994 AE23 Frith. 1989 AE24 Ogle. 2009 AE25 Crespo &Martin 2018 AE26 Barranco-Mendoza et al 2004 Table 3 shows a complete list of selected papers apart from three articles published by organizations. These selected papers spanned from 2003 to 2019, with only two pa- pers dating 1997 and 1998. These papers provided theories and a good coverage of articles on autism and educational apps, collated after a keen selection from the fifty downloaded papers on the review’s subject matter. Table 4. Assistive Educational Mobile Apps and Devices for Autistic Children App type Studies Percentage iOS devices (iPad, iPod) AE4, AE3, AE17, AE18 44.44% DISSERO AE1 11.11% AAC AE3, AE11 22.22% PECS AE10 11.11% Smart phone/tablet AE14 11.11% 4 Discussion of Findings The selected papers were carefully reviewed and the results were generated. The result shows that there are available educational mobile apps that can assist autistic children in developing communication and language skills. The frequency of occur- rence of these apps in literature include: iOS devices (iPad, iPod) based apps (44.44%). This is followed by AAC (22.22%). DISSERO is another educational app that has proved effective in helping autistic children in acquiring language and communication skills (11.11%). It has the same percentage with PECS, and Smart phone/tablet. From the review, iOS devices which include iPad and iPod is considered as the most effective educational device that for language and communication skill of autistic children. The study also discovered that systematic instruction method is the best method teachers should adopt in helping autistic children to acquire language and communication skills. 5 Conclusion and Future Work This systematic review of literature investigated the availability of educational mo- bile apps for autistic children and ways school teachers can utilize educational mobile apps in assisting autistic student to acquire language and communication skills. The result showed that there are available educational mobile apps and devices that can help iJIM ‒ Vol. 15, No. 06, 2021 167 Paper—Assisting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Educational Mobile Apps to Acquire… autistic children to acquire language and communication skills. The apps/devices in- clude: iOS devices (iPad, iPod), Augmentative alternative communication (AAC), Pic- ture Exchange Communication System (PECS), Smartphone/tablet. The result showed that iOS devices such as iPad and iPod are more effective because of their flexibility and portability. Systematic instruction method in the use of iOS devices is recom- mended for teachers in order to help autistic children to acquire language and commu- nication skills. The result of this review will help teachers in the following ways: a) how to select educational mobile app that will help autistic children to acquire language and communication skills; b) how iOS devices such as iPads and iPod can be effectively used to enhance language and communication skill for autism children; and c) ways in which autistic children can be taught to use educational mobile app for language and communication skills. The result will also help researchers on how to carry out a sys- tematic review of literature and how the result can be applied to their field. Though the fewness of the download limited the findings of the study, the results obtained however were insightful. 6 References [1] Aburukba, R., Aloul, F., Mahmoud, A., Kamili, K., & Ajmal, S. (2017). AutiAid: A Learn- ing Mobile Application for Autistic Children. Dalian, China: IEEE Xplore Digital Library. https://doi.org/10.1109/healthcom.2017.8210788 [2] Alic, M. (2009). Theory of Mind. 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Mobile Applications to Improve Emotional Intelligence in Autism – A Review. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies. 12(6): 47-61. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v12i6.9073 7 Authors Azham Hussain is the Associate Professor of Software Engineering at School of Computing, Universiti Utara Malaysia,06010 UUM, Kedah, Malaysia. He is the founder of Human-Centered Computing Research Group, which is affiliated with the Software Technology Research Platform Center at School of Computing, Universiti Utara Malaysia. Azham Hussain is a member of the US-based Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and actively involved in both IEEE Communications and IEEE Computer societies. hussazham@yandex.com Emmanuel O.C. Mkpojiogu is a Lecturer at Department of Computer and Infor- mation Technology, Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria. Currently, he is a PhD student at School of Computing, Universiti Utara Malaysia. The research area is User Experi- ence, Human Computer Interaction and Software Engineering. He has published many articles in reputable Scopus indexed journals. emelnuel@hotmail.com Pauline Chiamaka Okoroafor is a scholar with the Department of Art and Social Science Education, Faculty of Education, Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria. paul- ineokoroafor@gmail.com Article submitted 2020-11-13. Resubmitted 2021-01-05. Final acceptance 2021-01-08. Final version pub- lished as submitted by the authors. 170 http://www.i-jim.org https://doi.org/10.1177/1039856212449670 https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/mobile-app https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/mobile-app https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1998.31-561 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1304-z https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/autism-spectrum-disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2266-8 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2266-8 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v15i12.10833 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v14i03.10281 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v12i6.9073 mailto:hussazham@yandex.com mailto:emelnuel@hotmail.com mailto:paulineokoroafor@gmail.com mailto:paulineokoroafor@gmail.com