How can focus group based approaches to design help improve how technology meets the needs of children with autism?

The proliferation in app technology has encouraged the autism community to look to this domain for possible ways of meeting the social and emotional needs of children with autism. Concomitantly, there is a growing recognition... [ view full abstract ]

The proliferation in app technology has encouraged the autism community to look to this domain for possible ways of meeting the social and emotional needs of children with autism. Concomitantly, there is a growing recognition that many apps on the market suffer from both poor overall design and a lack of sufficient input from end-users in to the design process (Coppin 2012).

A number of researchers have considered different participatory design approaches, particularly Porayska-Pomsta et al.’s innovative within-app design environment (2012). However this requires significant investment in development early in the process - prohibitive for most commercial projects. We propose that agile user based design approaches, specifically an iterative multiple prototype process (Chamberlain et al 2006) , preceded by and interspersed with user focus groups with teachers, children and parents can lead to more effective design and outcomes.

We trialled such an approach in the development of an Ipad app, designed to support children with high functioning autism (age 7-12) with emotional regulation. Initial design focus groups were followed by iterative prototyping, reviewed by similarly constituted focus groups. Groups were audio recorded and transcribed; supplemented with observational notes from the researcher team. A process test field trial followed with 16 children in 4 schools, evaluated with both quantitative instruments and qualitative interviews.

The potential of such an approach in contributing to creating more effective apps that better reflect the needs of users is considered. Process and structural factors that could leave to improvements in the approach are enumerated.

This work was funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. There are no identified conflicts of interest. No member of the research team has any financial interest in the app technology developed as part of... [ view full abstract ]

This work was funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
There are no identified conflicts of interest.
No member of the research team has any financial interest in the app technology developed as part of the project.

A full process of ethical review and approval via a university ethics committee was undertaken. Informed consent was sought and obtained for all participants. In the case of children with autism participating in the study, parental consent was obtained and the assent/consent of the children themselves was carefully obtained. All participants were informed that they could withdraw from the process at any time without any negative consequences whatsoever. Specific materials were produced to facilitate understanding about the project, tailored for each group of participants.

In addition, all adults involved in the process were sensitive to being aware of any signs of distress or anxiety by the younger participants and had a clear protocol for stopping the process in this case.
All participants and settings have been fully anonymised. All data has been stored securely.

A clear research design was employed that involved the triangulation of data from several sources and focused on recognising the importance of the voice of participants, particularly children with autism, throughout the process. A robust process of data analysis based on a grounded theory approach ensured that conclusions are clearly rooted in the data.