MOSOCO: a mobile assistive tool to support children with autism practicing social skills in real-life situations

  • Authors:

  • Lizbeth Escobedo;David H. Nguyen;LouAnne Boyd;Sen Hirano;Alejandro Rangel;Daniel Garcia-Rosas;Monica Tentori;Gillian Hayes

  • Affiliations:

  • Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Ensenada, Mexico;Nokia Research Center, Palo Alto, Palo Alto, California, United States;NOC SELPA, Fullerton, California, United States;University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, United States;Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Ensenada, Mexico;Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Ensenada, Mexico;Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Ensenada, Ensenada, Mexico;University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

MOSOCO is a mobile assistive application that uses augmented reality and the visual supports of a validated curriculum, the Social Compass, to help children with autism practice social skills in real-life situations. In this paper, we present the results of a seven-week deployment study of MOSOCO in a public school in Southern California with both students with autism and neurotypical students. The results of our study demonstrate that MOSOCO facilitates practicing and learning social skills, increases both quantity and quality of social interactions, reduces social and behavioral missteps, and enables the integration of children with autism in social groups of neurotypical children. The findings from this study reveal emergent practices of the uses of mobile assistive technologies in real-life situations.