Using Selective Simulation to Create Digital Therapeutics for Educating Social Skills to Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder: Education and Healthcare Game Design Approach by Creating Therapeutic Game Module for Social Behavior Transformation of High-Functioning Autism Spectrum D

Abstract

Several digital therapeutics are using gamification to reduce the cost of developing new medicine and reaching out to more people. Due to their enjoyment or familiarity likability toward games, many children, especially those with mental disorders, are the main audience for education and healthcare digital therapeutics. Ironically, such merits do not stand out due to the poor usage of gamification. Disregarding cognitive development when designing digital therapeutics for children creates neglecting behavior toward using digital therapeutics as an educational or a healthcare tool. This paper proposes a digital therapeutics design approach, a selective simulation, and tests it by simulating an elementary school's social environment that focuses on conversation expressing emotion. Empathy is achieved through connecting a character's emotion and situation that trains the Theory of Mind, a capacity to be in another person's shoes for High-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFASD) children. This paper aims to use selective simulation to create a simulated social interaction digital playground for HFASD children to explore familiar social interaction environments for HASD children and foster understanding of other people's situations and emotions.