iBall to Swim: a Serious Game for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Recent studies show that children affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are more exposed to pathologies related to obesity and lack of movement. Moreover, they are approximately twice as likely to die from drowning than neurotypical ones. Therefore, acquiring good water safety skills is of extreme importance and, at the same time, aquatic activities are a valid opportunity to do some physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviors. "iBall to Swim is a serious game, based on IoT, that through a playful approach allows children with ASD to do activities in an aquatic environment, developing and improving motor skills. The system is made of a swimming ball augmented with lighting, a wetsuit with a heartbeat monitor and wireless bone conduction headphones. A mobile application is used to integrate these components and to measure and monitor the child's performance. To test whether the technology contributed to improve children's motor skills, we performed a test with eleven children with ASD. Their improvement in motor skills has been studied during a water training phase both with the help of the serious game and without. Results show that there was a general improvement in their performance and children were keeping swimming autonomously and for a longer distance when they were stimulated by the game. Furthermore, the children reported enjoyment and the parents asked whether the game could be used routinely with their children. These encouraging findings suggest that "iBall to Swim is a promising way to enhance the learning of the basic notions of swimming and it can be considered a valid tool to help to improve ASD children's health and wellbeing.