Systematic mapping of the literature on mobile apps for people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

The advancement of mobile technologies combined with assistive technologies can provide autonomy to people with different types of disabilities, including those with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Technologies, such as those found in mobile devices, are very attractive to people with ASD and can be used as a valuable educational tool for these individuals. The aim of this study was to learn about how mobile apps aimed at people with ASD are developed and evaluated, carried out through a systematic mapping of applications aimed at people with ASD, in order to better understand their foundations, motivations, evaluation mode, resources and user profile. The results indicated that the main procedures used to support the applications for people with ASD are the questionnaires to identify the ASD, such as the CHAT and AQ-10, and the ABA intervention, and that these applications, mostly, seek to identify the ASD in a practical way and at a low cost. Most of the apps were evaluated by usability testing and through indirect observation through the app's logs. The most used hardware and software resources are the mobile device camera and convolutional neural networks (CNN), respectively, with most applications aimed at children and the most common software engineering methodologies were requirements analysis and prototyping.