Comparing the Effectiveness of “EmoGalaxy Video Game” with “Card games” on Emotion Regulation of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Emotion regulation is among the most important skills that children and adolescents need to be successful in their social lives. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder have serious deficit in regulating their emotions. Various treatments have been used to improve emotion regulation in children with autism including using video games designed to improve emotion regulation, has attracted many researchers, treating autism or other groups of children with special needs. These games can be used with or without a therapist presence which would save money and energy. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of EmoGalaxy, a video game designed to improve emotion regulation of children with autism spectrum disorder, compared to a card games with emotion regulation approach. Effectiveness of both interventions were evaluated by a quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest and a control group. 10 students in the first experimental group played with EmoGalaxy, while the second experimental group, with 10 students, played regular cards games. The control group, consisted of 10 students did not receive any treatment and waited to receive the intervention after the experimental group intervention period. The instrument used in this study to evaluate the emotion regulation of the participants was the emotion regulation checklist (Shields & Cicchetti, 2004). The obtained data was analyzed by Multiple Analysis of the Covariance (MANCOVA). The results of the study showed that computer cognitive games led to significant changes compared to the other experimental group and the control group in emotion regulation (p<0.05). It is concluded that computer games can be used to improve emotion regulation in children with autism spectrum disorder.