Toward a Toolkit for Co-designing Collaborative Play Tool with and for Autistic Children

The prevalence of autism is currently on the rise around the world. Autism is often associated with challenges in social communication, which could impact children’s ability to play and integrate with their surroundings. Despite this, there is a lack of studies on that explore collaborative play for autistic children. To address this deficiency, a contextual inquiry was conducted which comprised of a semi-structured interviews with teachers, specialists, and parents, as well as observation sessions of nine autistic children engaged in play-based activities. The purpose of this study is to investigate the interaction between autistic children and play tools during play sessions and to make recommendations for the development of toolkits for co-designing collaborative play with autistic children. The analysis phase includes evaluating the play tools based on the level of interaction, targeted skills, and employed senses. According to the findings, autistic children mostly explore the tools, while their teachers focus on enhancing their motor abilities. Also, the sense of touch was employed most frequently during play sessions. This study contributes to the development of future toolkits supporting co-design of collaborative play experiences for autistic children.