Mebook – a First-Person Social Narrative Game

Background:  The gateway to social interaction is greeting. It is the first and last thing in many social situations. Unfortunately, individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face significant challenges when engaging in social interactions (APA, 2000). Social narrative intervention has  proved useful in helping children with ASD learn social skills (Collett-Klingenberg and Franzone, 2008). However, social narratives are delivered in text and still images, often based on scenarios and characters that are foreign to the reader. As young ASD readers often have short attention span, such a presentation may be enhanced by taking advantage of modern gaming platforms. Digital learning games have been shown to stimulate the learners’ interest in the material, even engaging students with low self-efficacy (Amon and Campbell, 2008, Saridaki and Mourlass, 2011). Many platforms also include cameras that allow customization of games through the use of self-images. Self-images, as a tool for interventions, have been shown to be effective for establishing desirable responses in young children with ASD (Ihrig and Wolchik, 1988). The combination of games and self-images may improve the efficacy of social narratives by engaging and holding the attention of the reader, allowing the child to connect with the characters in a story, and subsequently, learning the material faster. 

Objectives:  This technical demonstration showcases MEBook , effective social narrative intervention for increasing social greeting behavior with peers and adults.

Methods: MEBook is an animated social narrative game consisting of: 1) an animated social narrative story with the self-image of the child as the main character (Figure 1 left) and 2) a gaming session to practice the target behavior with other characters (Figure 1 right). MEBook shows the child, with adults and peers, in various greeting scenarios with animations of the child and/or other characters waving, speaking or engaging in appropriate greeting behavior. The story is read by, or narrated to, the child. Gaming sessions follow a story. These sessions use a Microsoft Kinect^TMcamera to detect when the desired greeting gesture (a wave) is performed either in response to an animated character’s greeting wave or in initiation when an animated character appears on the screen. Visual, sound, and verbal feedback are given continuously.  A child can have as many chances as desired. 

Results:  A multiple baseline single subject study, with three boys with ASD (7-12 years), was conducted. Details of the study are described in a separate IMFAR submission. Participants showed significant increase in their total responses rates. This occurred as the participants began MEBook intervention. In addition, after the introduction of the MEBook intervention, and all through their intervention phase, two participants showed much eagerness to play MEBook even before their therapy session.

Conclusions:  MEBook, a software system that creates individualized social greeting stories using games and self-images of the participants, was designed. The application, via the Microsoft Kinect^TM camera, provides participants with practice chances to rehearse different greeting scenarios. A multiple baseline single-subject study saw showed promising results.