Combining Speech Intervention and Cooperative Game Design for Children with ASD

Feeling Factory is a two-player cooperative iPad game designed to train prosodic speech, meaning the emotional and grammatical intonation of language, in children with autism spectrum disorder. The work addresses a notable scarcity of prosody interventions and a gap in existing speech games, most of which lack conversational context. Grounded in ABA and DIR-Floortime principles, the game places two players in a narrative in which they speak and listen to each other while a digital environment mediates the exchange, with role-switching built into the design. Levels progress from explicit semantic cues toward neutral sentences, so that children gradually rely on their own prosodic control rather than on contextual support.

The evaluation rests on feasibility rather than efficacy. A panel of seven speech pathology experts responded very positively, particularly to the two-player structure, which they judged likely to raise engagement and encourage practice with real interlocutors. They also raised concerns about group use and suggested extensions such as anger, sarcasm, and graded emotional intensity. Case studies with five high-functioning children with ASD found that all could read and understand the story and instructions, complete a full playthrough within 30 minutes with minimal intervention, and enjoy the game. Several showed measurable prosodic improvement across the session and expressed willingness to play with a peer. Question-versus-statement intonation proved harder for participants than emotional prosody.

The authors conclude that combining a structured intervention with a cooperative, narrative-driven digital format successfully balances therapeutic aims with engagement. Because the sample was small, geographically limited, and drawn from a narrow range of functioning levels, the findings are preliminary. The authors therefore recommend efficacy studies with larger and more diverse populations before broader clinical claims can be made.