Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD) are a multifaceted category of diseases caused by problems in the development of the central nervous system and characterized by impairments in cognition, communication, behavior and/or motor abilities. People affected by such disorders may have to deal with signi cant adversities in the everyday life and may experience social issues due to their lack in language and communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal. Social Match-UP is a innovative Virtual Reality application for smartphones, designed for people with NDD and intended to provide them with a useful tool to improve their communication and social skills. Social Match-UP has been developed in cooperation with NDD specialists and offers a suite of cooperative games in which two players are required to join the forces and talk to each other to achieve victory. The application provides a customizable experience that can be tailored, in terms of contents and tasks, on players' abilities. Our contribute to the Social Match-UP project consisted in a complete re-design and re-implementation of the application, integrating new functionalities, contents and interfaces, in order to enhance the capacity of stimulating communication processes and maximize the bene fits for our end-users. In addition, a detailed exploratory study has been carried out, with the purpose of investigating the educational and therapeutic potential of the new version of the app. This document describes the complete process of development of the application, explaining the different choices about design, methods and technologies that preceded it, and presents the results of the study conducted.
I disturbi del neurosviluppo, o NDD (Neurodevelopmental Disorders), sono una categoria di disturbi causati da un malfunzionamento nello sviluppo del sistema nervoso centrale e caratterizzati da una compromissione delle capacità cognitive, comunicative, comportamentali e/o motorie. I soggetti affetti da tali condizioni possono riscontrare signi cative avversità nella vita di tutti i giorni e possono sperimentare problematiche sociali dovute alle loro limitate capacità di linguaggio e comunicazione, sia verbale che non verbale. Social Match-UP è un'applicazione innovativa in realtà virtuale per smartphone, dedicata alle persone affette da NDD e finalizzata a fornire uno strumento per promuoverne le capacità comunicative e relazionali. Social Match-UP è stata sviluppata in collaborazione con specialisti del settore e offre una serie di giochi cooperativi in cui i giocatori devono unire le forze e parlarsi reciprocamente per raggiungere la vittoria. L'applicazione fornisce un'esperienza personalizzabile, che può essere con figurata in termini di contenuti e task sulla base delle caratteristiche dei giocatori. Il nostro contributo al progetto Social Match-UP è consistito in una riprogettazione e re-implementazione dell'applicazione, integrando nuove funzionalità, contenuti e interfacce, per aumentare la capacità di stimolare processi comunicativi e massimizzare il benefi cio per gli utenti finali. È stato inoltre progettato e condotto un articolato studio empirico, finalizzato a investigare il potenziale educativo-terapeutico della nuova versione dell'app. Questo documento descrive il processo di sviluppo completo dell'applicazione, motivando le diverse scelte di design, metodo e tecnologie che lo hanno preceduto, e presenta i risultati dello studio condotto.
Educational cooperative play in wearable virtual reality for persons with neurodevelopmental disorders
MAFESSONI, ANDREA
2018/2019
Abstract
Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD) are a multifaceted category of diseases caused by problems in the development of the central nervous system and characterized by impairments in cognition, communication, behavior and/or motor abilities. People affected by such disorders may have to deal with signi cant adversities in the everyday life and may experience social issues due to their lack in language and communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal. Social Match-UP is a innovative Virtual Reality application for smartphones, designed for people with NDD and intended to provide them with a useful tool to improve their communication and social skills. Social Match-UP has been developed in cooperation with NDD specialists and offers a suite of cooperative games in which two players are required to join the forces and talk to each other to achieve victory. The application provides a customizable experience that can be tailored, in terms of contents and tasks, on players' abilities. Our contribute to the Social Match-UP project consisted in a complete re-design and re-implementation of the application, integrating new functionalities, contents and interfaces, in order to enhance the capacity of stimulating communication processes and maximize the bene fits for our end-users. In addition, a detailed exploratory study has been carried out, with the purpose of investigating the educational and therapeutic potential of the new version of the app. This document describes the complete process of development of the application, explaining the different choices about design, methods and technologies that preceded it, and presents the results of the study conducted.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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2019_10_Mafessoni.pdf
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/149856