Guided Play: Digital Sensing and Coaching for Stereotypical Play Behavior in Children with Autism

Restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) are a core symptom and an early marker of autism. Current research and intervention for RRB heavily rely on professional experience and effort. Guided Play is a technology that uses instrumented games and toys as a platform to understand children's play behavior and facilitate behavioral intervention during play. This paper presents the design and implementation of a prototype based on the technology, as well as an evaluation on 6 children with autism. The results show that children with RRBs in physical world activities also exhibit similar patterns in a similar digital activity, and that digital coaching can reduce RRBs by expanding children's play skill repertoire and promoting symbolic play.