Understanding Clinician Experiences with Game-Based Interventions for Autistic Children to Inform a Future Game Platform Focused on Improving Motor Skills

Motor challenges are prevalent among autistic children, and games are able to simultaneously produce clinically meaningful results and provide a motivating context, but many current solutions are too rigid. We conducted a two-phase qualitative study comprised of semi-structured interviews and participatory design workshops with 7 pediatric physical and 5 occupational therapists (PTs/OTs) to investigate their perspectives and experiences with game and play-based interventions. We identified 8 prominent themes describing key characteristics of current successful interventions, opportunities, and barriers to adoption in clinical practice. We present a speculative design informed by thematic analysis that addresses current challenges of rigidity in Serious Games for Health (SG4H). Our modular platform (AutMotion Studio) hosts a suite of interventions as customizable minigames, allowing community members to contribute to and employ Wizard of Oz paradigms for flexible appropriation strategies.