Impact of a serious games-based adaptive learning environment on developing communication skills and motivation among autistic children

Abstract Incorporating serious games into educational methodologies has prompted considerable interest from scholars worldwide, especially as a strategy to engage and assist learners with special needs. This study examined the effects of a serious games-based adaptive learning environment (SG-ALE) on communicative abilities and motivation in autistic children within a defined educational context. The SG-ALE, intended to foster active learning and skill enhancement, included various stimulating activities such as puzzles, assembling pictures from shadows, forming words from letters, and creating words from hearing sounds. This environment was meticulously designed to offer individualized learning experiences for children with autism. The study utilized the single-group experimental design, including 14 children from a contemporary private school. The effectiveness of the SG-ALE was evaluated using a newly formulated communication skills rubric (CS-Rubric) and motivation to communicate scale (MC-Scale), both of which demonstrated elevated levels of internal consistency and reliability. The data analysis included paired samples t-tests and analyses of variance to ascertain the statistical significance of observed changes. The results demonstrated statistically significant enhancements in all facets of communication skills (attention and visual communication, motor and verbal imitation, receptive language, expressive language, and attention and auditory discrimination), along with increased motivation to communicate after applying the SG-ALE. The adaptive characteristics of the learning environment demonstrated that it offered children experiences customized to their advancement, underscoring the efficacy of adaptive serious games in promoting more engaging and personalized educational opportunities. This method has demonstrated promise in improving the academic experience of children with autism. The study presents recommendations for designing and implementing serious games in digital learning environments to assist children with special needs, highlighting the necessity for additional research to investigate the various applications of these tools.