Application of Computer Games in the Visual Perception Assessment of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Visual perception is the foundation of children's learning and cognitive development. Abnormal visual perception is one of the typical symptoms of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). They urgently need early diagnosis and regular assessment to develop appropriate intervention strategies. However, there is a serious contradiction between the rapidly increasing demand for assessment and the limited supply of professional assessment. As a convenient and effective supplement, computer-aided methods have become the development trend of ASD assessment. This article analyzed the assessment elements of visual perception, including visual memory, visual search, visual discrimination, and visual overall processing. Then the corresponding computer games were designed and implemented, and the children's visual perception ability was assessed through game score, game duration, and scoring rate indicator calculated by them. Through comparative experiments between ASD children and typical developing (TD) children, data analysis results showed that there were significant differences between ASD children and TD children in terms of visual memory, visual search, visual discrimination, and overall processing, verifying the effectiveness of the proposed computer games for visual perception assessment.