MODU: A Story-Based Empathy Expression Training Game for Children with Mild Intellectual Disability and Borderline Intellectual Functioning

Abstract

Children with mild intellectual disability (MID) and borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) have problems with adequate social behavior. Children with MID or BIF seem no different from typically developing children as preschoolers. However, from school age, children with MID or BIF begin to have problems with their social skills, requiring special education. In the special education, emotion recognition and empathy responses are important. Serious games using interactive design exist to help children with disabilities learn social skills, but little has been done for children with MID or BIF. To support emotion recognition and empathy behavior in children with MID or BIF, we developed a story-based serious game called MODU. We conducted a user study of a pair of siblings, one with MID and one with BIF, to explore the educational effects of MODU. Based on our findings, we investigated MODU’s educational possibilities.