Skip to main content

A Review of Websites and Mobile Applications for People with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Towards Shared Guidelines

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good (GOODTECHS 2016)

Abstract

Many studies show the effective positive impact of using computer technologies to support the lives of users with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), for simplifying interaction with other people, for organising daily activities, for improving relation with family and friends. Despite that, only a restricted part of the current websites is accessible for people with ASD. In this paper, we discuss a set of guidelines that should be followed by designers while developing websites or mobile applications for users with ASD. We review many of the existing websites and applications in order to check which comply with all, or parts of these guidelines. We finally highlight current common limitations and address new challenging research directions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Ambitions about autism. https://www.ambitiousaboutautism.org.uk/

  2. Apps for autism. http://edninja.com/

  3. Asd in new zealand schools. http://asdinnzschools.org.nz/

  4. Asd info wales. http://www.asdinfowales.co.uk/

  5. Autism education trust. http://www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk/

  6. Autism ihelp. https://www.facebook.com/AutismiHelp/

  7. Autism nz. http://www.autismnz.org.nz/home

  8. Autism somerset. http://www.autismsomerset.org.uk/

  9. Autism spectrum australia. https://www.autismspectrum.org.au/

  10. Autism wessex. http://autismwessex.org.uk

  11. Cell symposia. http://www.cell-symposia-autism.com/

  12. Findme. http://www.interface3.com/findme/

  13. The founders centre. http://thefounderscenter.org/

  14. The global health network. https://grand.tghn.org/

  15. Hacs. http://www.hacs.org.uk/

  16. Leisure for autism. http://www.leisureforautism.org/

  17. The national autistic society. http://www.autism.org.uk/

  18. New struan school. http://www.newstruanschool.org/

  19. Niki talk. http://www.nikitalk.com/

  20. Proloquo apps. http://www.assistiveware.com/

  21. Scottish autism. http://www.scottishautism.org/

  22. Specialist autism services. http://www.specialistautismservices.org/

  23. St giles school. http://www.st-giles.notts.sch.uk/

  24. Sunderland city council. http://www.sunderland.gov.uk/

  25. Supporting students with asd. http://www.autismsupportpackage.education.nsw.gov.au/home

  26. Titanic belfast. http://titanicbelfast.com/

  27. Touch autism. http://touchautism.com/

  28. Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (2006). http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml

  29. Web content accessibility guidelines 2.0 (2008). https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20

  30. Department of Health (UK). Basic Guidelines for People Who Commission Easy Read Information (2009). http://www.easy-read-online.co.uk/media/10612/comm%20basic%20guidelines%20for%20people%20who%20commission%20easy%20read%20info.pdf

  31. Proloquo2go (2014). https://itunes.apple.com/it/app/proloquo2go-symbol-based-aac/id308368164?mt=8

  32. Pyramid educational consultants, inc. (2014). http://www.pecs-canada.com/

  33. Cognitive accessibility user research, w3C (2015). http://www.w3.org/TR/coga-user-research/

  34. An interview with Jamie Knight: autism and accessible web design (2015). http://www.iheni.com/an-interview-with-jamie-knight-autism-and-accessible-web-design/

  35. W3 consortium (2016). http://www.w3.org

  36. Abou-Zahra, S.: How people with disabilities use the web: overview (2012). https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web/

  37. American Psychiatric Association (ed.): The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM 5. BookpointUS (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Baxter, A.J., Brugha, T., Erskine, H., Sheurer, R., Vos, T., Scott, J.: The epidemiology and global burden of autism spectrum disorders. Psychol. Med. 45(3), 1601–1613 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Britto, T., Pizzolato, E.: Towards web accessibility guidelines of interaction and interface design for people with autism spectrum disorder. In: The Ninth International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions, ACHI 2016, Venice, Italy, 24–28 April 2016

    Google Scholar 

  40. Darejeh, A., Singh, D.: A review on user interface design principles to increase software usability for users with less computer literacy. J. Comput. Sci. 9(11), 1443–1450 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Dattolo, A., Luccio, F.: Modelling volo, an augmentative and alternative communication application. In: The 8th International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions, ACHI 2015, Lisbon, Portugal, 22–27 February 2015

    Google Scholar 

  42. Dattolo, A., Luccio, F., Pirone, E.: Webpage accessibility and usability for autistic users: a case study on a tourism website. In: The 9th International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions, ACHI 2016, Venice, Italy, 24–28 April 2016

    Google Scholar 

  43. Fletcher-Watson, S.: Evidence-based technology design and commercialisation: recommendations derived from research in education and autism. TechTrends 59(1), 84–88 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Frauenberger, C., Makhaeva, J., Spiel, K.: Designing smart objects with autistic children: Four design exposès. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2016, pp. 130–139. ACM, New York (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  45. Friedman, M.G., Bryen, D.N.: Web accessibility design recommendations for people with cognitive disabilities. Technol. Disabil. 19(9), 205–212 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  46. Grandin, T.: How does visual thinking work in the mind of a person with autism? A personal account. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. 364(1522), 1437–1442 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Kamaruzaman, M.F., Rani, N.M., Nor, H., Azaharia, M.: Developing user interface design application for children with autism. Procedia - Soc. Behav. Sci. 217, 887–894 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Lisa Seeman, M.C.: Techniques for the the cognitive and learning disabilities accessibility task force (COGA). W3C (2016). https://w3c.github.io/coga/techniques/

  49. McQuiggan, S., McQuiggan, J., Sabourin, J., Kosturko, L.: Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Developers, Educators, and Learners, 1st edn. Wiley, Hoboken (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  50. Pavlov, N.: User interface for people with autism spectrum disorders. J. Softw. Eng. Appl. 7(2), 128–134 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Putman, C., Chong, L.: Software and technologies for people with autism: what the users want? In: 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, ASSETS 2008, Halifax, Canada, pp. 3–10, 13–15 October 2008

    Google Scholar 

  52. Sicile Kira, C.: What is sensory processing disorder and how is it related to autism? (2010). http://goo.gl/1naVTp

  53. Still, K., Rehfeldt, R., Whelan, R., May, R., Dymond, S.: Facilitating requesting skills using high-tech augmentative and alternative communication devices with individuals with autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review. Res. Autism Spectr. Disord. 8, 1184–1199 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Yaneva, V., Temnikova, I., Mitkov, R.: Accessible texts for autism: an eye-tracking study. In: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers Accessibility, ASSETS 2015, pp. 49–57. ACM, New York (2015)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Flaminia L. Luccio .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

About this paper

Cite this paper

Dattolo, A., Luccio, F.L. (2017). A Review of Websites and Mobile Applications for People with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Towards Shared Guidelines. In: Gaggi, O., Manzoni, P., Palazzi, C., Bujari, A., Marquez-Barja, J. (eds) Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good. GOODTECHS 2016. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 195. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61949-1_28

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61949-1_28

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-61948-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61949-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics