Design and Development of Web-Based Cognitive Rehabilitation Games, Aimed at Enhancing Cognitive Functions and Eye Tracking in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Document Type : Original Article

Researchers

1 PHD Student of Allame Tabatabaei University

2 Faculty member of the Faculty of Psychology and Education of Exceptional Children, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran.

Ministerial Ethics Committee
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by pervasive and persistent deficits in social interaction, communication, and the presence of repetitive and restricted patterns of behavior, interests, or activities in early childhood. One of the major challenges for children with autism is deficits in cognitive functioning. In this regard, one of the deficits in the cognitive domain of autistic children is the difficulty in initiating, maintaining, and using types of attention. It seems that attention for orientation is under the neurophysiological support of the eyes, and the organ that is responsible for this neurophysiological support helps to increase attention by creating a close connection between the direction of attention and the movement of the eyes and the motor organ. Meanwhile, eye tracking in children with autism spectrum disorder also faces problems. One of the methods of improving eye tracking ability and cognitive abilities is cognitive rehabilitation. Currently, interventions related to improving cognitive deficits can often be implemented in various ways, including computer-based cognitive programs. Computer-based cognitive rehabilitation, based on the principle of brain plasticity and self-healing, creates stable synaptic changes through the sequential stimulation of less active areas in the brain. Computer cognitive games are one of the indirect methods used to improve the level of various skills of children with autism spectrum disorder. Web-based rehabilitation methods have been very popular as new technology-based methods.