88 Chapter 2 Paper Country Target group N % male Age, mean (SD) Age range Intervention arms Intervention characteristics Assessments Variables measured Findings relevant for current review Faja et al. 2021 USA Children with autism spectrum disorder 70 90.0 9.13 (1.35) 7-11 years 1. Playing computer games that emphasized set-shifting, inhibition and spatial working memory (applied game), psychoeducation and coaching EF strategies. 2. Waitlist control (passive condition). 1. Up to 10 one-hour long sessions in which children played the training games for 30-40 minutes and received coaching. Pre and post. Neural measures of EF, inhibition, shifting ability, interference suppression, executive functioning, verbal working memory, decision-making, social cognition, social problem solving, restricted and repetitive symptoms, social skills; feasibility, acceptability, qualitative responses about child’s improvement. Relative to the waitlist group, participants in the training group showed a change in neural response and reduced symptoms of repetitive behaviour. No changes in inhibition, shifting ability, interference suppression, parent-reported EF, social cognition and functioning, verbal working memory, and decision-making were found. Fridenson-Hayo et al. 2017 Israel and Sweden ***** Children with high functioning autism spectrum conditions Israel: 43*a Sweden: 40*b 92.1 and 86.1 7.47 (1.25) and 7.11 (0.97) 6-9 years 1. Emotiplay serious game with written parent-child activity guide. 2. Waitlist control group, receiving treatment as usual. 1. Two hours per week, for a period of 8 to 12 weeks. Pre and post. Emotion recognition, autism symptoms, social adaptive functioning, Participants using the serious game improved significantly more than controls on all emotion recognition measures. In Israel, parents of the serious game group reported reduced autism symptoms. Griffin et al. 2021 USA Adolescents with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and deficient eye gaze processing 42*c 82.5 13.73 (2.70) 10-28 years 1. Social Games for Adolescents with Autism (SAGA) serious game training (applied game). 2. Standard care control group (active condition). 1. Participants played the game on their own computer at home for three 30-minute sessions per week, for 10 weeks. 2. Participants received treatment as usual in the community. Pre and post. Feasibility outcomes (attrition/retention rate, adverse events, total gameplay, time engaged in eye gaze tasks), usability/game experience, eye gaze task performance, social communication skills, problematic behaviours, social functioning deficits; game time (subgroup analyses). The intervention group showed increased sensitivity to human eye gaze cues, whereas the control group did not. Increases in sensitivity to human eye gaze cues were associated with improvements in social skills.
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