An Interactive Number Learning Augmented Reality Application for Autistic Preschool Children

Autism in children is characterized by challenges that include conditions like speech and non-verbal disorder, lack of social interactivity, low cognitive skills, and repetitive behavioral regulation. Augmented Reality (AR) is an enhanced version of the real world by overlaying digital elements and this technology is used to build up engagement and motivation to learn for children with autistic disorder. This study designs a prototype of a mobile-based application called NUM09 as a learning tool for autistic pre-school children. This application exploits flashcards as a learning aid by incorporating them with Vuforia and Augmented Reality (AR) technology. The concept includes designing numeral flashcards from 0 to 9 and scanning them through the developed mobile application NUM09 where the targets of each image are identified to play the corresponding video clip according to the scanned number in the card and this helps children to improve their attention to a focused study process to practice number learning. The result of this preliminary study is in form of the design and implementation of Augmented Reality mobile application development as a teaching assistant for autistic deficit children.