Ntalindwa Theoneste, Nduwingoma Mathias, Karangwa Evariste, Rashid Soron Tanjir, Uworwabayeho Alphonse, Uwineza Annette
School of Education, University of Rwanda - College of Education, Kayonza, Rwanda.
School of Inclusive and Special Needs Education, University of Rwanda - College of Education, Kayonza, Rwanda.
JMIR Pediatr Parent. 2021 Aug 31;4(3):e21471. doi: 10.2196/21471.
The use of information and communication technologies is transforming the lives of millions of people including children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the process of developing a user-friendly and effective mobile app needs to follow a complex standard protocol and culture-sensitive customization, and involves multiple sectors. This complex work becomes even more challenging when considering children with ASD in low- and middle-income countries as the users.
This study aimed to design and develop a more intuitive mobile app to improve numeracy skills of children with ASD in Rwanda and evaluate the usability of the app.
A participatory design approach was utilized in this study in which 40 children with ASD, 5 teachers, and 10 parents of children with ASD participated in focus group discussions (FGDs) and usability testing. A narrative literature review was performed to explore existing mobile apps and compare previous studies to design the questions for FGD and facilitate a framework for designing the app. The agile methodology was used to develop the mobile app, and the heuristics evaluation method was used to test and evaluate the usability of the initial version of the app to improve its functionalities. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed following the guidelines of the qualitative narrative analysis (QNA) method.
During the FGDs the respondents shared their need for a mobile app in teaching and learning numeracy for children with ASD and pointed to possibilities of integrating the mobile app into existing curriculum. Ten themes emerged from the FGDs and exercise of developing the mobile app. The themes were related to (1) teaching and learning numeracy for children with ASD, (2) planning and development of a mobile app for a person with ASD, (3) testing a mobile app, (4) strength of the developed app against the existing ones, (5) behavioral maintenance and relapse prevention, (6) possibilities to integrate the mobile app into the existing curriculum, (7) data protection for users, (8) social implications, (9) challenges in Rwanda, and (10) focus on future.
The community plays an important role in the planning, development, and evaluation of a mobile app for children with ASD. In this study, inputs from teachers and parents resulted in an optimally designed mobile app that can improve numeracy skills in children diagnosed with ASD to support the implementation of competency-based curriculum in Rwanda.
信息通信技术的使用正在改变数百万人的生活，其中包括自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童。然而，开发一款用户友好且有效的移动应用程序需要遵循复杂的标准协议和文化敏感型定制，并且涉及多个部门。当将低收入和中等收入国家的ASD儿童作为用户来考虑时，这项复杂的工作变得更具挑战性。
本研究旨在设计并开发一款更直观的移动应用程序，以提高卢旺达ASD儿童的算术技能，并评估该应用程序的可用性。
本研究采用参与式设计方法，40名ASD儿童、5名教师和10名ASD儿童的家长参与了焦点小组讨论（FGD）和可用性测试。进行了叙述性文献综述，以探索现有的移动应用程序，并比较先前的研究，从而设计FGD的问题并为应用程序设计提供一个框架。采用敏捷方法开发移动应用程序，并使用启发式评估方法测试和评估应用程序初始版本的可用性，以改进其功能。访谈按照定性叙述分析（QNA）方法的指导方针进行记录、转录和分析。
在焦点小组讨论期间，受访者分享了他们对一款用于ASD儿童算术教学和学习的移动应用程序的需求，并指出了将该移动应用程序整合到现有课程中的可能性。焦点小组讨论和移动应用程序开发过程中出现了10个主题。这些主题与以下方面相关：（1）ASD儿童的算术教学和学习；（2）为ASD患者设计移动应用程序的规划和开发；（3）测试移动应用程序；（4）所开发应用程序相对于现有应用程序的优势；（5）行为维持和复发预防；（6）将移动应用程序整合到现有课程中的可能性；（7）用户数据保护；（8）社会影响；（9）卢旺达的挑战；（10）关注未来。
社区在为ASD儿童设计移动应用程序的规划、开发和评估中发挥着重要作用。在本研究中，教师和家长的意见促成了一款经过优化设计的移动应用程序，该应用程序可以提高被诊断为ASD的儿童的算术技能，以支持卢旺达基于能力的课程的实施。
