"Xylotism": A Tablet-Based Application to Teach Music to Children with Autism

Technology is inevitable, and its role for clinical therapists and specialists cannot be ignored. The promising movement towards computer-based interventions, specifically the use of tablets as an effective and newly developed learning device for children with autism spectral disorder (ASD) highlights the role of technology in addressing the shortcomings of conventional therapy methods. In this paper, we present a new application, named as Xylotism, which is an interactive game to improve learning and teach music to children with autism spectrum disorder. The game can be played with/without parents/therapists' involvement, which increases its usefulness and effectiveness. We have investigated the acceptability and eligibility of the application among twenty children with autism spectrum disorder. To have a fair comparison a similar experiment has been performed utilizing a real Xylophone. The initial results are promising, since all participants accepted to play with Xylotism application and fifteen out of the twenty of them preferred to use the virtual Xylophone. We also video recorded the activities and coded the children's behavior, and their performance in playing rhythms were measured. The results suggest that the acceptance of Xylotism application is fairly compatible to the real Xylophone and it has the potential to improve the skill of playing rhythms in children with ASD.