Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

MOLHEM: An innovative android application with an interactive avatar-based chatbot for Arab children with ASD

  • Published:
Education and Information Technologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The teaching of children with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Arabic-speaking countries depends mainly on the traditional techniques which are limited and outdated. On the other hand, smartphone applications (apps) have become an essential part of the current life style. They are literally used to accomplish thousands of different tasks related to almost every possible aspect of daily life. However, the available apps related to the children with ASD in Arabic countries are extremely rare and limited in their features and services. Motivated by that, this work tries to fill the shortage in this area by presenting MOLHEM as a helping app for Arab children with ASD that comes with an interactive avatar based chatbot. The proposed system aims mainly to improve the child’s different social skills in addition to enhance the linguistic and mathematical abilities. In fact, MOLHEM has a variety of interactive teaching tools including stories, music, videos, and others. Moreover, the chatbot allows the child to have real conversations in both Arabic or English languages with a chatbot represented by a cartoon character avatar. On the other hand, the parent will have the privileges to supervise the child’s usage of the app, get regular performance and activity reports, in addition to control the sessions’ length. In fact, MOLHEM was practically tested by a group of specialists and parents of autistics and the feedback we got was very promising. As a future work, we plan to create an IOS version, add new learning categories, allow shared playing for a group of users, and include artificial intelligence techniques.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21
Fig. 22
Fig. 23
Fig. 24
Fig. 25
Fig. 26
Fig. 27
Fig. 28

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

Data availability

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

References

  • Autism.Things. (n.d.). [Online]. Available: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.Autism.Things&hl=ar. Accessed 27 Mar 2023.

  • BAB NOOR. (n.d.). [Online]. Available: https://babnoor.com/ae/. Accessed 27 Mar 2023.

  • Bracha, G. (2015). The Dart programming language. Addison-Wesley Professional. Springer Singapore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, A. S., Davis, N. O., Klin, A., & Volkmar, F. R. (2005). Social development in autism. Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, 1, 312–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2007). Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders--autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 14 sites, United States, 2002. Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Surveillance summaries (Washington, DC: 2002), 56(1), 12–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, Y. C., & Shire, S. (2019). Promoting play in early childhood programs for children with ASD: Strategies for educators and practitioners. Teaching Exceptional Children, 52(2), 66–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crozier, S., & Sileo, N. M. (2005). Encouraging positive behavior with social stories: An intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders. Teaching Exceptional Children, 37(6), 26–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darabkh, K. A., Haddad, L., Sweidan, S. Z., Hawa, M., Saifan, R., & Alnabelsi, S. H. (2018a). An efficient speech recognition system for arm-disabled students based on isolated words. Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 26(2), 285–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darabkh, K. A., Alturk, F. H., & Sweidan, S. Z. (2018b). VRCDEA-TCS: 3D virtual reality cooperative drawing educational application with textual chatting system. Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 26(5), 1677–1698.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiMarzio, J. (2016). Beginning android programming with android studio. Wiley.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Forrester-Jones, R. V., & Broadhurst, S. (2007). Autism and loss. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U. (2003). Autism: Explaining the enigma. Blackwell publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U., & Mira, M. (1992). Autism and Asperger syndrome. Focus on Autistic Behavior, 7(3), 13–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geschwind, D. H. (2009). Advances in autism. Annual Review of Medicine, 60, 367–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassan, A. (2020). JAVA and DART programming languages: Conceptual comparison. Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 17(2), 845–849.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Islam, N., & Want, R. (2014). Smartphones: Past, present, and future. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 13(4), 89–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeeran. (n.d.). [Online]. Available: https://jo.jeeran.com/ar/p/jordan-specialized-center-for-autism-amman. Accessed 7 July 2023.

  • Johnson, C. P., & Myers, S. M. (2007). Identification and evaluation of children with autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics, 120(5), 1183–1215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Këpuska, V., & Bohouta, G. (2017). Comparing speech recognition systems (Microsoft API, Google API and CMU Sphinx). International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, 7(03), 20–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khawas, C., & Shah, P. (2018). Application of firebase in android app development-a study. International Journal of Computer Applications, 179(46), 49–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koegel, R. L., & Koegel, L. K. E. (1995). Teaching children with autism: Strategies for initiating positive interactions and improving learning opportunities. Paul H Brookes Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuzmin, N., Ignatiev, K., & Grafov, D. (2020).  Experience of Developing a Mobile Application Using Flutter. In: Kim, K., & Kim, HY. (eds) Information Science and Applications. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 621. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1465-4_56

  • Mandell, D., & Lecavalier, L. (2014). Should we believe the centers for disease control and prevention’s autism spectrum disorder prevalence estimates? Autism, 18(5), 482–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marimuthu, K., Panneerselvam, A., Selvaraj, S., Venkatesan, L. P., & Sivaganesan, V. (2023). Android based college app using flutter Dart. Green Intelligent Systems and Applications, 3(2), 69–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • mayoclinic. (n.d.). [Online]. Available: https://www.mayoclinic.org/ar/diseases-conditions/autism-spectrum-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20352928. Accessed 7 July 2023.

  • Moroney, L., Moroney, A., & Anglin, R. (2017). Definitive guide to firebase (pp. 51–71). California Apress.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council. (2001). Educating children with autism. National Academies Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’neill, S., & Brady, R. R. W. (2012). Colorectal smartphone apps: opportunities and risks. Colorectal Disease, 14(9), e530–e534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reschke-Hernández, A. E. (2011). History of music therapy treatment interventions for children with autism. Journal of Music Therapy, 48(2), 169–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Satyaputra, A., Aritonang, E. M., & Kom, S. (2016). Lets build your android apps with android studio. Elex Media Komputindo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shukla-Mehta, S., Miller, T., & Callahan, K. J. (2010). Evaluating the effectiveness of video instruction on social and communication skills training for children with autism spectrum disorders: A review of the literature. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 25(1), 23–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singer, A. (2021). Autism Science Foundation. In F. R. Volkmar (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91280-6_1368

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sweidan, S. Z., & Darabkh, K. A. (2018). VREG: A virtual reality educational game with arabic content using android smart phone. Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, 11(10), 500–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweidan, S. Z., Saifan, R., Darabkh, K. A., Abu-Kaff, S., & Al-Ali, S. (2017). Kids’ tracker: An android application for tracking children. Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, 10(13), 907.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweidan, S. Z., Laban, S. S. A., Alnaimat, N. A., & Darabkh, K. A. (2021a). SEG-COVID: a student electronic guide within Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021 9th International Conference on Information and Education Technology (ICIET) (pp. 139–144). IEEE.

  • Sweidan, S. Z., Abu Laban, S. S., Alnaimat, N. A., & Darabkh, K. A. (2021b). SIAAA-C: A student interactive assistant android application with chatbot during COVID-19 pandemic. Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 29(6), 1718–1742.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweidan, S. Z., Alshareef, S. M., & Darabkh, K. A. (2021c). SATA: a new students attendance tracking application. In 2021 9th International Conference on Information and Education Technology (ICIET) (pp. 41–46). IEEE.

  • Sweidan, S. Z., Alsharif, S. M., & Darabkh, K. A. (2021d). SCATAA-CT: Smart course attendance tracking android application in classroom teaching. International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 67(1), 79–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweidan, S. Z., Salameh, H., Zakarneh, R., & Darabkh, K. A. (2022). Autistic Innovative Assistant (AIA): An Android application for Arabic autism children. Interactive Learning Environments, 30(4), 735–758.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweidan, S. Z., Darabkh, K. A., Ahmad, Y. H., & Hasan, T. M. (2023a). NOTOG: An Android App for Detecting and Reading Arabic Texts for Vision Impaired People, Proceedings of the 8th IEEE International Conference and Workshops on Recent Advances and Innovations in Engineering (ICRAIE 2023), Kuala Lumpur.

  • Sweidan, S. Z., Bouanane, N., & Darabkh, K. A. (2023b). ACS: An innovative Alzheimer’s care system. Universal Access in the Information Society, 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-023-01004-y

  • Sweidan, S. Z., Darabkh, K. A., Khawaldeh, A. M., & Hamed Salameh, S. K. (2023c). An Engaging Android App for Arabic-speaking Autistic Kids, Proceedings of the 8th IEEE International Conference and Workshops on Recent Advances and Innovations in Engineering (ICRAIE 2023), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

  • Teaching Boys. (n.d.). [Online]. Available: https://teachingjustboys.weebly.com/autism.html. Accessed 7 July 2023.

  • Theodorsen, T., & Garrick, I. E. (1940). Mechanism of flutter: a theoretical and experimental investigation of the flutter problem (Vol. 685). NACA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyagi, P. (2021). Pragmatic flutter: building cross-platform mobile apps for android, iOS, web & desktop. CRC Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Vazquez-Cano, E. (2014). Mobile distance learning with smartphones and apps in higher education. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 14(4), 1505–1520.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verma, N., Kansal, S., & Malvi, H. (2018). Development of native mobile application using android studio for cabs and some glimpse of cross platform apps. International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 13(16), 12527–12530.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zapata, B. C. (2016). Android Studio 2 essentials. Packt Publishing Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Engineering, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan

    Saadeh Z. Sweidan, Shyam K. Almawajdeh, Ayah M. Khawaldeh & Khalid A. Darabkh

Authors
  1. Saadeh Z. Sweidan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shyam K. Almawajdeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ayah M. Khawaldeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Khalid A. Darabkh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Khalid A. Darabkh.

Ethics declarations

Research involving human participants and/or animals

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sweidan, S.Z., Almawajdeh, S.K., Khawaldeh, A.M. et al. MOLHEM: An innovative android application with an interactive avatar-based chatbot for Arab children with ASD. Educ Inf Technol 29, 17565–17599 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12547-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12547-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation