Incloodle: Evaluating An Interactive Application For Young Children With Mixed Abilities

Every child should have an equal opportunity to learn, play, and participate in his or her life. In this work, we investigate how interactive technology design features support children with and without disabilities with inclusion during play. We developed four versions of Incloodle, a two-player picture-taking tablet application, designed to be inclusive of children with different abilities and needs. Each version of the application varied in (1) whether or not it enforced cooperation between children; and in (2) whether it prompted interactions through in-app characters or more basic instructions. A laboratory study revealed technology-enforced cooperation was helpful for child pairs who needed scaffolding, but character-based prompting had little effect on children's experiences. We provide an empirical evaluation of interactive technology for inclusive play and offer guidance for designing technology that facilitates inclusive play between young neurotypical and neurodiverse children.