SIGUEME: Technology-based intervention for low-functioning autism to train skills to work with visual signifiers and concepts.
Low-functioning kids with autism gained attention and categorization skills after 25 sessions of the SIGUEME tablet game.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Vélez-Coto et al. (2017) tested a tablet game called SIGUEME. The game teaches kids to match pictures and ideas.
All kids had low-functioning autism. They played 25 sessions. No other treatment was given during the study.
What they found
After the 25 sessions, kids paid attention longer. They sorted objects into groups better. They also talked and played with adults more.
The gains were medium-sized compared with no treatment.
How this fits with other research
McIntyre et al. (2017) ran a similar tablet game called SEMA-TIC with French kids. Both studies lasted about 23–25 weeks and showed medium gains. SIGUEME targeted attention and sorting; SEMA-TIC targeted reading. Together they show tablet games can teach different thinking skills to minimally verbal children.
Sosnowski et al. (2022) used a gaze-contingent game to teach emotion reading. Like SIGUEME, the game mixed ABA prompts with fun graphics. Both found positive effects, but W used a stronger RCT design. The pattern says digital ABA games work; RCTs are the next step.
Sievert et al. (1988) taught eye contact with real-life prompts and candy. SIGUEME replaced those live prompts with cartoon pictures on a screen. Both worked, showing old behavioral tricks still work when you move them to a tablet.
Why it matters
If you run a clinic for low-verbal kids, you now have a ready-made program that fits on an iPad. No extra staff, no extra space. Start a 25-session SIGUEME block and track attention and sorting as your first data points.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: People with low-functioning ASD and other disabilities often find it difficult to understand the symbols traditionally used in educational materials during the learning process. Technology-based interventions are becoming increasingly common, helping children with cognitive disabilities to perform academic tasks and improve their abilities and knowledge. Such children often find it difficult to perform certain tasks contained in educational materials since they lack necessary skills such as abstract reasoning. In order to help these children, the authors designed and created SIGUEME to train attention and the perceptual and visual cognitive skills required to work with and understand graphic materials and objects. METHODS: A pre-test/post-test design was implemented to test SIGUEME. Seventy-four children with low-functioning ASD (age=13.47, SD=8.74) were trained with SIGUEME over twenty-five sessions and compared with twenty-eight children (age=12.61, SD=2.85) who had not received any intervention. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant improvement in the experimental group in Attention (W=-5.497, p<0.001). There was also a significant change in Association and Categorization (W=2.721, p=0.007) and Interaction (W=-3.287, p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: SIGUEME is an effective tool for improving attention, categorization and interaction in low-functioning children with ASD. It is also a useful and powerful instrument for teachers, parents and educators by increasing the child's motivation and autonomy.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2017.02.008