Designing for collaboration mediated by digital games among neurodiverse children in special education

In this paper we investigate how co-located digital games can be designedto support peer-collaboration among neurodiverse children in special educationsettings (i.e., children with Autism and/or ADHD in 4th and 6th grade). Specif-ically, we examine how interdependence as a game dynamic—operationalizedthrough asymmetric gameplay—affects collaborative outcomes. To systemati-cally capture and evaluate collaboration, this study adopts the theoretical framework proposed by Child and Shaw 1, to define, operationalize, and analyze keyfacets of collaborative behavior as reflected in children’s play tests. The papermakes two main contributions: (1) empirical evidence on how co-located collab-orative gameplay—and specifically varying levels of interdependence—facilitates and shapes different facets of collaboration among neurodiverse children in special education settings; and (2) a methodological contribution demonstrating how the Child and Shaw framework can be applied to define and operationalize collaboration in the context of co-located digital games.