This thesis presents a study to develop and explore the use of a computerized system that provided automated prompts to children with ASD during the completion of a self-care activity (handwashing). A Wizard-of-Oz experiment was implemented using an A-B experimental design. During the baseline phase (A) the child’s caregiver was asked to guide the child through handwashing, in the intervention phase (B) the system guided the child. The results showed that the system was not very successful to guide the child. He tended to get distracted very easily presenting off-task behaviour, which resulted in needing assistance from the caregiver. The data obtained showed that during the intervention phase the assistance from the caregiver consisted mostly of verbal instructions versus the hand over hand guidance observed during B phase. From the data analyses and reviewed literature some improvements and redesigns were suggested which could help develop a more automatic prompting system.

This thesis presents a study to develop and explore the use of a computerized system that provided automated prompts to children with ASD during the completion of a self-care activity (handwashing). A Wizard-of-Oz experiment was implemented using an A-B experimental design. During the baseline phase (A) the child’s caregiver was asked to guide the child through handwashing, in the intervention phase (B) the system guided the child. The results showed that the system was not very successful to guide the child. He tended to get distracted very easily presenting off-task behaviour, which resulted in needing assistance from the caregiver. The data obtained showed that during the intervention phase the assistance from the caregiver consisted mostly of verbal instructions versus the hand over hand guidance observed during B phase. From the data analyses and reviewed literature some improvements and redesigns were suggested which could help develop a more automatic prompting system.