An edutainment system for assisting qatari children with moderate intellectual and learning disability through exerting physical activities

Abstract

Children with Moderate Intellectual Disability (MID) and those with Moderate Learning Disability (MLD) are growing up with extensive exposure to computer technology. Computers and computer-related devices have the potential to help these children in education, career development, and independent living. However, most of the software, games, and web sites that MID and MLD children interact with are designed without consideration of their special needs, making the applications less effective or completely inaccessible. This paper introduces an edutainment system specifically designed to help these children have an enhanced and enjoyable learning process, while addresses the need for integrating physical activity into their daily lives. The proposed system consists of a padded floor mat that includes sixteen square tiles supported by sensors, which are used to interact with a number of software games specifically designed to suit the mental needs of children with ID. The system aims for enhancing both MID and MLD children learning capabilities, understanding, communications, thinking, memorization, and obesity problems.