Early Childhood Education; Digital Games; Autism Spectrum Disorder

Since the enactment of Law 12.764/2012 of the National Policy for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), access to education has been ensured. To guarantee access and retention of children with ASD, educational strategies based on the specificities of each child that enhance their skills and autonomy are necessary. In this context, digital games play a significant role in the learning of children with ASD, aiding in the assimilation of concepts and providing interactivity, personalization, and cognitive, socio-emotional, and motor stimuli. They help in identifying and developing deficient characteristics, offering support adapted to the individual specificities of the child in a playful manner. Thus, this research aims to compile qualitative evaluation criteria to identify appropriate games for children with ASD, adequately considering their interests, individual needs, and sensory aspects.Therefore, the evaluative process of digital games for ASD in Early Childhood Education must verify if the game is relevant and appropriate, as many games can be harmful, hindering the learning process of children with autism spectrum disorder. Recognizing the need to establish qualitative evaluation criteria for professionals to use digital games as a pedagogical strategy, this research aims to investigate: How to assess the relevance and adequacy of digital games that promote learning in the educational journey of children with ASD in early childhood education by creating criteria that facilitate the selection of these artifacts? This investigation will be conducted through a bibliographic review on the use of digital games for children with ASD that promote learning. From the bibliographic research, criteria will be compiled to verify the adequacy of educational games for children with ASD. Subsequently, the criteria will be validated to select digital games that aim at the development of important skills for children with ASD, meeting the listed criteria. Finally, interventions will be conducted with children diagnosed with ASD aged 3 to 5 years. In each application, the criteria will be refined, and the methodology for testing digital games will be validated. At this stage, strategies for using digital games in pedagogical practices will be identified. Thus, we hope to obtain effective methods for testing these digital games, through criteria that assist education professionals in selecting digital games to conduct interventions with children with autism spectrum disorder.