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In this paper, we present a design and evaluation of four Collaboration Patterns on a multitouch collaborative game designed to encourage collaboration among people diagnosed with ASD (autism spectrum disorder). We define Collaboration Patterns as collaborative interaction strategies on elements in a multiuser interface. The patterns presented here were designed according to both recommendations from experts in ASD and requirements of a group of youths with high ASD-related impairment in their social interactions and were inspired by collaborative methods used in other studies. The proposed Collaboration Patterns were evaluated using research criteria relating to social interaction actions and collaborative tasks achieved by users during a multitouch game. The evaluation results suggest that each Collaboration Pattern motivates the need for collaboration and encourages creation of social interaction expressions among users. The applied sequence of patterns gradually encouraged collaborative activities and verbal and gestural interaction expressions among users. The significant characteristics of the proposed Collaboration Patterns allow us to suggest that they might be used in other collaborative applications aimed at fostering social interaction and collaboration among people with ASD.

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Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), mainly those with high severity, have difficulties to identify and understand the others’ actions and emotions and, therefore, to understand the basic concepts of a collaborative work, even in face-to-face situations. We developed and evaluated a multitouch collaborative game with youths with high severity in ASD. Despite the positive results to encourage the social interaction, we observed that they had difficulties to understand tasks, to identify their partners, and the workspace. Based on these difficulties, we identify a set of awareness requirements to contribute to the design of awareness mechanisms adequate to face-to-face collaborative applications for individuals with ASD.