Exploring Educational Software in Computing Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Mapping Study
Resumo
The growing inclusion of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in mainstream schooling requires adapted pedagogical approaches, especially in Computing. Educational software shows significant potential for developing computational thinking, but barriers in personalization and accessibility persist. This study presents a systematic mapping of 17 primary studies on educational software for teaching Computing to students with ASD. Our analysis reveals tools like visual programming and serious games focusing on fundamental skills, yet a lack of personalization and empirical validation remains. This mapping highlights critical research gaps and provides a structured overview to guide future development. We also classify the pedagogical strategies using Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Computational Thinking competencies using Brennan and Resnick’s framework to inform more inclusive solutions.Referências
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Brasil (1988). Constituição da república federativa do brasil de 1988.
Brasil (1996). Lei de diretrizes e bases da educação nacional – lei n° 9.394, de 20 de dezembro de 1996.
Brasil (2015). Lei brasileira de inclusão da pessoa com deficiência – lei n° 13.146, de 6 de julho de 2015.
Brennan, K. and Resnick, M. (2012). New frameworks for studying and assessing the development of computational thinking. In Proceedings of the 2012 annual meeting of the American educational research association, Vancouver, Canada, volume 1, page 25.
Chien-Sing, L. and YATIM, J. N. (2021). Perception of parents towards fun puzzle games in helping mild autistic children improve their computational thinking skills. In International Conference on Computers in Education.
Chinchay, Y., Gomez, J., and Montoro, G. (2024). Unlocking inclusive education: A quality assessment of software design in applications for children with autism. Journal of Systems and Software, 217:112164.
Edula, R., Shengcheng, L., Sasaki, H., Viladiro, R., and Roy, D. (2023). Personalized learning systems in smart education: A review of the literature & pilot feasibility discussion. In AIP Conference Proceedings, volume 2909. AIP Publishing.
Eiselt, K. and Carter, P. (2018). Integrating social skills practice with computer programming for students on the autism spectrum. In 2018 ieee frontiers in education conference (fie), pages 1–5. IEEE.
Elshahawy, M., Aboelnaga, K., and Sharaf, N. (2020a). Codaroutine: A serious game for introducing sequential programming concepts to children with autism. In 2020 IEEE global engineering education conference (EDUCON), pages 1862–1867. IEEE.
Elshahawy, M., Bakhaty, M., Ahmed, G., Aboelnaga, K., and Sharaf, N. (2022). Towards developing computational thinking skills through gamified learning platforms for students with autism. In Learning with technologies and technologies in learning: Experience, trends and challenges in higher education, pages 193–216. Springer.
Elshahawy, M., Bakhaty, M., and Sharaf, N. (2020b). Developing computational thinking for children with autism using a serious game. In 2020 24th international conference information visualisation (IV), pages 761–766. IEEE.
Epifânio, J. C. and Da Silva, L. F. (2020). Scrutinizing reviews on computer science technologies for autism: Issues and challenges. IEEE Access, 8:32802–32815.
Ferraz, A. P. d. C. M. and Belhot, R. V. (2010). Taxonomia de bloom: revisão teórica e apresentação das adequações do instrumento para definição de objetivos instrucionais. Gestão & produção, 17:421–431.
Geraldi, R. T., Reinehr, S., and Malucelli, A. (2020). Software product line applied to the internet of things: A systematic literature review. Information and Software Technology, 124:106293.
Guarda, G. F. and Duran, R. S. (2024). Bncc computação na educação infantil: entendimento, dificuldades e perspectivas dos docentes da rede pública de ensino. Revista Novas Tecnologias na Educação, 22(1):154–164.
INEP (2025). Notas Estatísticas - Censo da Educação Básica 2024. Technical report, Ministério da Educação (MEC). Acessado em: 08 jun. 2025.
Ke, F., Moon, J., and Sokolikj, Z. (2020). Tracking representational flexibility development through speech data mining. In 2020 IEEE frontiers in education conference (FIE), pages 1–4. IEEE.
Kitchenham, B. and Charters, S. (2007). Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering. In Technical report, EBSE Technical Report EBSE-2007-01. Keele University.
Lahav, O., Talis, V., and Shekovitz, R. (2019). Programming robotic behavior by high-functioning autistic children. In 2019 International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR), pages 1–6. IEEE.
Lee, I.-J. (2020). Applying the game mode and teaching strategies of computational thinking to the improvement of social skills training for children with autism spectrum disorders. In Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Applications and Practice: 14th International Conference, UAHCI 2020, Held as Part of the 22nd HCI International Conference, HCII 2020, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 19–24, 2020, Proceedings, Part II 22, pages 38–47. Springer.
Lee, I.-J. and Hsu, H.-T. (2024). Applied the augmented reality technology combined with social stories strategies and computational thinking games to improve the social skills of children with asd. Interactive Learning Environments, 32(10):6346–6374.
Lord, C., Elsabbagh, M., Baird, G., and Veenstra-Vanderweele, J. (2018). Autism spectrum disorder. The lancet, 392(10146):508–520.
Malpartida, K. F. C. and da Hora Rodrigues, K. R. (2025). Building serious games to exercise computational thinking: Initial evaluation with teachers of children on the autism spectrum. Journal on Interactive Systems, 16(1):148–162.
Moster, M., Kokinda, E., Re, M., Dominic, J., Lehmann, J., Begel, A., and Rodeghero, P. (2022). ” can you help me?” an experience report of teamwork in a game coding camp for autistic high school students. In Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE 44th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training, pages 50–61.
Mucundanyi, G. and Woodley, X. (2021). Exploring free digital tools in education. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, 17(2):96–103.
Munoz, R., Barcelos, T. S., and Villarroel, R. (2018a). Ct4all: Enhancing computational thinking skills in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. IEEE Latin America Transactions, 16(3):909–917.
Munoz, R., Barcelos, T. S., Villarroel, R., and Silveira, I. F. (2016). Game design workshop to develop computational thinking skills in teenagers with autism spectrum disorders. In 2016 11th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI), pages 1–4. IEEE.
Munoz, R., Villarroel, R., Barcelos, T. S., Riquelme, F., Quezada, A., and Bustos-Valenzuela, P. (2018b). Developing computational thinking skills in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder through digital game programming. IEEE Access, 6:63880–63889.
Petersen, K., Vakkalanka, S., and Kuzniarz, L. (2015). Guidelines for conducting systematic mapping studies in software engineering: An update. Information and software technology, 64:1–18.
Schmidt, M. and Beck, D. (2016). Computational thinking and social skills in virtuoso: An immersive, digital game-based learning environment for youth with autism spectrum disorder. In Immersive Learning Research Network: Second International Conference, iLRN 2016 Santa Barbara, CA, USA, June 27–July 1, 2016 Proceedings 2, pages 113–121. Springer.
UNESCO (1994). The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. UNESCO, Paris.
UNESCO (2023). Global education monitoring report: Technology in education – a tool on whose terms? Accessed: 2024-10-16.
United Nations (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). United Nations, New York.
United Nations (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/70/1). United Nations, New York.
Valencia, K., Rusu, C., Quiñones, D., and Jamet, E. (2019). The impact of technology on people with autism spectrum disorder: a systematic literature review. Sensors, 19(20):4485.
Wankhede, N. L., Kale, M. B., Shukla, M., Nathiya, D., Roopashree, R., Kaur, P., Goyanka, B., Rahangdale, S. R., Taksande, B. G., Upaganlawar, A. B., et al. (2024). Leveraging ai for the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder: Current trends and future prospects. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, page 104241.
Zubair, M. S., Brown, D. J., Hughes-Roberts, T., and Bates, M. (2023). Designing accessible visual programming tools for children with autism spectrum condition. Universal Access in the Information Society, 22(2):277–296.
Publicado
24/11/2025
Como Citar
SILVA, Kennedy dos S.; C. JUNIOR, Amaury Antônio de; GUEDES, Leandro S.; PAIVA, Debora Maria B..
Exploring Educational Software in Computing Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Mapping Study. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE INFORMÁTICA NA EDUCAÇÃO (SBIE), 36. , 2025, Curitiba/PR.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2025
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p. 1190-1204.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbie.2025.12813.
