Usability Evaluation and User Acceptance of Mobile Applications for Saudi Autistic Children

Abstract

The evolution of mobile technologies in learning, has been increased the requirements for developing appropriate usability model to fall into the same line with mobile learning applications. Usability of mobile learning applications is a topic that is into research, this paper focuses a tailored designed model called (M-UTUAT) mobile usability model that combines People at the Centre of Mobile Application Development (PACMAD) and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to form a more robust model. As an addition to the usability research, an application (ICT) was developed for children with speech delays and children diagnosed with autism spectrum. The application is a mobile/tablet-based application that developed according to mobile usability measures to get the maximum learning skills and abilities to help autistic children. It has been designed according to the needs of the children specific to their category and skills. The autism spectrum is a broad spectrum with high and low disabilities. The application consists of both visual and audio aids to help children feel comfortable and associate objects more easily with their original meaning and connections. (PECS) is one of the most common techniques that have been clinically proven to be effective in such cases. This application helped an individual with autism spectrum as well as children with speech delays or disabilities to communicate and correlate faster and easily. The application can help so many families by constructing a more communicative path for people with disabilities. The application is innovative that it developed in the Arabic language to serve Arabic learners as most of the autistic applications available serve English learners. Results gathered after questionnaire highlight the usability issues with the (ICT) application. We developed an app to overcome usability issues.