The Effects of a Computerised Teacher‐Mediated Intervention on the Emotional Understanding of Autistic Children

Background: Autism spectrum disorder is associated with persistent challenges in emotional understanding, encompassingdifficulties in recognising emotions from nonverbal cues, interpreting others' affective and mental states, as well as in emotionallanguage. These challenges may impede the social functioning of autistic children.

Objectives: This study evaluated the effectiveness of EmotiPlay, a computer-based, research-supported intervention designedto enhance emotion understanding, which was adapted into a teacher-mediated format for autistic children in special educationclassrooms.

Methods: A total of 116 autistic children (17 girls), aged 7–10, were randomly assigned at the class level to either an in-tervention group (n = 59), which received two EmotiPlay lessons per week for 22 weeks or a control group (n = 57), whichmaintained a standard special education curriculum. Outcome measures included emotion recognition from nonverbal cues,cognitive empathy and emotional language. Social functioning was additionally assessed through observation during freeplay.

Results and Conclusions: Compared to the control group, children in the intervention group showed significant improvementsin interpreting emotions from nonverbal cues and social context, as well as in their emotional language. However, these improve-ments did not generalise to emotions beyond the programme or to broader social behaviours. These findings demonstrate thepotential and limitations of integrating computer-based interventions targeting socio-emotional learning in special educationsettings.