Intelligent Cognitive Mirroring Model to Enhance Learning Experience in Autistic Spectrum Disorder Children in Malaysia

In the face of technological developments that have ignited revolutionary waves of change across many industries, the education sector has until recently remained relatively loyal to traditional methods and practices. This stoicism is, however eroding, facilitated in part by the need to rapidly embrace technology during the global Covid-19 pandemic. As such, education is now undergoing a digital transformation. Trending digital teaching technologies are enabling a new variation of learning platforms, one which serves as an enabler to introduce greater equality in the education of children with learning difficulties, particularly those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Past researchers have emphasized that the success of a teaching and learning tool for ASD children relies primarily on the use of visual learning as it has been proven that visual thinking can be one of their key strengths. Moreover, children with autism often have faster processing capabilities, thereby opening up new avenues for the acquisition of cognitive development through appropriately designed learning platforms and pedagogies. This research aims to study the requirements by capturing the perspective of stakeholders engaged with the ASD learners. Subsequently, studying the efficacy of the proposed Intelligent Cognitive Mirroring Model (ICMM), which is an extension of the CREST model to enhance the learning experience amongst the ASD Learners. Researchers used a hybrid learning application with integrated AI technology to determine the learners learning experience. The findings suggest that the growing body of evidence that hybrid interventions specifically designed for ASD children can significantly improve the learning process and their learning experience to overcome the inherent difficulties faced by such individuals.