Digital therapy for mobile games helps improve social skills of adolescents with autism spectrum disorders and social communication disorders
Jun 16, 2025
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This is the result of a joint research team of Chung Yoo-sook, a professor of psychiatry at Samsung Medical Center, Yoo Jae-hyun, a professor of psychiatry at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, and Choi Tae-young, a professor of psychiatry at Daegu Catholic University Medical Center, published in the recent issue of the Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences in Japan.
From August to November 2023, 38 teenagers aged 10 to 18 who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder or social communication disorder at Samsung Seoul Hospital, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, and Daegu Catholic University Medical Center were divided into 19 who were treated with drugs and psychotherapy and 19 who trained mobile games in the same way for six weeks. Game training was conducted at home on a smartphone for 30 minutes five times a week, and medical staff monitored the progress remotely.
The training utilized the 'NDTx-01' application program developed by NewDive to improve the social skills of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and social communication disorder. NDTx-01, designated as an innovative medical device by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in January, is designed to present various situations encountered in schools, perform tasks as if users were playing games, and solve problems.
As a result of the study, it was confirmed that the overall sociality, such as social adaptability and daily life ability of the treatment group combined with mobile game training, improved more than the existing treatment group after six weeks.
According to the research team, in the Adaptive Behavior Complex evaluation, which combines communication, daily life performance, and sociality, the score of the treatment group using mobile games increased by 5.89 points, and the existing treatment group increased by only 1.21 points. In the result of a separate evaluation of sociality, the mobile game parallel treatment group rose 6.05 points, but the existing treatment group rose 0.42 points. The degree of repetitive behavior reduction was also more effective in the treatment group (decreased 9.11 points) than in the control group (decreased 2.89 points).
Professor Jung Yoo-sook said "Treatment using smartphones is highly accessible and seems to have increased the effectiveness of treatment as they become immersed based on their interest in the game itself."
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
