Background

Emotional awareness is crucial for social-emotional growth, as it facilitates self-regulation, enhances social skills, and promotes overall well-being. However, for people with intellectual disabilities, understanding and managing emotions can be difficult. Studies show that serious video games can help develop these skills, mainly by teaching new concepts while entertainment is a secondary goal,  often using gamification strategies.  Although some research highlights their benefits, these games are not explicitly designed to promote emotional awareness. 

Emotion4Us is a serious video game designed to promote emotional awareness in individuals with intellectual disabilities, utilizing positive stimuli to reinforce desired behaviors based on self-determination theory and the MDA (Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics) framework. 

Emotion4us is the evolution of the Emotion4Down videogame, designed for people with Down syndrome. 

We are now looking for someone to join our project to deploy Emotion4Us in several centers/clinics for people with neurodevelopmental disorders. If you are interested in being part of this project, please visit our join us page.