ShopAutiPlan: Validating a Serious Game for Assessing Executive Planning in Autism

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently experience difficulties in executive functions, particularly planning and goal-directed behavior, yet traditional assessments such as the Tower of London and Zoo Map offer limited ecological validity and do not capture how planning challenges manifest in everyday contexts. This study introduces and validates ShopAutiPlan, a supermarket-based serious game designed to assess planning skills through naturalistic, multistep tasks. A total of 57 children aged 7-10 years (27 ASD and 30 neurotypical), matched on age and IQ, completed both the game and conventional EF assessments, including the BRIEF-2 and two BADS-C subtests (Zoo Map and Key Search). ShopAutiPlan automatically recorded behavioral indicators related to task completion and efficiency. Group comparisons revealed that neurotypical children outperformed those with ASD across all standardized measures, and autistic participants exhibited reduced in-game efficiency-demonstrated by longer completion times, greater distances traveled, and more pauses-despite achieving similar item completion. Significant correlations between game-derived metrics and traditional planning tests provided strong evidence of convergent validity. Overall, findings demonstrate that ShopAutiPlan is a valid, ecologically grounded, and engaging tool for assessing executive planning in children with ASD, complementing and extending conventional neuropsychological approaches.