Designing Accessible Interfaces to Enhance Collective Musical Engagement for and with Children with Autism

Accessible Digital Musical Interfaces (ADMIs) aim to enhance the inclusivity of musical practice by supporting users with diverse needs. This paper focuses on the design and use of ADMIs for and with autistic children. While previous research has highlighted the developmental benefits of ADMIs in therapeutic and educational settings, their potential to foster social interaction and collective musical engagement outside of these contexts remains underexplored. Through an 18-month Action Research collaboration with two non-profit organizations (NPOs) that facilitate creative activities for autistic children, this study investigates the development of ADMIs that support inclusive and collective musical experiences and examines how iterative design processes can respond to the social and relational dynamics specific to group settings involving autistic participants. Our findings highlight the requirements of ADMI design for this context and the evolving role, sometimes ambiguous, that these interfaces play in enabling shared musical engagement. We also reflect on the methodological and ethical challenges of conducting research within NPO environments and promoting the children’s autonomy through open forms of participation, reappropriation and workshop flexibility.