Project presented at IDC'12

I presented the Uncommon Sense project at the Interaction Design and Children conference which was held at Bremen University, Bremen, Germany. I presented it within the Interactive Technologies for Special Needs Workshop organized by Dr. Juan Pablo Hourcade, Shuli Gilutz and Meryl Alpers. Heres a link to all the papers presented at the workshop.

The project was also presented at ICID: the International Conference on Interaction Design held at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November 2011.

Toy Development India

NATIONAL PROGRAMME FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOY INDUSTRY

Schemes

Supporting development of Assisstive technology (UK)

FAST

The Foundation for Assistive Technology was founded in 1998 to tackle the inadequate design of assistive technology products and services. The failure to develop a thriving market in equipment that meets the real needs of disabled and older people is a major barrier to independent living. With limited resources, FAST’s strategy for achieving maximum impact is to work at a national, strategic level to highlight the complex causes of this failed market and to bring the sector together to find innovative ways of working, in partnership with disabled and older people.

SCERTS model for autism

SCERTS^® is an innovative educational model for working with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families. It provides specific guidelines for helping a child become a competent and confident social communicator, while preventing problem behaviors that interfere with learning and the development of relationships. It also is designed to help families, educators and therapists work cooperatively as a team, in a carefully coordinated manner, to maximize progress in supporting a child.

The acronym “SCERTS” refers to the focus on:

“SC” - Social Communication – the development of spontaneous, functional communication, emotional expression, and secure and trusting relationships with children and adults;

“ER” - Emotional Regulation - the development of the ability to maintain a well-regulated emotional state to cope with everyday stress, and to be most available for learning and interacting;

“TS” – Transactional Support – the development and implementation of supports to help partners respond to the child’s needs and interests, modify and adapt the environment, and provide tools to enhance learning (e.g., picture communication, written schedules, and sensory supports). Specific plans are also developed to provide educational and emotional support to families, and to foster teamwork among professionals.

Usability Insight

This is an excerpt from the Wired article-

‘This Stuff Doesn’t Change the World’: Disability and Steve Jobs’ Legacy

Researcher Daniel Donahoo wrote about this admirably well in an op-ed for GeekDad in March:

"[T]he potential of the iPad is not achieved by the iPad alone, nor by simply placing it in the hands of a child with autism. The potential of the device is realized by the way professionals like speech pathologists, educators, occupational therapists and early childhood development professionals apply their skills and knowledge to use the iPad to effectively support the development of children. The potential is realized by engaged parents working with those professionals to explore how the device best meets the individual needs of their child."

Its a point that I have been thinking about a lot recently. Its why we need to not only do a research study of how the toys impact the children but also a usability survey of how it is used through interactions with others who are a part of their lives- therapists, teachers, family, freinds.

Textured Storage Pillows

Design by Canadian designer, Sandy Wang, the textured storage pillows helps children store and camouflage their plush toys.

My Keepon Toy

My Keepon also has the backing of one of the world’s largest toy stores, Toys “R” Us, which has the exclusive U.S. rights to sell the robot, originally a therapeutic tool for autistic children.

Keepon’s story begins about seven years ago with Hideki Kozima, a Japanese expert in artificial intelligence and robotics at the School of Project Design at Miyagi University. Kozima theorized that an emotive robot could help autistic children, who can be overwhelmed in face-to-face interactions, by reducing the complexities of communication to a few simple gestures. A child pats the robot on the head. It responds with a playful bob. The child talks to the robot. It turns to face him and nods.

For more...

Mom-made toys

A project by plan toys based in thailand.

Auti: teaching children with Autism Positiv Play

"Autistic children find it difficult to play," said designer Helen Andreae, who developed Auti through an industrial design paper at Victoria University in the final year of her Honours degree last year under the supervision of lecturers Tim Miller and Edgar Rodríguez Ramírez.

Auti is a responsive, mechanised toy designed especially for autistic children six months and up has been created to teach positive play behaviours. The toy develops speaking, touching, and collaborating skills. It shuts down in response to any negative behaviour such as hitting or screaming, but quickly responds to the slightest positive interaction such as speaking gently or stroking. Each sensor can be adjusted to respond appropriately to a child's individual characteristics.

Read more: http://www.dexigner.com/news/23330#ixzz1RP3ZTek9

Autism Games

A great site with a variety of simple games with easily available objects. The categorisation is great for understanding the benefit of the activities.

For more....

Toy Target Skills

The Toy Videos

Toy No. 1

OPEN  and the lights blink.

TILT and the light flow in the direction of the tilt.

PAT and the lights blink.

Toy No. 2

STRETCH away from each other and the light glow mildly.

MOVE towards each and the lights blink quickly.

TOUCH hands and the toy vibrates.

Toy No. 3

When the toy is right side up. 

CLAP/ tap/ shout and the lights blink.

When the toy is Upside Down.

BEND the finds and the toy plays notes. Both fins have to be bent at the same time in order to sound. 

MOVE the handle from one extreme to the other changes the pitch( higher-lower) of the notes produced when both fins are bent.

Orientation

Touch

Expression Video

Articles

Just posting this stuff so i dont forget about it..

Autism Gives Woman An 'Alien View' Of Social Brains

by JON HAMILTON

It takes a smart brain to invent a spaceship. But putting one in orbit takes a brain with extraordinary social skills.

That's because getting from concept to launchpad takes more than technology — it takes thousands of people agreeing on a common goal and working together to accomplish it.

Humans have succeeded in part because we evolved a brain with a remarkable capacity for this type of complex social interaction. We automatically respond to social cues and facial expressions.  We can look at the world from another person's point of view. We are predisposed to cooperate.

But all these things are so much a part of us, they're easy to take for granted.

Unless you have autism, like Lisa Daxer.

Carly's Voice

My name is Carly Fleischmann and as long as I can remember I've been diagnosed with autism. 

I am not able to talk out of my mouth, however I have found another way to communicate by spelling on my computer 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq--75v4lI8

First PCB for the Touch Toy

These are horrible names and they will change any way heres the first PCB layout. Its the simplest of the three but much more complicated than anything Ive done before. Its off for printing and assembling and hopefully will work when I get it back.

The other two layouts are almost done. Im simultaneously working on the look and feel. Will post sketches tomorrow.

Some more circuits..

Light Displays running lights that light up according to the position of the toy.

Finally , finally, finally got the microphone working. Thank you Victor!

Acceloro makes the lights blink

Sensory Cooking Toy

The circuits for the 3 main toys weren't working and were driving my crazy. So I took a break and worked on another toy concept Sensory cook- adding sensory feedback to play cooking; through the actions/ tasks involved: opening, pouring, stirring, shaking. 

I wanted the electronics to be as simple as possible, no IC chips just simple switches. The circuits below are DIY sensors and switches are easy to make and cost practically nothing. These can be used as simple switches or in a more complex programme can send a range of readings. 

I made a DIY Tilt switch with copper foil, a coin and a match box. Got the idea of using a coin from Spooky Projects DIY switches but I needed it to work with a tilt so I thought of using a mat

chbox and it worked.

This a Pressure/Force Sensor made from copper foil, sponge sheet and fusing fabric (buckrum). Its not as sensitive as it should be; also need to figure out how to increase the area of the sensor and main

tain sensitivity. 

DIY Pressure Sensor Instructable.

I also made a 4 way Tilt Sensor which can be used for sensing shaking and swiveling actions.

DIY Tilt Sensor Instructable.

 

Noiseeeeey

Bend the sensor and you get 5 notes but ofcourse its not as simple as the idea seemed. The sensor send stream of uneven readings that jump. I learnt how to smooth the readings which helped. But smoothing is directly proportionate to the delay in sound output, so I guess Ill have to figure out some compromise.

The potentiometers Input is mapped from 1 to 3 so it sends only 3 readings(notes) to the programme.