TOUCH*PLAY- Research into Autism
In Collaboration with Mark Mckeague
Winning Project of Helen Hamlyn Design Award 2011
TOUCH * PLAY is an ongoing project which explores how technology could be used to enable children with Autistic Spectrum Conditions to play, explore and express their emotions and feelings through their senses. It looks at autism from a design point of view in order to understand how design could benefit autism and people who lives around them. Via curiosity of exploring whether machines could augment social interactions in a way that improves human to human communication.
The current devices and system were developed along with Roberts family, which sound can be recorded by pushing a button. The only way to playback the recorded sound is to touch another person, requiring cooperation and interaction with others. /TOUCH*PLAY Documentory, Film and Edited by Delmar Mavignier/
/Sarah Roberts/Sarah Roberts is 13 years old and has been diagnosed with autism in 2002, meaning she finds fundamental aspects of social interaction and communication difficult. Sarah is extremely musically talented, she has played piano since a very early age and has perfects. This device allows her to explore and understand the world of people through her senses of sound and touch.
Autistic children have no sense of themselves and what they are. Life with an autistic child brings unique challenges.
-- Alison Roberts, Sarah’s mom
/Sarah interact with her mom using TOUCH*PLAY/
What is Autism:
Autism affect more than 580,000 people in the UK. It is a lifelong neurological and complex condition that affects the way a person perceives and interacts with other people and the world around them. It is a spectrum condition, which means while all people with autism share three main areas of difficulty, their condition will affect them in very different ways. Some are able to live relatively ‘everyday’ lives; others will require a lifetime of specialist support. However, everyone living with the condition shares a difficulty in making sense of the world and exhibits difficulties in three main areas.
There are (known as the ‘triad of impairments’)
Difficulty of Social Communication,
Social Interaction
Social Imagination
To read more about Autism from The National Autistic Society site
/Sarah sing with TOUCH*PLAY/
The Aim of the Project:
- To look at Autism from a design point of view in order to understand how design could benefit autism and people who lives around them.
- Exploring whether machines could augment social interactions in a way that improves human to human communication.
- Develop novel sensors and algorithms that measure and communicate a range of natually-evoked, affective-cognitive states.
- Develop communication skills to benefit them as well as people who lives around them.
- Bespoke device for specific group due to the complicity of ASD
/Sarah kiss her mom in order to hear her recorded sound to play back by using TOUCH*PLAY/
The Process:
This project took a people-centred design approach to research, interview, test with autistic child and their family at their home as well continues research and interviewing experts. An understanding of their needs, constrains and aspirations was extract from observations and their stories. Later on, key insights and patterns of behavior were extracted from the data leading to the development of the working prototype- TOUCH*PLAY seen here. (Get in contact for full research detail)
Design Criteria:
- Focus on behavioral/ relationship intervention approach (reference: son-rise programme)
- Encourage interpersonal communication and eye contact.
- Use devices to emphasize the idea of cognitive concept of Cause& Effect consequence which gives a positive self awareness and promote self-reflection at the same time.
- Repeatable & Robust
- Engaging & Intervention
/TOUCH*PLAY Device with wearable sensor/
Feedback:
This is probably the most thing that’s ever been most sarah oriented
-- Alison Roberts, Sarah’s mom
A really clever use of technology with emphasis on human interaction. A concept has application beyond autism connecting people of different ages and abilities.
-- Mike Biddle, Technology Strategy Board, Judge's Comment.
/Helen Hamlyn Design Award 2011/
With Deepest Thanks to:
Sarah Robert and her family, Tania Batzoglou, Joe Wensley, Andrew Brand, Yanki Lee
NORDOFF ROBBINS music transforming lives
Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
