All Videos and images were taken with consent
14 Weeks | Summer 2022 | Research & Industrial Design | Individual Project
A customizable day planner for children. It is designed to provide a space to help children communicate their emotions and mentally prepare for the day.
The Challenge
I noticed that most of the products on the market for children struggling with communication were fidget toys, which didn't aim to solve the root problem. Intrigued by the lack of products designed for open and dynamic communication between parent and child, I created Shroom Shroom.
How it Works
Understanding Autism
“If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism”
It’s a spectrum
Hyper-focus on details.
Changes in routine can lead to over stimulus.
What's it like to raise a child with autism?
To comprehend people's needs, I joined Facebook groups to understand parents' daily life struggles when raising a child with autism.
Field Research
I conducted interviews with subject matter experts. Which provided great advice and feedback for Shroom Shroom's development.
Catelin
A behavior analyst that helps children with ASD in their early development stage.
Takeaways
User Intention
|
Include a Disengagement activity
|
Prerequisite skills
Momentum4all
A therapy class for children with learning difficulties from 18 months to 3 years old.
Takeaways
Therapy = Play
|
Stay on the child’s eye level
|
More toys that imitate real life
Katie
A mom and a therapist of a child with ASD spectrum, works at momentum.
Takeaways
Neutral colors are important
|
Plan a max of 5 activities per day
|
Let the kids be the color
Finding The Niche
Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
I had the opportunity to visit a therapy classroom to observe how trained professionals interact with children that struggle with communication.
A big takeaway was learning about PECS a communication system that uses pictures to help people communicate without the need of verbal speech.
Meet Ronnie
Mid-Range Autism (ASD 2)
|
Age 4
|
Non-Verbal
Visualizing The Concept
Testing Concepets
Final Concept
Shroom Shroom aims to…
Help associate words with objects, actions, or feelings
Implement a Disengagement Activity
Encourage to Play With Others
Final Aesthetic Design Choices
Example of Customized Icons
Bringing it to the Child's Eye Level
Part of my research indicated that it's very important for the object of play and the people using to go into the child's eye level. This will help with encourage the child to play with the object without being intimidated by it. To target this we decided to use a magnetic charging station.
Leave Shroom Shroom Charging.
When you want to use Shroom Shroom lift it from it's station.
Place Shroom Shroom to the chil's ee level.
Making the Model
Final Prototype
It Lights up!
Next Steps & Takeaways
Needless to say this project was heavy on research
I would like to revisit the design of Shroom Shroom. I talked to a nurse who works in an elderly home. She loved the idea and saw the project's potential with more diverse user types if the design is adequate for adults.
Establish a customization database for Shroom Shroom users. Dig deeper into this part o of the project.
