Reflection of Field Trip:
We visited many of their club activities and one autism therapy class. By taking a look at their club activities, I think the school has already tried the best to maximize their personal capabilities and interests. Art activity leaves me the most impressive impression where some of the students are free drawing, and the others are doing some complex works. The coordinator in the school told us that they design the tasks differently for students with different skills and capabilities. I think it best fulfills different students’ needs by customizing the teaching plan for them. However, we got to know that the school has limited human resources. When we are watching the autism therapy class, even though there were only two children in the class, we still think the difference between the two children makes the class less efficient. It would be better to treat one child at one time. I think the iPad app that the teacher is helpful to different materials for different levels of learners. However, it focuses on how to reduce the burden of the teacher. I think it would better to design a technology that is customized to the learner. Therefore, it can minimize the effect of the recognition gap between peer learners. I think Young has a good idea for designing something to attract students’ intention so that they can stay more focused.
Moreover, while listening to the autism therapy class, I was also observing the classroom settings. I noticed that the school might intend to make a warm and safe room setting for students. However, it is not successful enough. Inevitably, some facilities that are out of line. Then how about change a perspective to design something applicable to students themselves to make them more comfortable in an unfamiliar environment? I do not have a specific idea, but I think such a design will be helpful for students especially with autism.
Describe your project idea
Describe your partner as a person
My partner is very quiet. When I first took a glimpse at him, I did not identify anything abnormal about him. He walks a little unbalanced, but that does not make him look strange. We started to ask questions and introduces ourselves to him. He seemed to have understood our words but only replies in limited voice and hand gestures. None of us understood it. Therefore, we found a pen and a piece of paper writing down our conversation. He writes comparatively slow, but the characters are clear to understand. After that, we had a long conversation with his mother. While we are chatting with his mother, I noticed that he is quietly listening and paying attention to our conversation. Later, his mother posted some questions on the paper, and he started writing the response. He even actively started writing a sentence to us while he is a little ignored by us. Therefore, I believed that he has a strong desire to join our conversation. However, the way to communicate is a big challenge for him.
What are their desires/challenges/difficulties?
He has many challenges. Throughout our conversation with his mother, we noticed that he never goes out by himself but also with his mother because of the potential dangers on the road. Since he lacks a certain degree of the ability to control the left side of his body, it is very hard for him to keep the balance. Also, he expressed his desire to have a romantic relationship with his mother two years ago, but his situation is not socially accepted. Furthermore, his mother is also concerned about his safety at home since he might open the room door for strangers. However, after all, we nearly forget that our target audience should be himself instead of his mother. We were chatting with his mother all the time instead of him. We then realized the most significant difficulty for him is the inconvenient environment of his communication with others. We could hardly communicate with him until his mother came.
What is your project?
We spent some time finding a pen and paper to write down words in communication. Also, we did not aware that he is unable to hear and speak at first. Therefore, we came up with an idea to address this problem. So, the purpose of the device should enable him to communicate with others without any barriers in any situation. We still think writing and reading is the most effective, stable, and safe way for his daily communication. We find the existing writing pad online. It is convenient to carry, write, and swipe the previous writing. However, it is not initially designed for disabled people. Therefore, we want to build a device that makes the writing pad accessible to him. We need to figure out the following details in design by prototype and test.
- Notify others about his lack of ability in hearing and speaking. We may use the sound notification.
- Attached the writing pad to his body but should not block his daily movement and make him uncomfortable. We may design a special bracket for him.
- Avoid two people writing in opposite directions or make their writing readable to each other. We may want to make the device rotatable.
- Make sure the pen will not be lost while walking. We may attach the pen to the device with wires.