Not just a toy for children with Asperger's Syndrome

length: 30 hours

At the final round of Microsoft Imagine Cup 09, Yujia and I invented PuzzleYe, a special camera for children with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) to learn in new environments while traveling to foreign places. This project was completed in 30 hours.

Problem

Children with AS could find traveling an overwhelming experience, as they have to face new and unexpected situations, new schedules and new environments. While confronting the stress, children with AS tend to withdraw themselves into their complex inner worlds. If we can help them to prevent and reduce their emotional stress and encourage them to open their eyes to the outside world while traveling, they would be able to learn from the trip and have fun!

Research

To get a deep understanding about the Children with AS, we read blogs, articles, and parent’s stories to learn about the challenges of the families, their sources of encouragement, and their experiences about what works and don’t. We post the pictures of children with AS and our notes of interesting observations on a board in front of us to serve as inspirations for the brainstorming sessions.

Findings/ Design

Insight 1: Being exposed to the unfamiliarity beforehand helps to reduce anxiety
With PuzzleYe, parents can preload media about the destinations and share the trip schedule, as well as cultural and historical tidbits, with their children before the trip. The previews help build children’s anticipation and expectation for the trip.

Insight 2: emotiPic : Children with AS could find it easier to communicate through pictures – Gondy Leroy, et al.
Children with AS usually have difficulty on expressing their emotional needs verbally. As a result, they throw tantrum or keep the hard feeling within themselves. PuzzleYe is a camera which the children can take pictures of the trip and indicate whether they like scene using the smiley faces on the screen. The children express themselves through the pictures. At the same time, parents could also take notice of it and discuss with them about their experience.

Insight 3: Children with AS have a natural inclination to repetitive patterns and puzzle games
The puzzle game is designed to serve as an incentive for children to take more pictures of their trips. The pictures they took will turn into picture puzzles. Playing these puzzles give them additional quiet time and chance to reflect on the pictures, as well as their experience on the trip.

Most importantly, children learn while they explore the surrounding. PuzzleYe acts as a pathway to support children with AS to confront new external stimuli and get more comfortable with the outside world.