ASD Emotion Regulation

Design Problem
According to the World Health Organization one in 160 children of children have utism(ASD) is associated with amplified emotional responses and poor emotional control. (Saklofske & Coulacoglou, 2017) As a direct result of ASD, some children who are on the spectrum may face difficulty with emotional self-regulation. Due to the inability to control their emotions, children who are diagnosed with autism can overreact to stimuli instantaneously. "They have a huge, strong reaction and there’s no lead-in or build-up, They can’t inhibit that immediate behavior response.” (Interview, Meintjes, 2021) Insights from an interview with Ms. Meintges (occupational therapist) revealed that the products in the market are limited and consist of only 2D (non-interactive).

Research
Through an expert interview with Kim Meintjes - Occupational Therapist working at Steps with Theera (Vocational Training Center) I found that emotional Dysregulation is very common amongst students with ASD, and a difficult symptom that cannot be maintained without adult help. "The problem is really that our ASD students who have sensory difficulties, will also have difficulties with emotion, meaning that they might have a huge reaction to something very small. (eg: a pencil breaking in class causing a big outbreak - unregulation." -Meintjes. What we would like to do is to show them that there are different sized problems and different sized solutions and we need to match those things.
In addition to the interview, I analyzed an existing product, which was a problem/reaction poster, but found that the poster is a very good way to learn about and understand emotional regulation as they can understand the emotions within the 5 stages, however, it is not a physical product that they can interact with.

As seen in the graph, there is a growing market of ASD prevalent in students aged 5-14. This establish's the intensity of the problem and the need for a solution. Emotional Regulation is an extremely important aspect for daily life, and being able to properly control our emotions can help us succeed in the real world. The product should be implemented at 4-6 years old because kids are old enough to comprehend colors/shapes but it is also early enough to train their brains to generate more suitable emotional reactions to the problems that they are facing. This will minimize the impacts of emotional dysregulation later in life.   Hence, the design opportunity is to create an interactive problem/reaction scale to help with understanding emotional regulation for students aged 4-6  experiencing ASD.

Design Brief
To solve the problem of lack of suitable products in the market, the intended goal is to design, create and manufacture a high-fidelity, 1:1 scale prototype to help students aged 4-6 (target market) who are on the spectrum that enables them to control their emotional dysregulation (or inconsistency) and become more self-regulated. The product should help them understand what the problem is and how big of a reaction they should have to it.

According to interviews with Ms. Kim Meintgies (occupational therapist), the product should be implemented at an early intervention stage (target audience = 4-6 years old) to enable children to train consistency of emotion regulation at the earlier stage of their life. The product should also be:
- Visual
- Highly Interactive
- Able to maintain high levels of hygiene only using household equipment
- Able to move from one classroom to another
- Tough to withstand general wear and tear
- Offer a relative advantage over the existing product in the marketplace (figure 1)
- Made in school within 16 hours
- Possible to maintain and repair using local materials and skills
- Suitable for modification to enable commercial production
- Anthropometrically suitable for target user (5th to 95th percentile)  

Specifications
After solidifying the design opportunity, I created specifications in order to better grasp how well my design would have completed its intended goals. Below are some examples (all other specs in final project documentation):

After creating specifications to prove success of the project, I started concept design. I created rough sketches and created low fidelity prototypes. I then compared it against the specifications to decide which idea to follow through with. (These design ideas/iterations can be seen in the final project document below)

Solution
After creating and iterating 6 design ideas, I used my specifications to decide which to further develop. I decided to go with my 4th idea, created multiple prototypes and compared them against my specifications.

Justification of Selected Materials
After creating and testing my final product, I justified the selected materials. Examples below:

Technical Drawings and Plan for Manufacture
Examples below (All drawings and Full plan in Project documentation)

Project Learnings
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User Testing is Key
Had I decided to jump into design without speaking to the occupational therapist, I would've missed on a lot of key findings that pushed the project forward. A quick example: Many people associate ASD with physical learning disabilities, and often forget about emotional maturity.

Keep Iterating
If I had gone with the first idea I thought of, the product would not have been nearly as developed as it was. By empowering the user, as well as testing amongst kids in that age, I was able to gauge interactivity to choose which idea would stimulate them best.

Final Project Documentation