Ivy. Routine Planning tool for kids on the autism spectrum
Ivy. is a routine planning tool for kids with autism that aims to help them with their daily structures during their day within their activities and transitions, which can be especially challenging. With ivy. we were trying to create a sensorial routine, in a playful way to strengthen and encourage communication between parents and children. The project was developed with the help of teachers, therapists and social workers who are experienced in working with autistic children.
Course:
2020 (2 Weeks)
Type:
Sound Design, Inclusion
Team:
Christina Bauer,
Emil Kongsgaard,
Rafaela Stillner
Role:
Research, Ideation, Sound Design, Story Telling, Illustrations
Challenge
We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to understand that every autistic child is individual. For children with autism, depending on where they are on the spectrum transitions can cause problems and frustration.
As there are no specific planning tools so far we aimed for something that should be stress relieving and supportive, by keeping in mind „if you know one autistic child, you know one autistic child“.
Outcome
We developed a sound supported system consisting of a station, on which differently textured pebbles can be placed, creating an individual melody of the day. With ivy. we give them the opportunity to connect different stages of the day with sound and texture.
Ivy. is a tool to talk about the day, anticipating actions as interruptions cause stress. Ivy is not only stationary, it also accompanies the child during the day and by squeezing plays their chosen melody of the day, to calm them in situations of insecurity.
The Concept | THE IVY. SYSTEM
Why Ivy is important to Hanna and her Family
Ivy is there in the morning, to help Hanna understand what is going to happen during her day. Her mom explains her detailed what they have planned. She encourages her to choose the right pebble for the according stage of the day. So they go through the day together and create an auditive plan for the day. Hanna feels better to take her friend Ivy with her during the day, she gives her stability.
interactive and engaging routine planning
enhancing parent-child communication
embracing customization and flexibility
Anticipate Activities
In the morning they sit together and communicate about the upcoming events. For Hanna it is enough to know about bigger transitions during the day, but the pebbles could also stand for smaller tasks like brushing teeth.
Individuality
Sometimes they reschedule after Hanna comes back from school. So they can plan and replan as many times as they need it.
Soothing Melodies
Going through the day, they are creating the melody of the day.
Sensorial Exploration
Ivy lets them experience the day planning with more than just sounds and connects them also with colors and textures.
Ivy.
With the company of Ivy, Hannas friend she can express her emotions in a non verbal way. It helps others understand what she feels and helps her calm down at the same time.
Routine and Stability
By hearing, feeling and seeing the daily routines stability and confidence is created.
Product
How can we visualize time differently?
Ivy.
Consists of one base, indicating a timeline and a docking station for your friend ivy.
Ivy.s Soundlibrary
For full individuality the ivy. System gives you the opportunity to also add different sounds to the pebbles.
Ivy.s Pebbles
By placing the pebbles on the timeline a melody of the day is created.
Ivy.s Timeline
The timeline can be prolonged adapted to your individual needs.
Pebbles
Choose from different structures and colors and define them for what activity you need.
Setting a timer to indicate different parts of the day when squeezing the companion during the day.
Adding stickers can help you as parents to remember what each individual pebble means, without creating confusion when interacting with your child.
Ivy’s resting place
Creating an even more specific routine is no problem with ivy. The idea was that the timeline can be enlargened according to individual needs, as it might not be sufficient for different families to only work with a small number of pebbles.
Explaining in which ways the sounds can be uploaded and created.
Choosing between different instruments for individual sounds and preferences.
The soundlibrary gives the possibility to choose premade sounds.
Sounds can be created individually or premade sounds edited.
Ivy. is not only present as a planning tool in the morning or during the day, when families replan or reschedule but also during the child’s daily life, to empower and enhance self confidence. Ivy the friend is designed respecting different research insights as for example that heavier objects have a calming effect and biting objects as well. As an outcome it is expected that the child can build a bond with Ivy and can take care of it, by picking it up and bringing it back to the station. Ivy is created to support expressing feelings with their parents and outside home, which can be challenging for children with autism.
We are aiming to shift day scheduling from a stressful task of the day to a playful, stimulating and engaging experience. Ivy offers different variations of usage and new opportunities for physical interaction in routine planning compared to current solutions. By creating a question and answer situation between the parent and child we accomplished a more engaging way that should strengthen their communication and relationship.
The making of Ivy
Challenges
To develop a tool matching the needs of all children on the autism spectrum was the greatest challenge and ultimately not possible, as they all have their particular needs. This required a very sensitive approach and meant to consider our research insights very carefully, finding the focus area that could possibly be beneficial for as many families as possible.
Usually families use paper and books to remind of what is going to be the biggest transitions or tasks during the day, after that children are remembered and prepared of what is next with different tools like small timers or just verbal. With ivy they get reminded on different layers, with different sensations.
Does the concept and storyline make sense?
Conducting a user journey mapping with Martin who worked in an institute for children on the low functioning spectrum gave us more insight on what their day looks like.
Brainstorming and discussion sessions where we shared thoughts and insights
Developing Concept | Ideation | Form Giving
Eventhough we only had two weeks for this sprint project we still managed to carefully go through all the stages of the design process. Quick decision making was crucial within every stage we went through and which was especially challenging when framing our project concept. As we were dealing with such a sensitive and complex topic questions kept on appearing during the whole process which required us to redefine our concept over and over.
First ideations on ivy.
Creating the interaction concept.
A lot of electronics. We wanted lights and sounds to fit into this small docking station.
Recording and editing the sounds was one of the funniest parts, as we could experiment with different instruments, softwares or just everyday sounds.
Successful Wizard of Oz testing.
Sounds and Interaction
Placing the pebbles.
Waking up ivy.
Squeezing ivy. during the day to listen to the created melody of the day.
Putting her to sleep or to rest, when planning the new day.
Teamwork and Learnings
The teamwork in these two weeks was great. Everyone was very excited about the topic in general and we had an amazing balance of complementing each others skills from Advanced Product Design and Interaction Design. It was so easy to throw the ball to each other in developing the concept and then also structuring it. One of the most important learnings for me was how fast we could elaborate a valuable concept and gain significant insights together. But also that you don’t always need the full picture of the final concept, you can create that by developing your idea day by day by just doing it.
It was very valuable to gain knowledge in how different sounds can influence the whole experience and what a delicate topic it is when working for children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.