Toward Creative Engagement of Soft Haptic Toys with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • 2017 ACM. Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) suffer from over or under sensory development and stimulation. Stuffed toys, weighted blanket, or weighted vest have been used to relax children with ASD. However children with autism are not actively invited to design/create their own relaxation toys. We conducted iterative design explorations for 6 months in collaboration with 22 children and 18 caregivers at a local autism clinic to characterize design elements of soft haptic toys for children with ASD to help sensory regulation and integration. This paper details various design elements of our soft haptic toys focusing on sensory qualities, customizability and affordability that we learned from the design exploration phase of the study. After the design exploration, we invited 5 children with ASD and their caregivers to investigate how making soft haptic toys impacts children's behaviors. The study indicates that children with ASD build a strong personal connection to the soft toy they created, promote pretend play and alleviate their abnormal behaviors in the process of creative engagement.

name of conference

  • Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Creativity and Cognition

published proceedings

  • PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2017 ACM SIGCHI CONFERENCE ON CREATIVITY AND COGNITION (C&C 2017)

author list (cited authors)

  • Seo, J. H., Aravindan, P., & Sungkajun, A.

citation count

  • 3

complete list of authors

  • Seo, Jinsil Hwaryoung||Aravindan, Pavithra||Sungkajun, Annie

publication date

  • June 2017