Autismmidterm

MIDTERM CRITIQUEDFA UO AUTISM

DFA UO AUTISM Midterm Critique

Fall ReviewFocus: Young, nonverbal autistic students

Direction:Daily Tasks, Expression, Social Interaction

Winter term progressBrainstormingResearchingIdeating


Daily Tasks - Nutrition DAILY TASKS

NUTRITION

gastric problems celiac disease dermatitits herpetiformis

Autistic children are susceptible to:

Autistic children are notoriously picky eatersStudies have identified the following to be more common in ASD children:

DO: Prefer the same foods at each meal Prefer very specific textures and tastesPrefer to have food served in a particular way

DON’T:Like to try new foodsAccept or prefer a variety of foods

Food cravingsFood refusalLimited varietySpecificity in presentationGrazingDisruptive mealtime behaviorsTexture specificity


How Can We Help autistic children develop good nutritional habits from an early age?


Daily Tasks - Nutrition PRODUCT

SOLUTION

Receptacle that adopts positive reference methods; one starts with food they enjoy, moves onto a more unfamiliar food, only to be rewarded next with a food they enjoy again.

Additional challenges: How do you get children to be more engaged during lunchtime and actually want to eat their food?

How can parents gain more information as to what food their child is sensitive to and which foods they like?


Daily Tasks - Nutrition DAILY TASKS

ROUTINERoutine is critical in the lives of autistic children Need to know what to expect and when to expect it With consistency in their daily activities, there is reassurance Comfort in knowing what will happen next

Breaks in the routine can be very disruptive to autistic children Change pushes them out of their comfort zone Don’t want to overwhelm the child; will be important to isolate tasks

Important to break tasks into small chunks It is not enough to verbally advise the child of their daily routine They may need to visually see their daily routine (Autistic children tend to think in terms of visual pictures and patterns so creating a schedule that they can touch, see and control is the most effective method)

Having a physical schedule will provide sense of accomplishment. Also important to indicate how long each task will take More likely to ensure feelings of success while raising their self esteem The more control they have over their environment the better they will feel about themselves


How can we create a visual and tactile tool that enables autistic children to learn their daily tasks to ensure consistency and routine in their day?



SOLUTIONCreate a daily task tool that can help autistic children complete their daily tasks individually as not to be overwhelmed.

Low tech daily tasks box will allow the child to see their daily tasks and have a sense of accomplishment by removing each task from their task sequence. This tool will be multi-sensory where children can physically see, hear and read their daily tasks while interacting with the tool tactilely.

Highly interactive and visual


Difficulties with language and communication are one of the defining features of autism. We will be looking at modes of communication and their various affects on autistic chil-dren.

Autism requires finding the preferred channel of communication.

Autistic persons may process information perceptually. This may occur through various sensory channels.

Visual AuditoryTactileKinaestheticOlfactory

Autistic people may process information aurally. This means that communicating through sounds may come naturally.

Looking at this, may help us find ways to identify children who prefer aural communica-tioin and provide an outlet for their expression.

Daily Tasks - Nutrition EXPRESSION

MUSIC/SOUND


How can we create a device that will help children process and

express emotion through sound?



SOLUTION

Sam the Sad Octupus

Chuck theCrazy Bear

Tonal Pad

No Wrong Notes

Different soundsfor different emotions

Associate SoundWith Emotion

Play songs for a characterin a certain mood.Communication and Empathy through sound


Daily Tasks - Nutrition INTERACTION

COOPERATIONObservation at Bridgeway: Down time in the classroom is not utilized when teacher is giving one on one attention to another student

Related Problem: Autistic children can struggle with face to face interaction

The use of devices such as iPads have proven to be a helpful tool in classrooms but they have a number of problems

Accessibility: These tools are expensive, not every school or parent has the resources to supply them for every childIsolating: they do not encourage cooperative play or learning


How can we encourage interaction and

cooperative learning during down time in

classrooms?



SOLUTION

Linking electronic devices that allow students to practice number ordering, sentence forming, and other skills they may be learning with eachother

ME

YOU

Back and forth learning process


Daily Tasks - Nutrition INTERACTION

PHYSICAL PLAY

In the classroom, the kids learned primarily through one-on-one interaction with teachers.

The kids themselves hardly interacted with each other. When the kids aren’t given attention they would either wait patiently or throw a tantrum.

In the playground, suddenly the kids interacted each other more warmly. They were excited to play with the playground structures. The teachers became passive observers.

Many of the non-verbal students understand their environment through sen-sory exploration like seeing visual information, listening and touching. What if recess could be a time used to learn?


How can we use physical play time like recess as an interactive

learning activity?



SOLUTION

-Two or more rows of these play structures lined up next to each other-Panels with different textures and graphics

-Develop motor skills through sensory exploration and repetitive movements-Games can be structured to play with multiple people


Evaluation CriteriaFeasible Financially Accessible to Users Visible Impact Innovative

Next stepsTesting and developing at Bridgeway HouseAsking a lot of questionsBegin expanding to public schools and programs


Health & Medicine

Autismmidterm