Reflections from a long-term deployment study to design novel interactive surfaces for children with autism

Abstract

Designing interactive surfaces for children with autism is not trivial, and even more if intended for long-term use. In this paper, we reflect on the experiences and lessons learned from a 5-months deployment study conducted in a LivingLab where 6 classrooms of children with autism used an interactive surface as a multisensory therapy. We describe a set of design insights emerged from these study, and present how they could be used as a design principle to develop novel alternatives of the deployed interactive surface. First we present the design and development of SpaceHunters, an interactive floor exergame supporting the practicing of eye-foot coordination exercises; and then, we describe BendableSound, a fabric-based interactive surface enabling the improvisation of rhythmical sounds in an open-ended manner. We close discussing directions for future work.