UTDesignLabColloquium: Development of a co-design method for children with ASD

Colloquium: Development of a co-design method for children with ASD

Presented by Laura Sophie Günnigmann

With the raising awareness of autism and an increasing number of assistive technologies on the market, product designers are getting more interested in designing products for children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, designing products that meet the specific requirements of every child can be challenging due to their wide-ranging needs. Co-design has its roots in participatory design methods and is an approach empowers children with ASD to directly contribute to the design process to ensure that the developed products fit their individual preferences.

The goal of this project is to develop a co-design method that empowers children with ASD and other non-design professionals to take an active part in the design process, resulting in valuable and meaningful outcomes for the design result. Based on a co-design literature study a co-design framework and guidelines are created. The focus points of this framework is on the engagement of all stakeholders during each phase of the design process and the empowerment of children with ASD. The co-design method is applied during a case study with different stakeholders and children. The objective of the case study is to design an interactive and embodied tool to aid children with ASD in daily life situations (Bruintjes, 2017). During the case study co-design sessions are hold with the families with children with ASD, therapists, teachers, design experts and a company that provides assistive technology. Design activities that are conducted during each session lead to a better understanding of the target group and their daily life problems. Furthermore ideas and product concepts are generated and evaluated in collaboration with the co-designers and at the end prototypes are built and tested. At the end of this project the co-design method is evaluated based on the results of the case study and a renewed refined co-design framework is presented.