Brief
RSA Student Awards Design a way to enable more people to enjoy the benefits of making.
Concept
Playmake: A bespoke mobile app resource for children aged 7-12 on the autistic spectrum who also suffer from sensory integration difficulties. The primary purpose is to further treatment via making and creativity.
See further annotations below for how the system works and its various elements.
Choose your Playmate to guide you through the Playmake system
Playmake offers both tactile and digital approaches. Some children with autism and sensory integration difficulties find touching different materials uncomfortable, whereas others have a lack of sensation and like feeling materials.
Every piece of information within the system is accompanied by consistent visual supports. They are in a simplistic vector style, cohering to the muted colour scheme. In addition to these, a vocal option is also available for those with normal or hyposensitive hearing. This can be adjusted regarding frequency and volume depending on the childs sound sensory needs.
The Playmake system works best when implemented as a section of leisure and play time at both home and school. This way, the child is regularly exposed to the system and it becomes a comfortable and predictable part of life. Many children on the Autistic Spectrum find changes in routine problematic and sometimes upsetting, consistency within the system and usage is key.
Use the Playpack add-on to allow Playmake to provide more elaborate crafts that require more than regular household items.
Playmake provides carefully considered approaches in making and learning regarding all 7 senses involved in sensory integration difficulties: Sight, taste, sound, smell, touch, balance and proprioception (bodily awareness).
Many children with autism have specific interests and fixations. Playmake caters the themes of crafts around this topic to interest an motivate the child. For example, if the individual loves Space, the app system will provide Space-themed crafts.
If the child is hypersensitive with taste, activities would be iPad-based cooking and baking, and real-life activities not involving anything strong-tasting. Similarly with scent, hypersensitive children will be provided with iPad-based activity and real-life non-scented crafts.
If the individual has a friend who also uses Playmake, you can hook up with them via the app to generate customised crafts tailored for both users to complete together. The connect feature promotes interaction and communication with others, and teaches turn taking.
At the end of every activity, the child is asked how they are feeling. This response is then emailed to the parent/guardian/teacher. You can then log the childs progress, noticing which activities make them feel certain ways. This feedback system promotes a response and communication
The child can take photos of their finished projects which will be stored in an in-app photo gallery. These images can be printed and shared. There is also a print icon throughout the app to print out certain pages and characters.
