Sensory Integration Training Tool Design for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

South China University of Technology, Higher Education Mega Center, Panyu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China

^a Corresponding author: ljjiang@scut.edu.cn
^b Corresponding author: xiaomieye@163.com

Abstract

This study aims to design a training tool for therapy of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASDs). Typically, ASDs pass through obstacle track several times with sandbags, which should be picked up from starting point and threw into a box at the end during sensory integration therapy. Counting the sandbags can help ASDs to have concept about the progress of mission. We redesign the counting box named “Skybox” which can help counting by playing sound after detect something throw in it. Aims to probe into the sound preference of two main subjects, an experiment with four kinds of sounds is conducted in this paper by using the method of paired comparisons. The result shows they like animals most, followed by human voice and nature sounds, and music instrument is the last. The material preference experiment shows two subjects like acrylic most, wood and paper are secondary while furry is the last. Skybox shortens their training time for 23.53%, 29.87% and 37.37% in three different projects. We consider that Skybox attracts ASDs therefore reduces their distraction and improves their performance in the usability test.