The Design Of Toys With Early Intervention Training Functions For Autistic Children

According to incomplete statistics, there are roughly 2 million or more children with autism at the age of 0 to 14 in China now. The whole family of children with autism will inevitably be economically and mentally suffered. Therefore, the rehabilitation therapy of autism children is of great significance as a social issue in the present situation. The research and practice of medical experts show that the early intervention training is a major method for the rehabilitation therapy of autism children, and the "special toy" for autism children is an essential "tool" for the application of this method. Nowadays, most "special toys" for autism children in domestic market are imported from abroad. Especially the introduction of intelligent hardware technology in the manufacture of autism toys is almost a vacancy. Through the study of therapies for the children with autism, this thesis aims to explore the principles and methods that should be followed in the design of "special toys" of simplicity, diversity and interactivity that can meet the functional requirements of early intervention training for children with autism.At the beginning of this paper, based on the research questions and relevant literature, the physiological and psychological factors are deeply analyzed in terms of cognitive competence deficit of autism children, and then the definition, content, and requirements of early intervention training are clearly presented. Afterwards, considering the cognitive competence of autism children for toys, a type of "special toy" suitable for autism children of 4 to 6 with the function of improving autism children’s cognitive competence is designed, on the basis of autism family, therapy specialist and market survey. Furthermore, medical experts and therapists offered practical guidance and advice for further improvement of the final design.A series of "special toys" will be designed in this project, and the main part is in the form of child characters, made of fleece and cloth in combination. Carriers that may help train autism children’s expression cognition are designed and added to the faces, supported by the use of corresponding expression cards. Meanwhile, in order to further improve the interactive behaviors of autism children, Arduino technology is employed to design intelligent hardware so that the motional function can be coordinated with the main part of the "special toy" and the game of lining maze; hence the static "special toy" is transformed into a dynamic one.With the cooperation of therapists, an experiment and assessment of the "special toy" was conducted in the therapy center. The result of the data statistic analysis suggests that the "special toy" may have obvious effect on the behavior changes of autism children. The "special toy" as carrier received favorable comment from most therapists due to the fact that the interactive behaviors can be strengthened in the process of interactive experience between therapists and the children with autism. It is revealed that the "special toy" in this project is actually effective for the improvement of autism children’s emotional cognitive competence. Consequently this research is a productive exploration for the design of "special toy" for children with autism.