Parents of non-verbal autistic children are not able to communicate with their kids. The parents and the educational assistants who are always with the children have to use alternative methods of communication like sign language, physical pictures of objects or augmented communication devices, like an iPad to try and understand the child’s needs.
Initially sign language is the preferred method they try to teach the child. If the child is unable to learn it then they move on to physical pictures of objects the child would interact with on a daily basis. If that also doesn’t work then the child is finally moved to an augmented communication device.
The current standard augmented communication device is an iPad which uses the communication app called TouchChat. TouchChat is essentially a simplified picture board on the iPad. On the surface the app is very simple, you take pictures of the things the child interacts with daily, put them on the TouchChat picture board, and teach the child to tap the picture on the app of the object or activity they want to perform.
But adjusting or customizing the app is a challenging. As there are many options and settings which require in depth training to understand.
Design Challenge
After reviewing many options, it was clear that the therapists who had years of training and educational assistants who had some training were still in a better position than parents who had no training or knowledge of how to better help and guide their children.
This motivated me to figure out a way to help parents of non-verbal autistic children be better informed about the ways they can learn to understand and communicate with their kids.
Double Diamond Design
Following the convergent and divergent thinking of the Double Diamond Design Methodology, I developed and explored a wide range of ideas before taking focused action. This established creative process guided me through four defined stages to organize my design process.
Starting of by conducting secondary research and start to understand some the of the reasons as to why this issue was gaining prominence and specifically why parents were under trained. Listed below were some of the facts and figures I found during my research.
1 in 54 children
- Had a diagnosis of ASD by age 8 in 2016, a nearly 10 percent increase over 2014 when the estimate was 1 in 59.
Non-verbal autism
- It is estimated that 25% to 50% of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) never develop spoken language beyond a few words or utterances.
- 73.3% of those had difficulty with communication even something simple as eye contact
Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth
Families Struggle
- Families, children with autism struggled during the pandemic, caregiver mental health worsened for 69% of respondents.
CBC News
Hypothesis
After conducting some initial research some information clarified whey the both children and parents were struggling to communicate.
- There was a lot of knowledge available online but parents are not sure in which direction to go or what kind of help they need if they don’t have previous knowledge about the topic.
- Currently there is no digital platform that informs parents of non-verbal autistic children about how they can approach their child’s lack of communication or social skills. Information is very scattered and difficult to identify.
- The current standard Augmentative and Alternative Communication tool (a picture board on the ipad) is complicated to use for education assistants and parents. It is difficult to make adjustments easily that all participants require in order to communicate.
User Interviews
Taking my research a step further I conducted 3 interviews. One of a Behaviour analyst who analyze and create communication programs for kids. Second of a education assistant, a person who performs the activities listed in the programs that a beahaviour analyst have recommended. And thirdly a parent of a non-verbal autistic child who are the primary caregiver and spend the most time with the child.
We asked some of the questions listed below to find out their unique perspectives on how they approach helping non-verbal autistic children.
- How did you know if a specific method is working, What changes do you start to see?
- What are the frustrations of having to use alternative communication?
- What are some things you would avoid having to do using alternative communication?
- What is the biggest goal you want to accomplish by using alternative communication methods?
- What apps or websites do you user to learn about how to best communicate with non-verbal children?
- How do you figure out what the child is trying to communicate?
User Insights
Lack of Knowledge and Training
As expected, behaviour analysts were very well educated and understood the topics of autism and communication really well.
But both parents and education assistants, who actually physically deal with the child and contribute greatly to a child’s success. Both expressed a lack of information and training available to them to be able to understand the child’s communication methods or understand their needs.
But the biggest differentiating factor was that parents received no training and have to exhaustively search for information in order to have a basic understanding of how they can best communicate with their child.
Listed below in the condensed affinity map, I started to see a clear theme in the answers everyone was giving highlighting an overall issue of lack of information and training available.
I just want the communication to be a little easier
When kids start to know what they want and we know what to do
There is not enough training or even general help for parents
We have to learn and be able to learn everything on our own
Even the doctors have a limited understanding so I call my friends
I try and figure out what to do based on what the therapists have told me
Consolidating the research, affinity map and user stories my Initial how might we question was “How might we educate parents of non-verbal children so that they understand what their kids are trying to communicate?” which lead me to focus on the augmented method of communication.
I then spoke with one of our senior instructors Barjinder Singh, who advised me to have a broader approach which would capture the overall issue. As I was pretty convinced of my HMW, I asked why? He explained that by having a divergent approach at this stage would help me to understand all the different aspects of the problem I am trying to solve, which can then be narrowed down at a later stage by focusing on recurring and consistent theme in the data.
So the HMW was revised to:
Utilizing data gathered from the research and the how might we question, I created a persona. Mainly inspired by the concerns of the primary user “the parent” , I also took common issues surrounding the main epic of “Lack of information” from the secondary users the “education assistants and integrated them in the user persona.
Nicole Nice
“I try my best but I don’t know what to do sometimes. The therapists provide info but to apply it and adjust it is really challenging. This makes communication extra difficult. I wish I had more support and a place where I can go and just learn what to do, when I need it.”
About
Age: 35
Occupation: Teacher
Education: Bachelors of Political Science
Location: Vancouver, BC
Nicole is a elementary school teacher. Her daughter is autistic and non-verbal. Even though Nicole and her daughter Mary use an iPad as their medium of communication. Alternative communication was not been easy to establish or continue. Even though her service providers provide her with info they are not great at showing how to make adjustments if something is not working.
Technology
Motivations
- Know about what methods work best and how to adjust them if she needs to
- Wants to access information at her own time and pace so she can learn better
Pain Points
- Lack of information and resources available to her where she can learn at her own pace
- Very difficult to manage learning and applying while trying to work and do things at home
Behaviours
- Not able to follow the programs as thoroughly
- Gets frustrated with the lack of info available
Consolidating all of the user data into the experience map, I was able to identify a key opportunity for which a digital solution would be a viable option to reduce the users main paint point.
Which was a lack of knowledge and training, but also not knowing exactly what to do even if the information was provided as it sometime included technical terms that the parents may not understand.
Understanding the frustration of parents and that there was a lack of information available a core taskflow was created to understand what a parent would want to do on the app. The core flow would provide the user with info and activities they could read and perform at their own pace. Understanding that parents not only lacked the information they needed but also didn’t know what to do even when they information was provided because it may be confusing or overwhelming.
I decided to go with a simplified task flow of the process for efficiency. For this project I had a constraint of exploring only one task flow and the MVP will be to provide the user with a video and clear simplified instructions to perform an activity and target the program of their choice ie. communication.
Inspiration
There is currently nothing out in the market that addresses this issue so it was very difficult to conduct a competitive analysis. But I saw that there were elements that matched with fitness and task management apps which were inspiring.
Exploratory Sketches
Once I got my core task flow and inspiration, I started to ideate on what the interface of my application could be like. During my design exploration my sketches were task focused. Though they accomplished the goal of getting user the information they needed, initially it wasn’t very clear if and how that would work for the parents.
Solution Sketches
Exploratory sketches were then translated into solution sketches with the focus on the logical taskflow process and the steps user would need to take to complete their goal.
The goal for the user was to complete the recommended activities in the communication program.
Wireframes
After sketching out the logical steps the user would take to complete the process I created the first level of wireframes.
These included 4 programs, Communication, Behaviour, Sleep and Eating the parents could choose from and complete the recommended activities given within each program.
Additionally I included a progress tracker and a task competition process. The purpose of which was, after completing each activity the user would be able to capture and see the progress they had made while they go through the activities.
The first iteration of the wireframes were then tested for usability. In which the user would complete the following tasks and gage the ease of use and functionality of the taskflow process.
Tasks and Scenarios
Task 1: Go to the “Request ritz crackers” Target
Scenario: Imagine you are a returning user coming back to complete the communication target “request ritz crackers”
Task 2: Watch the video and review instructions
Scenario: Imagine you want to watch the provided video and review the provided instructions
Task 3: Adding a new note – completed
Scenario: Imagine the child was sick and you could not complete the target so you write a note for yourself.
Task 4: Navigate to Additional Info – completed
Scenario: Because you were not able to complete the target you want to find out more info and want to know more about TouchChat
Task 5: Navigate to details – completed
Scenario: Imagine you want to find out when the program started. Where would you go to find the info?
Task 6: Complete the task – went back to instructions and completed the process
Scenario: Imagine the child was sick and you could not complete the target so you write a note for yourself.
Sessions Output Chart
After receiving feedback from users the details tab was removed as most deemed it unnecessary and the task completion process was made to be available on all tabs as it was confusing to return to the instructions tab to complete the activity.
Design Prioritization Matrix
User Feedback
During the second round of usability testing, after receiving user feedback. I complied a list of updates the users would benefit from.
Additionally the list was inputted into a design prioritization matrix to determine which updates would be of low effort but high value.
- Usability Improvements
- User errors
- Feature requests
- UI Improvements
Moodboard
Once the low fidelity wireframes and initial usability tests were complete, we were tasked to come up with a unique brand for the app. Starting with gathering inspiration in the form of a moodboard with abstract imagery that reflected the feel of the brand.
Colours & Typography
Once the moodboard was completed I extracted the colours from the pictures and grouped pictures with similar colors. Additionally I explored complementary colour combinations finally selecting a primary, secondary and neutral brand colours that best reflected the feeling of the brand which were confirmed by peer review.
Wordmark
To give the brand an identity and to make it easily recognizable I explored selecting a name and developing a wordmark to represent the app and the brand.
KidsClues was selected as the app name and the bottom row was selected as the final wordmark.
UI Library
The selected brand colours and the wordmark were then collected into a UI library and setup in an atomic design structure format to establish a design system.
Atoms, molecules, organisms, pages and templates were setup to streamline the design process.
High Fidelity
Utilizing the UI library components I rebuilt all of the screens in a high fidelity format. Colours, icons and spacing was thoughtfully used not to visually strain the users.
But to also provide a clean and minimal aesthetic that was pleasing to view and easy to follow.
Interaction Design
Once the high fidelity screens were complete animation and transitions were very thoughtfully considered.
Reviewing apps that the user would use on a daily basis like facebook, walmart, and instagram, screen transitions, loading animations, video simulation, and in-app browser interactions were incorporated to create a seamless user experience.
Alternative Platforms Exploration
Lastly to supplement the app we considered an alternative platform to design for. Designing for the iPad was the logical choice as parents are already familiar with the device.
A responsive marketing website was also designed to showcase additional information the user could browse and read if they wanted to learn more about the app.
Challenges
- After user interviews I determined that there were 4 types of stakeholders involved. Each one with their own unique needs but the goal was to always keep the child as the main beneficiary
- Initially both parents and educational assistants were thought to be the main users of the app but usability testing showed that the app must be more parents focused as they have the least amount of knowledge but the greatest need
- Defining the problem space was not researched enough due to the fast pace and the lack of time available in the program
- Due to the complexity of the problem space, a more wholistic approach was needed to deeply understand the parents and the child’s needs
Impact
- At the MVP level this product would provide parents with the most basic information they would need to make some quality of life improvements
- Because there is a major lack of understanding and how to approach the problem parents and service providers are often left stuck but with KidsClues they would have a solution on hand
- Via simple instructions, a video and some note taking both parents and the kiddos can find little opportunities of connection that may have otherwise been missed
Final Prototype
I created a digital experience to provide parents with fun and informative activities recommended by experts they can do at home to confidently understand their child’s communication needs.
Share your thoughts 🙂
If you’ve reviewed the KidsClues app prototype and have suggestions or just want to comment on the project please feel free to reach me on my linkedIn. I would love to hear from you and want to know your thoughts.
Key Learnings
- Thoroughly explore different ways the problem space can be approached.
- Carefully curate questions when conducting primary research. Narrow down and focus on the most meaningful problem that needs to be solved.
- Consider the users needs of upmost importance when making design decisions.
Next Steps
- The next steps will be to conduct more user testing on the prototype.
- Further expand on the different tasks the user would like to perform.
- I would also love to explore some more user tasks for the application, for example, progress tracking, on-boarding process, utilizing AR to make the activities more engaging.
