Designing a Musical Fabric Based Surface to Encourage Children with Autism to Practice Motor Movements
Children with autism have difficulties in controlling the strength and timing of their movements. Neurologic music therapy uses musical instruments to promote motor development in children with autism. However, most musical instruments are not appropriate to support control strength problems and coordination of movements in children with autism. In this paper, we present the design of MalleableBirds, a fabric based interactive surface that combines neuro music therapy exercises with multi sensory feedback. To design MalleableBirds, we followed a user centered design methodology. Reflecting from our design process we propose a set of design implications that could be helpful to others interested in designing deformable surfaces. We close discussing directions for future work.