As you might already know reading a post about Autism, one of the most obvious tendencies of children with Autism is to repeat certain actions. These can range from bobbing the head, rocking the body, scratching the flesh, and banging the hand. That’s a small list. What this product tries to do is to take that tendency and aim it at this product. It’s soft, stretchy, and can be tugged, rubbed, squeezed, bitten, etc.. Will it work?
What this particular product, the “Repeat,” does, is to teach the child to limit their repeated actions to a time frame indicated on the product by flashing LED lights. There’s also a small numbered timer for goal-setting.
Some concerns I’ve got, and I’m sure if you’re here to talk about Autism you’ll have some of these too, especially if you know someone affected:
If the product is not on the wrist at a time of the day where the product cannot be left on the wrist (maybe at bedtime, bath/shower time), the child may continue the action in the place where the band was set. This might lead to injury, depending on the intensity of their need to repeat, and in what manner.
For those children whose tendency it is to rock back and forth or bob their head for example, this product might have no effect at all.
If the product is used with children with visual self-stimulating behavior needs, the lights may become distracting rather than helpful.
Those things out in the air, note the following, most importantly: Any innovation in this field is fantastic. It’s a place where it’s exceedingly difficult to create a product that blankets over a broad range of children because disorders like Autism act differently on every unique child. I’ve got friends in the field (who shall remain nameless 🙂 ) that have helped me write this thread (it’s all my words, but we discussed it heavily) and they say the “Repeat” looks extremely promising!
Go forth Jesse Resnick! Make this happen!
Designer: Jesse Resnick
