Embodied Companion Technologies for Autistic Children

Abstract

With few exceptions, technology for autistic children tends to be focused on the regulation of perceived deficits. With OutsideTheBox we focus on the strengths of the children as design partners and created in our first year four technological objects together with them. They all have common that they are embedded in the children's lives and share some degree of embodied interaction. We present a case study along with four objects, two of them with wearable components, two of them focused at sharing experiences in an embodied mode. This opens up the argument not only for more design actually led by autistic children, but also for companion technologies that embody situatedness. Such technologies are then not driven by an outsider's perspective of what an autistic child needs, but rather are intrinsically valuable to them as a user.