" It is never easy to
learn that someone you love
has a serious health
or developmental condition. "
Starting off with a clip

AUTISM IN SINGAPORE

To start off...

What is Autism?

Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in early childhood and the most common condition is known as autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It can be difficult to diagnose, as symptoms and degree of impairment are different for every child.

Autism Statistics in SG

One in 150 children in Singapore has autism. There were 4,400 such children in 2014, a 76 per cent jump from the 2,500 children in 2010.

Current Initiatives

  • Family Empowerment Programme at Rainbow Centre for caretakers of autism kids
  • Early Intervention services that provides therapy and educational support services for autistic children
  • Residential facilities to cater to the needs of adults with autism so they would be cared for in a nurturing and supportive environment.

Most Common Behavioral Effects of Autism
Impaired Communications Skills

symptom 1
Rigid behavior, Hyperactiveness and difficulty with change and transition

symptom 2
Narrow Range of Activity and interests

symptom 3

Our Prototype

A device to help caregivers better understand their kids with autism.

  • To express their feelings

    Microbit allows the autistic kid to make certain movement or press certain buttons to express their feelings. For eg. When asking for help or getting emotionally overwhelmed, the kids are able to press respective buttons to call out to caregivers. The microbit also releases an alert sound to suggests immediate attention for the kids.

  • Ensuring Safety

    The autistic kid will be holding on to the microbit connected to a Raspberry Pi. The LED light connecting to the Raspberry Pi will light up if the child is a certain distance away from the child. This allows the caregiver to locate the distance between the child and them. This ensures that the caregivers are able to supervise their child from being exposed to unfamiliar surroundings.

  • Alert Sounds

    When the autistic child is agitated and emotionally unstable, eg. Angry, Upset. The child can press the right button to notify the caregiver and request for their attention. Thus, a "help" signal from the microbit will be shown and the microbit will have a continuous "beep" sound to alert caregivers to come and attend to the autistic child.

  • Heart Rate Tracker

    Through the Raspberry Pi connected to the LED light and range sensor, we are able to simulate the heart rate of a autistic child. If it exceeds the normal heart rate range of their age, the LED light will light up and alert the caregiver. This is useful when the autistic child is too afraid to express their feelings and will also allow the caregivers to better understand their feelings and emotions.

Prototype Demo

Limitations




A speaker would be needed if we want to alert the caregiver of the autistic kid to provide immediate attention. Without a speaker connected to the microbit, alert sounds cannot be produce therefore the caregiver might not take note that the autistic child actually requested for immediate help.

If the autistic child just happen to shake the microbit accidentally, it might result in a false alarm for the caregivers.

Improvements




It would be better if the microbit could have calming/soothing music effects played to them.This would keep them occupied and calm them down for the time being before the caregiver arrive and attend to them.

It would be better if we can also implemment a location app inside the tracker as the range sensor is unable to capture a wide and long distance.Hence by implementing a location tracker, the caregiver of the autistic child could easily track and know where the kid is at all times to avoid unwanted mishaps.

Memory Lane