Design of design of learning aids for children with down syndrome

Children with Down syndrome deserve love and affection from our society. The chance of having a retarded child is so distressing and the causes are still so inadequately understood that most people naturally exclude the possibility from awareness. Moreover, culture does not have satisfactory rituals or practices for dealing with mental retardation. Current approach has traditionally been to abandon the mentally retarded as "impossible" and to eliminate them from society. Down syndrome children are totally dependent on parents even to do their daily routine work. The project mainly focused on fine motor skills and the result is a set of learning aids which enhance eye-hand coordination, grasping, rotation and manipulation of fingers especially for children with Down syndrome.

Design process involved primary research and an identified need for a set of learning aids to improve their fine motor skills. Data collection was carried out using Ethnography, Product study, Market study through methods such as questionnaires, interviews, images, videos and daily life observations. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Product Design Specification (PDS) were generated based upon data analysis. Issues and needs identified through data collection have been tackled in the developed concepts. Final concepts of learning aids have been selected by participatory and weighted ranking methods.

A 1: 1 working model of the final concept titled “FINE MOTOR EXPRESS” which included five learning aids stored in a toy truck was built. Validation of the final concept has been carried out and feedback was collected from the users. It was found to be an effective learning aid for children to improve their fine motor activities. The concept also addressed the related usability and ergonomic issues. As an interactive design solution, the users were satisfied and showed positive response to the final design.