Bora, I find your focus to be so interesting! I really think that you have identified a great topic for your thesis. The most compelling observation you make is that 5 to 10% of kids could benefit from a product that helps them to better integrate and respond appropriately to sensory stimulus in their environment. I believe that this kind of difficulty could easily lead to behavioral problems. For example, if a child can not tolerate physical touching, that could lead to serious psycho-social difficulties. The reason why this is important from a product design perspective is that it means that you are not only designing for the group of children with an identified disability (such as visual impairment or autism). The audience for a product that can help all kids improve the way that they process and interpret sensory information is much larger, which means that your product can be manufactured and distributed in larger quantities, and for a lower price. Your goal should be to build the market for your product by broadening its usefulness and appeal to include many groups of potential users.
The other thing that I like about your project is that you will be able to learn a lot from testing prototypes with actual kids. It is critical now that you identify classrooms or other places where you will have access to some children, so that you can allow them to tell you how to make the product better. You should consider teaming up with a grad student in clinical psychology at the New School. Many of them are looking for project ideas, and they might be interested in collaborating next semester. You have to do a lot of research to do now. You now habe to become an expert in this area. steven
Bora,
ReplyDeleteI find your focus to be so interesting! I really think that you have identified a great topic for your thesis. The most compelling observation you make is that 5 to 10% of kids could benefit from a product that helps them to better integrate and respond appropriately to sensory stimulus in their environment. I believe that this kind of difficulty could easily lead to behavioral problems. For example, if a child can not tolerate physical touching, that could lead to serious psycho-social difficulties. The reason why this is important from a product design perspective is that it means that you are not only designing for the group of children with an identified disability (such as visual impairment or autism). The audience for a product that can help all kids improve the way that they process and interpret sensory information is much larger, which means that your product can be manufactured and distributed in larger quantities, and for a lower price. Your goal should be to build the market for your product by broadening its usefulness and appeal to include many groups of potential users.
The other thing that I like about your project is that you will be able to learn a lot from testing prototypes with actual kids. It is critical now that you identify classrooms or other places where you will have access to some children, so that you can allow them to tell you how to make the product better. You should consider teaming up with a grad student in clinical psychology at the New School. Many of them are looking for project ideas, and they might be interested in collaborating next semester. You have to do a lot of research to do now. You now habe to become an expert in this area.
steven