Exploring Neurodiverse Social Play with Children and Their Parents Through Expanded Proxy Design
2024. Zoë Clark, Brooke Morris, Elaine Czech, Hayati Havlucu & Oussama Metatla
Proceedings of the 37th International BCS Human-Computer Interaction Conference.
Abstract
Autistic and non-autistic children can often struggle to play together due to differing communication, play and interactional styles, resulting in reduced social interaction quality for both groups. Play technologies can facilitate and support social play among children. However, play technologies often attempt to encourage more neurotypical traits in autistic children in a bid to foster social play. This approach ignores the unique experiences of autistic children. We present a design case study combining the use of "Plushonas'" in an expanded proxy design activity and a technology probe observation with a group of 5-year-old children and their parents. We re-introduce the notion of Plushonas as an expanded proxy design facilitating the use of personas with children. We report in-depth qualitative analysis highlighting the importance of creating interdependent play spaces to create a cohesive play environment. We reflect upon using both proxy and expanded proxy design when designing with young, neurodiverse groups of children. These findings can benefit future play technology design sessions with neurodiverse groups.