DESIGNING TANGIBLE TASKS FOR AUTISM PEOPLE: NADI

People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have different sensory stimuli that cause difficulties managing the tasks they need to do to sustain their daily lives such as how to communicate, how to respond, and even how to dress or cook. These sensitivities become their characteristics for their whole life even if they take proper education in the early period of their childhood. That’s why it is essential to have an understanding of how people with ASD interpret the world and view people and objects around them. Tangible user interfaces may assist them to interpret the world by using physical forms of intangible knowledge since it helps them to capture the environment around them. For this reason, the interaction between the people with ASD and tangible user interfaces are examined based on the two foundational theories; Self-Determination Theory and Sensory Integration Theory, together with the TEACHH method. Then, user research was made firstly by conducting semi-structured qualitative interviews with autism people as well as educators who work with them and their family members. Then, workshops were made and key project findings were defined from an analysis of what had been observed and recorded. As a result, NADI is designed to provide an approach as a solution of the task management device for daily tasks to facilitate dealing with them, by using digitized physical interaction to improve people's autonomy together with helping them overcome anxiety/stress originated by routine breakdowns or unfamiliar situations.