Music therapy on interactive surfaces to improve sensorimotor problems of children with autism
Franceli L. Cibrian · ACM SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing · 2016
Children with autism have sensorimotor problems. Music therapy combining music and rhythm is increasingly used to support individuals with autism to improve sensorimotor synchronization with promising clinical results. Interactive surfaces (IS) are appropriate to assist different kinds of therapy for children with autism. However, little has been said about if IS can augment music therapy sessions and improve the sensorimotor synchronization of children with autism, in particular when they try to keep the beat of music with movements. In this dissertation, I propose to design and develop an IS empowered with multi-touch capabilities and gestural interactions to augment music therapy instruction, and evaluate its impact in improving the ability of children with autism to keep the beat. To date, I am working in a qualitative study to uncover the design implications that an IS should incorporate, and I am developing a bendable surface prototype that enables children with autism improvise rhythmical music in an open-ended manner following the improvisation phase of a music therapy session.