Supporting collaborative play via an affordable touching + singing plant for children with autism in China

The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in mainland China is still largely unknown despite a recent increase in public awareness of the disorder itself. Technology-based intervention strategies are scarce in China, which is why we chose to explore one such possibility in this paper. We present a collaborative play environment enabled by an affordable touching and singing plant for children with autism; the plant allows two users (such as the child and a family member) to collaboratively play a variety of music through the touch. The plant is also simple to assemble, making it portable and accessible. To the best of our knowledge, the plant is China\u27s first affordable assistive device for children with autism. A pilot study with 5 children with ASD revealed mixed results