is a startup looking to educate about Neurodiversity, aimed to specifically target Neurodiverse children and their caregivers.
Expansive
a variation in the human brain and mind, often viewed as deficits or flaws. These variations should be embraced in humans instead.
Neurodiversity is
#1 - Parents of Neurodiverse children lack well-designed
digital tools
#2 - Parents find it hard to keep track of progress their
child has made overtime
#3 - Parents must learn tools on their own to maximize
benefits
#4- Parenting a Neurodiverse child can be overwhelming
especially when lacking support and a community
Our clients’
assumptions
Our clients asked us to design a digital tool to support caregivers with their Neurodiverse child. With research, we will look to validate or client’s assumptions and make discoveries.
Challenge
Direct Competitors: We looked at the following competitors in the space to see what features are being offered to caregivers and their child. These metrics are what we assume will be useful to users in this stage of our research. During the competitive analysis research phase is when I download more mobile applications than my phone can handle.
Competitive Analysis
Indirect Competitors: We looked at some indirect competitors but here’s two we looked at that stood out to us in the features they offer.
7 User Interviews, 4 Subject Matter Expert interviews:
User Interviews Top Findings:
Parents want:
the ability to track emotions
The ability to de-escalate situations
To have their existing technologies (i.e. Alexa) connect to another product that will prompt the parents to do things
Parents struggle with:
Self-care
Mobile applications that require too much data input (work) to start using it
Keeping their cool when angry with their child (this was most interviewees’ least proud moments as a parent)
Feelings of isolation & judgement from others
Overwhelming information given to them by specialists, schools & online.
To find a community where they can connect with other parents in similar situations
Subject Matter Expert Interviews Top Findings:
Manage expectations
Consistency & Repetition needed for treatment plans but parents can have one bad experience and give up
Lack digital tool for therapists & parents to be on the same page
Persona: JENNY WHEELER
PROBLEM STATEMENT
CONCEPTS
The team came up with 4 divergent concepts with specific features aimed to solve for our problem statement.
Guided Parenting & Play
Learning tools for the parent and child
Uses 5 minute guided play
Social Stories
Prepares the child for an event
Uses simple language and visuals
Recharge for Parents
Mood tracker
Therapies, self-care routines
Community Parenting
Getting advice from other parents during morning, afternoon or evening routines
CONCEPT TESTING: 6 users & 3 SME’s
Key takeaways
Users enjoyed the following in each concept:
Social Stories:
More valuable to younger children to prepare their child for a new event, users liked the simplicity but was too simple for some
Guided Parenting Play:
Likes scheduled time to communicate better with child
Relax & Recharge
Reminder for parents to do self-care, different wellness options
Community Parenting:
Enjoys connecting with other parents without commitment
My divergent concept, User Stories, aimed to provide simple and easy-to-use step by step guide for parents to prepare their child in a new situation. Social Stories aim to walk a child through an event that may be difficult for them such as a doctor’s appointment or the first day of school. From the first round of interviews, I gathered that parents need something simple, interactive and beneficial to do with their child. However, after some testing and discussion with the team, we decided to table this concept because it isn’t applicable to a wide age range of children.
app map
In order to prioritize the features, we created the following application map. When users land on the home page, they will be greeted by a Chatbot that will guide them to the 3 main features.
WIREFRAMES
Based off our previous testing, we included the following features in the mobile application that would be crucial:
Main features & Goals:
Chatbot interaction: what users would be taken through after logging in (or ‘skip’). This intends to bring a sporadic moment of joy while directing users to go to the different features the mobile application offers.
Child-Directed Interaction: training for parents to partake with their child.
Resources: find podcasts, local parent support groups or learn about related material.
Parent self-care: by tracking their moods or participating in a ‘relax & recharge’ session.
Usability Testing - 4 Users
Overall feedback was positive and all 4 users would all would use the application as well as recommend it to friends and colleagues but there is room for clearer instructions and navigation clean up.
Key Takeaways:
Chat interaction likability is polarizing but easy to use
Child-Directed Interaction’s idea and content is well received but was difficult to navigate, felt overwhelming.
Parent tracking’s layout is not clear and lack of hierarchy
Relax & recharge was overwhelming, too many choices, more instructions were needed on how to use.
Resources page was clear, easy to navigate.
Table chat interaction
Curate resources
Mood Tracking, Relax & Recharge needs clearer instructions, more testing needed after
Child-directed interaction needs simplification and reorganization, more testing needed after.
PERSONAL TAKEAWAYS
This was by far the most challenging but most rewarding project I’ve worked on. During the initial round of interviews, we had 7 parents open up to us, total strangers, about something very personal: their relationship with their child(ren). The interview process during this project taught me how to be empathetic and think on my feet. Personally, it is very important to me to create a comfortable and judgement-free atmosphere for interviewees. Also, I learned it is better to do one thing well instead of dipping my feet in multiple things but not doing any of them well. This project would always be special to me because it was the first project I’ve worked on with a client and not only did I learn a lot from everyone I worked with, the project itself and about Neurodiversity.