Cognality Customer Experience Survey

[Cognality]

Hi everyone! We are a team of high school students at the LaunchX summer program where we have the opportunity to create a product or service that benefits the world in some way shape or form. Some of you might recognize us from a past survey we sent, but now we have refined our idea and want receive as much feedback as possible in order to ensure that our product helps this community as much as possible.

If you are a parent of a child that experiences autistic meltdowns please take a moment to fill this survey out so we can serve you in the best way possible. Our main priority is to understand the community and do not wish to upset anyone in any way.


Survey: Cognality Customer Experience

 

[tree]

I think you'd have a better chance of a positive response here
if you'd describe yourselves, in a general way, who you are
and what you're trying to accomplish.

 

[Tom]

Just a question.
Do any of you have any experience with child meltdowns?
Do you know what you actually are trying to deal with?

 

[tree]

@Cognality

I see that you have added the information that you are a group of high school students.

Your project is an ambitious one.

Would you say it's more for the practice of design than for the immediate development
of an actual product?

Or how would you describe what you're working at, this summer?

 

[shysnail]

I would be interested in learning more about your thoughts surrounding VR. I clicked through to the survey and it was immediately about VR headsets, without much context or how it related to autism/meltdowns. Perhaps if you could fill us in more on that particular aspect, why you've decided on VR as a way forward, what kind of thing you're thinking about with it?

 

[Cognality]

Hi! Of course!
From our extensive research we found that one of the many causes of meltdowns is sensory overload. We noticed a lot of people use headphones as a way to block out noise, however this is not effective to everyone. From our last survey a lot of people said that they would try to leave the situation and move to a quiet and calming room or situation in order to reduce their stress. Thus, we came to the conclusion that using specially made calming virtual scenes could instantly transport a person who is on the verge of having a meltdown to their safe haven and allow them to calm down easily. Please let us know if you have any suggestions.

-The Cognality Team

 

[Pinkie B]

How come you only ask about parents of children who have meltdowns? It seems like the product you are designing would be better suited for adults who struggle to keep their meltdowns in socially acceptable check, no?

Also: Way to keep trying! You're not going to get it right the first time and you could have just given up. I think it's cool what you're trying to do. Just gotta work on those hiccups still.

 

[Dubz]

You seem like an ambitious bunch, I'll give you that. I did however notice that for sure 3 and possibly 5 of the questions on your rather short survey involved how much $$$ we would be willing to spend on your product. Yet you claim your main goal is to understand us better. I'm not saying that there's no validity to your idea and I'm also not trying to offend you or discourage you. You may be onto something here. I'll answer one of your survey questions. Yes I am autistic. From my personal experience there is NO way to instantly transform me to a "happy" place or extinguish a meltdown. I've only known about my own autism for a little over a year and I'm still learning about it all the time. I appreciate your work and I'm not trying to discourage ya,'ll, but if you really want to help I honestly think your research needs to be more extensive. By that I mean try to really understand us. Just sticking around on this site and reading peoples' posts is probably a good start. Read it from us by us. Not just textbooks. I wish you well.

 

[Dubz]

Hi! Of course!
From our extensive research we found that one of the many causes of meltdowns is sensory overload. We noticed a lot of people use headphones as a way to block out noise, however this is not effective to everyone. From our last survey a lot of people said that they would try to leave the situation and move to a quiet and calming room or situation in order to reduce their stress. Thus, we came to the conclusion that using specially made calming virtual scenes could instantly transport a person who is on the verge of having a meltdown to their safe haven and allow them to calm down easily. Please let us know if you have any suggestions.

-The Cognality Team

I also encourage you and everyone to check out ASAN aka the Autism Self Advocacy Network

 

[SusanLR]

I saw a commercial about incorporating a surround VR calming experience for one riding in the rear
seat of a car. Instantly I thought what a great idea for me when I am the passenger since driving causes
a great deal of anxiety and can lead to a meltdown or panic attack.
The idea even included other sensory concepts beyond visual and audio.
I believe there were touch stimuli such as weighted vest, back message, and soft gloves with attachments
on them for stimming. Very appealing.
Some of these ideas could be made portable perhaps?
I never had children nor worked with any so I didn't go to the survey.
But, as an autistic myself, I would find this type of VR helpful.

 

[Autistamatic]

Unfortunately this idea is fundamentally flawed. Once someone is on course for a meltdown or shutdown it is, for most of us, inevitable unless the stressors that caused it are rectified or eliminated.
Whilst a VR solution might provide a temporary delay, it cannot stop it if the emotional or sensory triggers are still in place when we return to the world we are escaping from. It's a sticking plaster solution. Yes you might have a market in parents who just want their kid's meltdown to go away for now, but it does not abrogate them from the responsibility of rectifying the situation which triggered the meltdown.

There is no warning system for meltdowns, no "amber alert" that can signal to a parent that one is coming in time to get their child strapped into VR gear. Adults, to some degree, might recognise the signals in themselves, but there is no way for a parent to react in time. If they try to use the hardware once a meltdown has started then the gear won't last long. Have you ever seen the violence of someone resisting restraint? Have you ever actually witnessed a child having a meltdown? How about a 6 foot 6 adult man with arms like girders? The headset would be smashed to pieces in no time. Autistic children as young as 5 have caused serious injury to themselves and those attempting to restrain them - broken bones and open wounds included. Property gets destroyed in spectacular fashion.

What about the disorientation of plunging someone who is already hyper aware and distressed into a virtual world? Have you considered that might make the situation much, much worse? Familiarity is important to everyone but particularly for the autistic children you are targeting with your idea. Plunging them into a virtual, unfamiliar world could be devastating.

Not so long ago autistic people/kids having meltdowns were put in straitjackets, and the underlying problems ignored. Currently we get locked in "quiet rooms" to calm down, and the underlying problems glossed over. VR is just another version of the same, with technological trappings that might convince some that it's a good thing that we should be grateful for, but still, the underlying issues will be brushed under the carpet.

Please do not go down this road. Your idea is not kind, it is highly exploitative and it is doomed to failure once the practicalities are examined in detail. Find something to work on that you already understand and resist the temptation of seeing autistic people or their parents as a financial target.
We don't need VR to block out the world, we need the world to change so we don't need to hide from it. Got any bright ideas that might help encourage autism acceptance?

 

[Pats]

I might also add - each individual is exactly that - individual. What calms one person may work for that one person only. Like, put me in a scene with rocky mountains and it might work, but it might create fear for someone else. Being able to lose yourself in your individual interests or thoughts somehow is possibly a good way to go, but not always feasible. For me personally, I think if I just carried something super soft would be helpful since I have a tendency to rub things when I start getting nervous.

 

[Pinkie B]

Maybe the product "relaxing VR" is a good product, but the audience is wrong? Maybe instead of trying to smash it into the autism community, which is at best only 1/62 of the total population, maybe you can find a larger market that will be more receptive to relaxing VR? Maybe you should focus on the programming of your VR -- after all, VR tech already exists, but can you customize it?

Maybe the autism community might enjoy having a customizable VR headset that they can put their own images/sounds/happy place into, but they would only be a small subset of the the entire market you serve? After all, many of the issues that we face are also faced by NT's, just not to the same extent.