The neurofeedback product-service solution: StarKids

StarKids is a neurofeedback product-service solution targeted at preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in special education contexts. It combines with neurofeedback training (NFT) games and videos and EEG headband device to enhance social and attentional capabilities in children with autism

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How it manages to provide therapy?

1️⃣ Pre-game conversation helps the child develop empathy and increase motive in completing the task

2️⃣ Within each game, there is an index that reflects the level of social attention, which can be high, medium, and low. The headband detects real-time EEG signals which are translated to an index value by the AI algorithm.

The movement of the game character varies according to the level of social attention, so do the background music and sounds.

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3️⃣ Game report displays the child's EEG analytics and provides the therapist with quantitative feedback to optimize teaching plans

4️⃣ Post-training cognitive games test the child's cognitive understanding and recall ability

HMW design an intuitive game for children with ASD to improve their cognitive ability through a new feature in the StarKids product?

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User Flow

The post-training cognitive game serves as a retrieval practice to help children retrieve information from the game/video training they previously saw, thereby reinforcing their cognitive ability.

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Wireframes

The post-training cognitive game serves as a retrieval practice to help children retrieve information from the game/video training they previously saw, thereby reinforcing their cognitive ability.

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When user clicks the "play" button, the video plays and the name of the action will be announced

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Iteration

I showed the wireframes to child autism researchers, design lead, and developers within the team, and got the following feedback and potential solution:

Final Design

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Colors

Frontiers in Psychology's research shows that ASD users see colors with greater intensity. This hypersensitivity to colors, especially bright ones, leads to sensory overload and causes discomfort in ASD users. It is suggested that we use soft, mild, and light unsaturated tones when possible.

Therefore, I tried to adjust the contrast ratio and color choices by slightly altering the text colors and button styles to ensure accessibility. However, due to the constraint of pre-existed design system, I was not able to implement in the launched version.

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Redesign of the EEG report page

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High-fidelity design of the Post-training Game feature

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Incorrect answer(s) will be dimmed while the correct answer is highlighted with flashing pink stroke. This aims to decrease failure stimulation by offering visual cues.

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🤗 The post-training cognitive games feature was successfully implemented by the developer team and still kept in the current product as a supplement for the training. Although it was not perfect, I am really proud that my idea can contribute to the autism therapy process and help more autistic children!

🖥 Since this feature was designed at the beginning of my internship, it was a good opportunity for me to better understand the needs of our targeted users —— preschool autistic children, which also becomes a solid foundation for my prospective designs within this area.

💡I was also able to validate my design by having regular field visits in the special education center by observing how the feature was used by the therapists. Watching the feature going alive in real life brings me huge satisfaction!

This is the first and valuable experience for me to work within a cross-functional team for 8 months. I learned about their work process, things they care, and practiced to better communicate with developers, therapists, and researchers to create better products that fit users' needs.