The application of ergonomics aspect and Kansei engineering in designing communication aid for children with autism

摘要

Autism is a psychological disorder; the symptoms include impairment in verbal and nonverbal communication. The increasing number of children with autism is not followed by the number of inclusion schools and therapists, to the point that there is still a considerable number of autistic children with little access to proper therapy. To address this issue, a communication aid called PECS was designed to help autistic children. PECS is widely used worldwide, including in Indonesia. However, PECS have several drawbacks. This paper attempts to design better PECS media. The selected design of PECS media was 7 × 7 cm in size, and made from polypropylene layer pad. The media set was also complemented with aromatherapy oil blend. After being tested with 10 autistic children, it was measured by the time needed to pick the media. It was recorded that the picking time shortened from 48.06 to 41.49 seconds.