Spectrum Buddy

Spectrum Buddy - “Ease Your Life At Your Fingertips”. We help build strong support systems for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

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Inspiration:

We wanted to tackle an issue that would be meaningful to us. Our team has friends and family members who are affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder. We wanted to find ways we could help them by using one of our biggest interests, computer science, as a tool.

What Spectrum Buddy does:

Spectrum buddy is a centralized app that aims to better the lives of children suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) by providing useful tools to their entourage. Spectrum buddy has four main features:

  • The Calendar: this is a centralized scheduler that will allow the parent and teacher to coordinate the activities concerning the child. Each activity on the calendar is matched with a location. By tapping on the location, the parent and/or teacher will get reminders about how to best take care of the child at that moment.
  • The To-do list: this list will provide structure to the child’s day. The structure is crucial for children affected by ASD. The list will enable the parent and/or teacher to make sure that the child maintains a healthy and reassuring routine.
  • The Tips: this tab will provide the parent and teacher with daily tips about how to best take care of the child.
  • The Games: this feature is directed to the child. This tab will include educational games that help the development of the child. For now, there are 2 games: - Mood swings: The child is shown an animation and is asked to recognize the emotion of the animation. This game will help develop the child’s emotional intelligence by teaching them to identify emotions as well as express them. - Trivia time: this game is composed of age/grade-appropriate trivia questions. This will help solidify what the child is learning in class. We would recommend that parents and teachers play the games together with the child in order to bond with them.

Finally, in the settings, there are ‘parent’, ‘child’, and ‘teacher’ information tabs that parents and teachers can navigate and update if there is a need.

How we built it:

For the app prototype, we used Figma. We tried to make the best use of its built-in functions going as far as to make two functional games. Our User Guide for which one can find the link through the app was made with Qoom using HTML, CSS, and Javascript. The User Guide website helps manage any concerns that our customers/clients might have such as navigating the app and its perks. The 'Welcoming' tab refers to making sure the customer feels at home and comfortable in trusting the app, along with an overview of the functioning app prototype. The 'Purpose' tab is much more directed in helping us inform our customers of the message we want to spread and why ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) is something that needs more attention in providing an effective solution. The 'Rules' tab focuses on just the functioning of our overall App prototype and how customers can use it at its max potential.

Challenges we ran into:

The first challenge we encountered was trying to decide which framework to use for the prototype. Once we agreed on Figma, the new challenge we faced was understanding the platform enough to materialize our vision. We also ran into the obstacle of code error as well as figuring out what the purpose of our website guide would be. We made sure as a team to have our pitch ready, which took many attempts, but we eventually created an effective one.

Accomplishments that we're proud of:

We are proud to have pushed and worked together so well knowing that we met a day before the Hackathon!! We are very proud of our website and app prototype. We are also very proud of developing an idea that targets a real-world issue in ASD patients suffering from intellectual disability and providing a helpful tool that just makes their lives, parents' lives and teachers' lives easier.

What we learned

We learned that time management is a fundamental part of efficient project and team communication. We learned that asking each other for help was beneficial in getting to know each other's skills more. As a team we all gained a good amount of knowledge on coding, designing, and helping. The biggest learning factor as a team was being able to balance our work and making sure to understand our audience and spread a positive message at the end of the day.

What's next for Spectrum Buddy

For Spectrum Buddy we plan to gain some information from our customers and modify anything that they feel a certain way about. We definitely plan to add much more features to both the Application and Website to make it more interactive for new audiences. Our message will expand helping us advance our app prototype and website by targeting new disabilities. We plan to add more interactive games, making our website far more advanced and help provide outside resources. We also plan to add in our app consultations with therapists or health professionals virtually for teachers, parents, and ASD patients.

Thank You- Spectrum Buddy Team

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