Whizkid Games wins design award

A package of free online games for children with autism has received the pinnacle award at the 2010 Premier's Design Awards.

Whizkid Games was created by a group of final year multimedia design students from Swinburne's Faculty of Design in collaboration with Swinburne's National eTherapy Centre (NeTC) and Bulleen Heights Autism School.

It received the Premier's Recognition Award as the stand-out design achievement for 2010.

Whizkid Games aims to help autistic children learn life skills. Focusing on areas such as coping with change, recognising emotions and non-verbal communication, the 16 therapeutic games are themed around everyday activities such as getting dressed, going to school and following a schedule.

According to NeTC co-director Associate Professor David Austin, the games provide a real benefit for children with moderate to severe autism.

Austin said that autistic children learn intuitively and by detecting patterns through repetition. He worked with about 80 students at Swinburne to invent online games that used these learning techniques.

"Autistic children can be difficult to engage in traditional educational settings, but most of them are very happy to work with a computer. The idea is to capitalise on that and have autism-specific computer-based activities that work for them in building their skills," Austin said.

Swinburne Multimedia Design program coordinator James Marshall, who acted as project leader, said that Whizkid Games demonstrated the value of cross-faculty collaboration in design research to address a particular objective.

Since its launch, Whizkid Games has recorded almost 115,000 visits, representing a 600 per cent increase in traffic otherwise recorded for the National eTherapy Centre's online mental health service, which hosts the program. A trailer for the program can be found at http://www.autismgames.com.au/trailer.html. The games portal can be accessed at http://www.whizkidgames.com

The Premier's Design Awards recognise Victorian initiatives where design has been used effectively, sustainably and strategically to innovate, increase productivity and/or boost competitiveness and exports.

James Marshall discusses the project in a video presentation which can be found at
https://www.stateofdesign.com.au/finalists/Premiers-Design-Awards/page-2010-Winners/whizkid-games-1279768044

Research to aid early detection of autism is one of five projects for which the Swinburne 2010 Community Appeal is seeking financial support. To make a donation visit Swinburne 2010 Community Appeal.