The MEDIATE environment is a six-sided module about five metres across, which acts as a multi-sensory interactive environment for children. Designed for children with autism of primary-school age, the module was built with the help of psychologists from Kings College, London, and comprises a movement-sensing environment and touch-sensitive panels that react to the behaviour of the child who enters.

Movement and touch-sensitive environment
Infra-red cameras monitor the child's movement and display representations of his or her figure on two wall-sized touch-sensitive screens, which respond to touch by displaying coloured patterns radiating out from the hand. Other walls have sections in wood, metal, bark and fur, each of which will respond to touch by amplifying any of the scratching or squeaking noises involved in the touching process. The module's floor is also reactive, and movement across it prompts a range of different sounds from the module speakers.

'The clever part of the design is that the software recognises exploratory-type behaviour, then starts to add to the complexity of the environment,' says Chris Creed of Portsmouth University, coordinator of this IST project. 'It processes the input from the infra-red cameras and other interfaces, and reacts by producing steadily escalating variations in the module's visual and sound responses.'

He explains that children with autism tend to show disengagement from their environment by exhibiting repetitive behaviour, such as flapping their hands. When they are fully involved, this repetitive behaviour reduces, hence the importance of being able to recognise more exploratory reactions.

Very positive feedback from parents
The MEDIATE module is fully transportable, and has been evaluated with children with autism by the psychology team in 3 locations, each near a project partner in Utrecht, The Netherlands, and Barcelona, Spain, as well as in Portsmouth, UK. Some 40 children have been tested, with each child's reactions recorded on video and supplied to the psychologists for analysis. In addition some 600 people, including a high proportion of children and adults with autism, tried it out at a public exhibition in the Aspex Gallery, UK, this year.

The UK National Autistic Society has also held a day-long session with the parents of 12 of the children with autism who had used the environment. Their response was extremely positive ; most parents were very surprised by the level of concentration aroused in their child by the environment, and by the length of time they stayed interested.

The module is now being incorporated into a new year-long programme for local children with autism that is starting in October 2004. And several clinics for acute mental patients in Hampshire are interested in trying it out, as is a local school with Downs Syndrome children.

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Source is IST Results and the weblink is:
 http://istresults.cordis.lu/