Exploring how AI can enhance home-based speech therapy for children by supporting parents with practical, emotional, and informational tools.
Storyboard
Academic Publication
AI-Supported Therapy
Speech-Language Pathology
Organization
University of Washington
Human Centered Design & Engineering
Role
Visual Design & Research Assistant
Team
1 Professor, 1 PhD Candidate,
& 1 Designer
Duration
4 months
Design Question
Process
Key Metrics & Impact
Key Challenges
Child Behavior Challenges
#1 Inconsistent Children Engagement Between Clinic & Home
Children show better behavior and engagement during clinic sessions but struggle with distractions and reduced responsiveness at home.
Parental Support Issues
#2 Overlapping Therapy Workload for Parents
Parents face a heavy workload juggling assignments from multiple therapists, who often lack coordination with each other.
Storyboard Development
1. The Role of Storyboards
Stakeholders gain clear insights into therapy challenges and opportunities, inspiring actionable ideas for improving integration and enhancing home practice.
2. Design Iterations
Through iterative design stages, storyboards evolved from simple sketches to detailed scenarios, effectively visualizing therapy challenges and inspiring actionable solutions for parents and therapists.
3. Storyboards Showcase
Problem Scenarios
#1 What are the biggest challenges parents encounter during home therapy sessions with their children?
Conceptual Designs
#2 How can AI assist in making home therapy activities more effective, engaging, and supportive for both children and parents?
Insights & Iterations
1. Stakeholder Feedback on Storyboards
Stakeholders rated the storyboards highly for clarity, relatability, and usefulness, with feedback highlighting their effectiveness in visualizing challenges and inspiring practical solutions.
2. Context for Ratings
The ratings were collected during stakeholder feedback sessions, where parents and therapists evaluated the storyboards based on clarity, relatability, and usefulness. These sessions involved both one-on-one interviews and group discussions, ensuring a diverse range of perspectives was captured.
3. Implications and Refinement Opportunities
The feedback from stakeholders emphasized the importance of creating storyboards that were not only clear and relatable but also actionable. This reinforced their role as a tool for identifying key challenges and aligning stakeholders on potential solutions. By incorporating this input, the storyboards became more effective in bridging the gap between the research insights and practical applications, enabling us to refine our understanding of user needs.
However, further refinements could focus on addressing the diversity of family dynamics and therapy practices, which were not fully captured in the current iterations. Expanding user testing to include a broader demographic could provide more nuanced insights. Additionally, integrating interactive elements into the storyboards may enhance engagement and allow for more dynamic feedback, enabling deeper collaboration and understanding among stakeholders.
Lessons & Next Steps
# How did the storyboards support the project’s goals?
# What challenges emerged, and how can they guide future improvements?
This project highlighted the immense potential of AI in transforming home-based speech therapy by addressing emotional, practical, and informational needs. The storyboards effectively captured real-world challenges, enabling stakeholders to engage with complex scenarios in a clear and relatable way. However, the diversity of challenges faced by families revealed the need for more context-specific and personalized solutions, which remains an area for future exploration.
The team demonstrated strong interdisciplinary collaboration, with storyboards serving as a central tool for aligning research insights with design goals. Despite these strengths, time constraints limited the depth of user testing and the ability to explore alternative concepts. Translating diverse and occasionally conflicting feedback into actionable improvements remained a challenge, underscoring the need for iterative processes that accommodate broader perspectives and evolving requirements.
As the sole designer, I played a key role in translating research findings into compelling storyboards that resonated with both parents and therapists. This experience enhanced my skills in visual storytelling and emphasized the importance of adaptability when working with cross-disciplinary teams. While I successfully balanced creative design with research objectives, I recognize the need to improve my ability to prioritize and integrate diverse feedback to drive more impactful solutions.