Uxbridge, London – 22-year-old University student Rob Mafrici designed a toy aimed at helping diagnose autism in toddlers. Mafrici created the ball-like device as part of his senior year design project at Brunel University. He hopes the toy will bounce around the country to help identify the earliest signs of autism in children. In an interview Mafici told Burton Mail:
“Early diagnosis of autism is essential if children on the disorder spectrum are going to have the best chance in life. But diagnosis is a lengthy and time-consuming process.”
To use his diagnostic toy all one has to do is play with it. As he put it,
“A child with autism will play with it in a different way from those who aren’t on the spectrum. So it acts as a warning that further investigation is needed.”
The toy, still in the prototype stage,was picked with a handful of others to be shown at special Brunel exhibition in London’s South Bank. Mafrici hopes to be in production soon.
The original article by Rob Smyth in the burtionmail.co.uk can be found here.