Remmy: A Therapy Teddy
A transitional object to give children space to voice their feelings and parents insight into their child's moods in difficult situations
Faculty Lead:
Ali Karbassi
Zach Pino
Class:
Digital Media
Student:
Lizzy Engele
“Multiple opinions exist on how parenting advice is delivered. One advised delivering one piece of acknowledgement with every piece of critique whereas another perspective said, “I just want an honest opinion of when my child is upset and how I can improve.” With that said, Remmy’s advice giving could be very off putting for parents who are sensitive to feedback. There’s also a fine line between Remmy giving a high level overview of children’s feelings versus parents using Remmy as an excuse for understanding how their child is doing when they aren’t making the time to sit with their child. ”
To learn more about the project, click here.
Remmy (short for Remedy) ensures children feel a sense of belonging within their families and gives guardians an overview of children’s feelings and guidance for helping children deal with their feelings. In no way, is Remmy supposed to replace the role of guardians being with their children to guide them in their feelings--the bear functions as an extra layer of insight for guardians and therapy when children are in compromised situations (divorce, adoption, etc.). The bear is of suitable size (2.5 feet) for children to cuddle with, and its hands and feet have a grip-like soothing texture.
Included in the bear are: Sensors to get an understanding of a child’s stress levels when being hugged; VoiceFlow technology for conducting therapeutic conversations, and a drawable tummy for children to draw their feelings and emotions. The bear translates its conversations with the child into summarized moods which are displayed on the accompanying guardian app.
Also on the app, guardians receive guidance for what to do with the child’s moods, and parents can ask the bear to ask a child questions when a guardian might be concerned about situational occurrences and can’t get the child to talk.