Low-cost Tactile Crayons
Completed Project:
The Development and Assessment of Crayons Producing Textured Lines (S. Kandalam, T. Ferro)
For sighted children, the use of crayons plays an important role in childhood development, aiding a variety of development goals. Their low cost and bright colors allow sighted children to be engaged and develop skills through incidental learning. Drawing products for blind and visually impaired children are more costly and less easy to obtain. This project focused on the development of a set of low cost textures that could produce different types of textured lines and areas on standard paper. The developed crayons consist of a combination of different waxes and additives; particle suspensions were not used due to the difficulty in ensuring uniform suspension and consistent deposition on paper. We found that blind or visually impaired participants were able to identify the textured output on paper of the four main tactile crayon types.
The Development and Assessment of Crayons Producing Textured Lines
Kandalam, S., Ferro, T., Pawluk, D. (2019)
Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness
Paper (PDF)