News is now accessible for children with autism

Kian Jacob, a 17-year-old student at Indus Valley International School has been making newsletters accessible to children with autism, helping them keep up with the happenings of the world.

When Jacob was merely a 15-year-old, his interests leaned towards architecture, leading him to intern with an architectural firm which involved him in designing playgrounds for autistic children. After the internship Jacob, with the objective of bringing his design to fruition, contacted Ishanya Foundation, which has 75 kids in the spectrum of differently abled teenagers. However, that project did not work out due to varying issues with logistics.

Yet, he wanted to create something for the children, and did not want it to be restricted to crowdfunding. After brainstorming with the teachers in the foundation, Jacob found that the children needed a newspaper which caters to their very specific needs and keeps them informed regarding the real world.

He worked out an eight-page monthly newsletter which he puts together every month now keeping the students’ needs in mind. He prints them and takes them to the school. The printing of these newsletters is paid by his business which he runs during the weekends involving customised sports merchandise. He also conducts special classes for the children to discuss current affairs.

In conversation with Bangalore Mirror, Jacob shared that the design of his newsletters are kept as simple as possible unlike conventional newsletters in order to ensure that the children are able to go through them without any hassle. “The newsletter is designed to cater for children beginning from middle school, but the high schoolers at the foundation particularly have reviewed and like them. The idea is to keep it as simple and symmetric as possible. The language and vocabulary used is not complex so that it can be easily understood. Along with this, a glossary is provided in the newsletter for new words the children may not know yet,” he said. “The format is kept consistent throughout every edition of the newsletter that comes out. An image is used next to the text, and the colour palette is light and subdued to ensure that it is not overwhelming,” he added.

Jacob noted that the back of the newsletter has a game or activity section which the students particularly enjoy. “We have tested
many games such as the maze and sudoku. In the case of sudoku, we found that the children did not react positively to numbers and in the upcoming editions, we had to make simpler versions for them to engage with. Initial two months involved trial and error but following this, we built a firm structure on which we could work on,” Jacob said. Children deem their time doing the activity section and reading the newsletter as their “best time of the month.” Jacob told Bangalore Mirror that he hopes to continue making news accessible to children with autism and in the future, work on design projects and initiatives for people that fall under the spectrum of neurodivergence.