糖心传媒

Project Leads

Mahdi Tavakoli

Team Members
Josephine Wong, Priscilla Boakye, Elizabeth Onyango

Cluster: Immigrant Adolescent and Youth Health

Newcomer children may face language, cultural, and communication barriers that affect peer interaction, play, and participation in child- and family-facing services. These barriers may be greater for children with disability, neurodiversity, limited speech, or motor challenges. Current translation tools are not typically designed to support inclusive play or non-verbal interaction.

The objective of this project is to explore whether multimodal, LLM-based tools can support communication and inclusive play among newcomer children and peers. The project will begin with a tablet/computer-based prototype focused on translation, simplification, turn-taking prompts, and basic interaction support. Depending on feasibility, the project may also examine selected accessibility features or limited embodied/robotic interaction. The main goal is to generate early design insights and feasibility evidence for future work.

1. What communication barriers arise in play or child-facing service contexts involving newcomer children?
2. Which forms of AI-mediated support appear feasible and useful in early-stage prototypes?
3. What accessibility, cultural, privacy, and implementation considerations should guide future system design?
4. Under what conditions, if any, might embodied or robotic interaction add value beyond a digital prototype?

The project will use a staged, user-centred approach. Initial activities will refine use cases through literature review, team consultation, and limited engagement with relevant stakeholders. A small tablet/computer-based prototype will then be developed and internally tested. If feasible and appropriate, the team may conduct limited supervised pilot activities to assess usability, acceptability, and implementation considerations. Findings will be synthesized into early design and feasibility guidance.

This project is in the planning phase.

Newcomer children; Multimodal AI; Inclusive play; Communication accessibility; Migrant well-being