The autism spectrum includes a wide range of manifestations. I would like to begin by sharing my experience with a child for whom, despite many hours of therapy, no progress was achieved due to a complete lack of communication. The entire process I followed to overcome the difficulties I encountered with this child became the spark and foundation for the creation of the Multifunctional Therapy House KOKUKI.
I felt deeply saddened because I had not made even the slightest progress with this child, and therapy remained stagnant. I had the impression that I was sitting across from a wall, not a child. The child never looked at me, there was no eye contact, their gaze passed right through me, and they showed no reaction to anything I offered. They were trapped in their stereotypical behaviors, lost in their own world.
During one particularly disheartening therapy session, I decided to rely on my intuition rather than theoretical therapeutic knowledge.
I took the child by the hand, and we sat on a large foam therapy roll in a rider’s position, facing each other. I then pulled the two ends of a yellow jersey fabric tube over both our heads, leaving only our faces visible. We sat face to face (tête-à-tête).
After a while, the child began to glance at me occasionally, and later, they even managed to hold eye contact for a brief moment.
When this started happening more frequently, I began placing various toys inside the fabric tube, such as a shape sorter bucket, simple wooden puzzles, lotto cards, and wooden beads, and we started playing together.
The child began to respond to my requests to “TAKE” or “GIVE,” picking up and handing me the requested objects. For the first time, we were able to communicate and play together, even if only for a short period.
As our progress continued and our cooperation improved, I had to move the therapy sessions to a small igloo tent, as the space and range of movement inside the tube were limited. Additionally, the colors of the toys appeared different due to the yellow fabric of the tube, and the rising summer temperatures made it uncomfortable.
Inside the igloo tent, we sat facing each other and played together. Cooperation and eye contact improved, but the large space inside the tent allowed the child to move away and engage in stereotypical behaviors. Due to the distance between us, I was unable to control the child’s hands and feet while simultaneously offering toys.
The disadvantages were:
• As the summer temperature increased, we became uncomfortably warm.
• The child had enough space to roll on the tent floor and rub their back against the tent walls.
• The colors of the toys changed due to the red fabric of the tent.
• The different lighting and the noise inside the tent distracted the child and did not encourage cooperation or play.
• Additionally, sitting cross-legged on the tent floor for long periods was tiring and uncomfortable.
At that moment, I realized that the child needed a space that ensured proper sitting posture, provided enough room to play, but not too much space that would allow them to wander off and become distracted. Additionally, I needed to find a solution for the optimal distance between me and the child.
Thus, the idea for the Therapy House was born.
The next step was to experiment with a large cardboard box. By setting it upright, I transformed it into a makeshift cardboard playhouse, which was big enough to fit a small plastic chair and a foldable table. The child sat inside the upright cardboard therapy house, with the table placed in front of them, while I sat outside, directly facing the child. A window cut into the side wall allowed daylight to illuminate the workspace.
However, this setup had a major drawback—the child could stick their head out of the window, becoming distracted by visual stimuli outside the cardboard therapy house. I attempted to solve this issue by covering the playhouse with a large fabric curtain, but the success was short-lived as the child pulled the curtain down from the inside.
Another major issue was that the child kept rocking on the chair, standing up repeatedly, knocking over the foldable table, and eventually began destroying the cardboard box itself. The entire setup was unstable and unsafe—the cardboard box, chair, and table were all at risk of collapsing.
I reached a point where I knew this couldn’t continue any longer. I didn’t know what to focus on first—the hyperactive child with stereotypical and self-injurious behaviors (hitting their head with their hands and fists, biting their arm, pulling their hair) or the unstable table and chair. At the same time, I was trying to provide a toy for structured and constructive play.
The situation did not improve, even when I placed a safety belt on the chair—the child would simply bounce along with the chair.
The next step was to design and construct a small wooden therapy house, which served as the preliminary stage of what would later become the Multifunctional Therapy House KOKUKI.
As I worked with the small wooden therapy house over time, I observed various flaws and disadvantages, which I later addressed and corrected in the current Multifunctional Therapy House KOKUKI, for which I have been granted a patent.
I also enhanced the structure and implemented many new ideas. In the Multifunctional Therapy House KOKUKI, all the shortcomings of the initial design have been eliminated, and its numerous advantages now ensure that therapeutic goals can be successfully achieved.
As for the child—they now enter the KOKUKI on their own, with joy.
Based on the unique characteristics of the Multifunctional Therapy House KOKUKI, a European and Austrian patent has been granted.
