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Our team was tasked with creating a sensory play gym for an 11 year girl with autism who has recently been to physical therapy but has become unmotivated at home. She still goes to occupational therapy for fine and gross development. Our group needs to build some indoor play equipment that promotes core exercises and muscle building. We have decided to build a ceiling mounted swing with multiple swing attachments as both children are big fans of swings.
Children with autism often face significant challenges in sensory processing, which can impact their ability to engage in typical play activities. Traditional play environments may not provide the necessary sensory inputs or may even exacerbate sensory overload, making it difficult for autistic children to benefit from play in the same way as their peers.
While researching the options for a sensory play gym, we looked into materials first for a 11 year old. Most gyms we found were made for toddlers and wouldn’t be very beneficial for this girl as the obstacles seemed to not be challenging enough. We found most sensory gyms that include rope ladders or a climbing wall use wood as their frame like similar products we looked into. Looking at a 9 in 1 Swedish ladder wall gym set and other designs with a variety of obstacles helped when trying to decide how to design our project.
A sensory gym with a rope swing, climbing wall, and a swing. Could also add a hearth song swing big enough for the boy and girl to sit in together made out of fabric.
Another sensory gym with different equipment and adding the padded mats for safety. Add a double slide and farm animal noises.
We are currently pursuing a swing that is ceiling mounted with potentially multiple swing options.
We talked to the family and we went with a swing with multiple attachments. We were going to go with a 3/16 inch plate, but it was too flexible with the loads. Instead, we decided to go with a 1/2 in aluminum plate as the base for the swing. We have two sets of eye hooks and swivels so that the swings can swing freely.
In this design, we would attach an aluminum plate to the ceiling with 6 large lag screws. The eye bolts would be attached to the aluminum plate and the swings would attach to the eye bolts.
https://www.strongtie.com/strongdrive_exteriorwoodscrews/sdws-db_screw/p/strong-drive-sdws-timber-screw-exterior-grade
By inserting an Alumimnum cross beam we used and created a simplified force analysis using an average weight of 400 pounds for the stress load and after speaking with the family, they desired to have both children be able to play on the swing at a given time. We estimated a weight higher than the max load to break the swing to ensure safety to the swing.
