Designing Children Picture Book Themed Empathy for High Function Autism Classmate

ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) is a pervasive developmental disorder that usually affects poor communication and low interaction with the surrounding.The data shown, ASD has increased by 500 people/year in Indonesia.High-function ASD who studied in inclusive/integration school often bullied (a chance 63% higher than the normal).Bullying and others aggressive attitudes, correlate with one's low empathy, can be prevented by enhance empathy and understanding others through Picture books.This media help children empathize with ASD characters, plots, and values in a fun and understandable way.The research aim is to evaluate the prototype of ASD Children Picture Book.It involves character, plot, layout, setting, and also the main value which are the main aspects to be tested.Digital Field Testing method as Design Ethnography aimed for gaining feedback from Children Reader.This method uses the Zoom platform to deliver Picture Book's content.The Readers are 5 children of 2nd and 3rd Grade Elementary School in Bandung.The result shown that mostly Children can distinguish 3 ASD characters throughout the story.Children felt empathetic response to Dio character and its ASD difficulty.Most children think ASD is some hard-talking sickness.Caregiver/Teacher needs to open discussion about general ASD character to avoid stereotyping and lead to neuro-diversity thinking.This research benefits understanding the context of ASD Picture Book in online reading.