Wearable technology has become a part of our lives in recent years, especially in the area of health and safety. The impact of these technologies on children is remarkable. Smart textiles designed specifically for children with autism and language difficulties enable families to build stronger bonds with their children.
Merve Aydıner, one of the most prominent Turkish entrepreneurs in this field, is attracting attention at home and abroad with the smart textile projects she develops.
Wearable technology for children with autism
Merve Aydıner, who completed her undergraduate studies in textile engineering at Istanbul Technical University and then completed her master's degree in design at Domus Academy in Milan, started working on smart textiles during this time. His first project was chosen among the 100 most creative international projects at the London International Creative Contest.
Aydıner, who advised various companies in Europe in this area, founded a team for smart textile projects after returning to Turkey. For the last three years he has won the EU Worth Partnership Project Award for his work on smart textiles that can translate neurostats. She also received an award in the “Kadem Women in Innovation” entrepreneurial program. Projects are currently being developed that offer the possibility of monitoring personal health data in many areas of Türkiye, especially in the automotive industry.
The technologies developed by Merve Aydıner are also a ray of hope for children with autism and language difficulties. Aydıner explains why he started the project with the following words:
“The mother of an autistic child wrote on social media: 'I love my child very much, but I don't understand if my child loves me.' “This situation is really difficult for parents. Children cannot express their feelings, which makes communication difficult. Wearable technologies play a key role in overcoming this difficulty. Thanks to these smart textiles, children’s emotional states can be monitored and families can better understand their children’s emotional states.”
Big step for health and safety
Smart textiles developed by Turkish entrepreneurs not only help children participate in social environments more comfortably, but also monitor children's general health status through monitoring health data. Aydıner explains how this technology works as follows:
“It can record movement data, pulse data, breathing and whether there is a chronic illness… Think of it like a live recorder. After integrating artificial intelligence, this data started to make sense.”
This way, parents can learn more about their children's stress levels, sleep habits, and even how the weather can affect the child's health. This technology puts children's safety and communication with parents on a firmer footing, especially in cases such as autism.
Aydıner explained: “Although in some cases we can tell from people's faces, we may not be able to analyze some children's reactions. These smart textiles can detect alarm situations based on nervous system and heart data and send notifications to authorized people.” This is a great advantage both in terms of ensuring the safety of children and early intervention by parents.
Smart textile revolution in Turkey
Important steps are being taken in Turkey in the area of smart textiles. The projects developed demonstrate both Türkiye's innovative strength and the international spread of these technologies.
These textiles, which have great potential, especially in the health sector, offer solutions to many different health problems, especially for children with autism. In Aydıner's words: “The best area of wearable technology is the health area, and Turkey is doing really good things in this regard.”
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