Can AI Toys Help Autistic Kids with Sensory Overload?

Autistic kids have been reaching for an object to self-soothe since anyone's paid attention, whether it's a blanket or a stuffed animal. They all serve the same purpose. The question is, will AI toys be able to serve that purpose too?

The study we're breaking down today observed 70 autistic preschoolers across two different activities, both done with a caregiver, to see where their attention would land: on the object, on the caregiver, or somewhere else. It also tracked a third state worth noting: unengaged, meaning attention wasn't landing anywhere at all. The study wasn't about AI toys or sensory overload, but it gives insight into how autistic children focus, which can give us hints about both. Here's what the researchers actually set out to find, and how they went about testing it.

The Goal of The Study

Autism therapy plans often make you change the child's environment, but what should you actually change in a child's environment? That's what the researchers were going to find out. The study came from a team at York University, led by researchers Amanda Binns, Devin Casenhiser, Stuart Shanker, and Janis Oram Cardy, and was published in 2022 in the journal Autism & Developmental Language Impairments. They were trying to see what parts of the environment matter most when it came to children with autism, and they eventually zeroed in on one key object: the toy

To test it, they brought 70 autistic preschoolers with their parents to a research lab at York University and gave them multiple toys to play around with. Each child got 5 minutes with pretend play toys like a fake shopping cart, a fake register, and fake food, and the other type of activity they were given was a physical one: toys like a trampoline, an exercise ball, and a crash mat. Those were the two types of activities that were given. During the experiment, every single session was recorded and then analyzed by the researchers.

From there, the footage was broken down, and the researchers sorted the children's attention into three distinct states. Either they were focused on the toy, the parent, or a third state: unengaged, if they didn't focus on anything, more like a wandering state. That third state wasn't a surprise finding; it's a standard coding category that's been used in autism research for over 20 years, so the researchers were tracking it from the start. As well as taking down what the child's attention was focused on, the researchers also noted how much the child spoke during the interaction.

The Results

The clearest result that they found throughout the entire study was that when playing with a single object, their focus was entirely shifted towards that one object. They spent nearly twice as long focused on the single object when compared to the physical toys; kids spent about 75% more time focused on the small toy compared to the larger physical toys. The strongest effect found in the study was that the small toys kept attention for nearly 100 seconds, while the physical toys got under a minute.

The second biggest finding, which was very interesting, was that attention to the caregiver went up when it came to the physical toy, but caregiver attention was never low to begin with. Kids were already engaged with the caregiver about half the time during pretend play, and that climbed to 60% of the time during physical play, a 9-percentage-point jump. You'd think a big object like a trampoline or an exercise ball would actually take away attention from the parent, but the exact opposite happened. Bigger, more physical toys pulled more attention toward the caregiver, not less.

The one thing researchers noted was that the amount children spoke didn't change throughout the entire study. This was surprising, because you would think it would go up when they were interacting more with a caregiver, but it did not.

The main takeaway is that the type of toy was able to shift where a child's attention went, toward the object or toward the caregiver, and it didn't change how much they spoke in either session.

What Does This Mean For AI Toys?

We'll start with the honest reality, which is that neither AI toys nor sensory overload was tested in this experiment. So let's just get this honest truth out of the way: none of this is proof that AI toys can help autistic children in any way, self-soothing or otherwise.

What the study does show is how autistic children's attention works in general, and it raises a real question about whether AI toys would behave the same way if tested. One thing the researchers noted was that a smaller toy, maybe a cat toy with whiskers, was garnering more attention than something large and simple like a yoga ball. While just theorized and not actually tested, the pattern is worth digging into. Another thing to recognize is that children usually sit down when playing with a small toy, and stand up when playing with a larger toy, so that may explain why they are more focused on a parent when playing with the bigger toy, since their field of view is wider.

That's the part worth sitting with for AI toys, because at a bare minimum AI toys are plushies that you can hold and play with, small and detailed, closer to the toys that kept kids' attention locked on the object than the toys that pulled their focus toward a caregiver. If that pattern holds, it's not obviously good news; it raises the question of whether a small AI companion pulls attention inward the same way. So it would be very interesting to see if they recreated this experiment in 2026, using AI toys, to see if that focused-on-the-object attention would carry over, or if things change once the AI tries to interact in conversation.

Being Honest about What We Don’t Know

We aren't going to pretend that this study proves something it doesn't. The study didn't test AI toys; it didn't test sensory overload, and it didn't test Lingo, Gabbo, or any of the other toys in our lineup. What the study does give us is real data on how autistic kids' attention works across two different types of activities. We think that's worth writing about on its own, even without a neat, concrete answer at the end.

Conclusion/TL;DR

So, the ending of this article really comes down to a question rather than an answer. During the study, researchers found real differences in how autistic children shifted their attention depending on what kind of toy was in front of them. Small toys pulled them inward, but bigger toys shifted focus outward, toward the caregiver. It acts as a small window into how autistic children engage with their world, and it leaves a question worth sitting with: would a small toy still pull an autistic child inward if the toy was talking, or would that only work with a silent one?

We don't have that answer yet. But if you're curious what AI toys can actually do, [take a look at our lineup →]

Sources:

Title: "Autistic preschoolers' engagement and language use in gross motor versus symbolic play settings"

Authors: Amanda V. Binns, Devin M. Casenhiser, Stuart G. Shanker, Janis Oram Cardy

Source: Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, Vol. 7, published July 27, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/23969415221115045

Institution: School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Western University (London, Ontario); Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital (Toronto); Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center (Knoxville); Department of Philosophy, York University (Toronto)