20% Time: what is it and what is my idea?

20% time is a concept where people take 20% of their own time to develop their own projects and work towards a goal. When Mr. Orre, my high school Anatomy and Physiology teacher, posed this idea, I was really skeptical. I had no idea what to do and really had no ideas in what direction to go. Up until the last week, I had a completely blank slate. From the very beginning, Mr. Orre continuously asked us what we were passionate about. This is when I thought of the hundreds of hours I spent volunteering and working with children with special needs. 

At the volunteer organization, I noticed early on that many of the children there chewed on the collar and the cuffs of their shirts. Almost none of them had an alternative to chewing on their clothes, and the few that did had a chew toy of sorts hanging around their neck. Initially, I didn't think much about it, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that wasn't the best solution. Parents of autistic children want their children to not stand out as different, but with the chew toy, it makes the children more noticeable. From there, my question for myself was "What is a better alternative that would save parents money from replacing ripped clothing and not add to the stigma that children with special needs have?" 

My 20% project stemmed from this inquiry. It seems like a good idea for me to try to develop and produce a product that would essentially be the problem solver for this issue. Parents who want to wean their children off of chewing on their clothes will benefit also. They can apply bitter or spicy sprays or products to the prototype without the destruction of any more pieces of clothing. 

My goal for this project is to make a prototype of a product as described that would be low cost to produce and buy, applicable to most clothing, and be durable enough to withstand several uses. I will start with designs and drawings that I believe will work, then from there, I will tweak it little by little. As I change the parts, I can see which requirements I meet, and slowly work towards the perfect product. 

If I eventually reach a product that I am satisfied with, I may create a couple more and see where that takes me. I might be able to ask the organization if some of the children would want to try my product, and if things are looking up, I might go further and try to make it a product on the market.