Forming an Opportunity Belief

1) My beginning point. My belief is we should expand education and activity to special needs children through apps.
2) Describing my belief. The unmet need is that since schools have closed due to the virus occurring right now, children with special needs might be getting some of their education through online video calls but they’re not getting the same amount of activity as they would be exposed to at their schools. The need has always existed where special education students who can be too old for certain games resort to playing younger children’s games, not learning through it, and now with that these children aren’t receiving the same amount of activities at home as they would in school this new belief would solve more education and activity during this time. Right now parents of special education children are just providing their child with younger children’s games, but the kids aren’t learning through these apps. I’m 55% sure that this opportunity exists.
Prototypical Customer 1: The first customer I talked to was my close friend Elizabeth. Her nephew has autism and resorts to playing with children’s toys and games; his school was moved to online and his parents are trying to work from home while watching their son. The parents notice how easily their son becomes distracted while doing online schooling because he is at home surrounded by all his toys, this happens everyday now. They have had this need ever since his school was moved to online because of the virus. They became aware of this need when he was in an online video lesson but was playing with his toys instead of paying attention. Currently they are taking less work to keep a close eye on and encourage their son. They’re happy that their son is still getting his education, but he becomes upset when he doesn’t get to play, and they still need the work they’ve been cutting back on.
Prototypical Customer 2: The second customer I asked was my other close friend Grace. Her brother has autism as well and plays with all types of children toys and games, especially apps. She became aware of this need when she was working on homework while her brother was in a video lesson and on his tablet playing with apps at the same time, this happens everyday even after the lessons have finished. She has had the need since the virus made schooling online and he hasn’t been involved in the same activities. Currently she’s letting him play games on the tablet, not paying attention to his lessons. She isn’t satisfied with the solution, worried he isn’t treating school the same. Prototypical Customer 3: The last customer I talked to was Grace’s mother, Melissa. Her son has autism and she has always allowed him to play games on his tablet, but now she doesn’t want to upset him by taking away his tablet so he can pay attention to his video lessons. She became aware when her son would try to bring his tablet to school (before the virus, when he first started playing games), she experiences this need daily. She’s had this need for six years now. Currently she’s allowing her son to play the games during school because he is home with his tablet. She is satisfied with this solution, seeing she would have to give him his tablet back if she took it away from him.
Reflection: What I learned is that these family members of the special needs children don’t want to upset and confuse their children by stopping their children from playing games during at home schooling. The most surprising thing I learned was how accessible and distracting these gaming apps are to special needs children.
Summary: More of my original opportunity is still here, knowing how much more these special education children use these gaming apps and how much this change to online schooling has affected them. I believe my new opportunity is more accurate with others who have also experienced this. I think entrepreneurs should ‘adapt’ all of their opportunities based on customer feedback because its those same customers who will or will not be involved with this product.