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Presenter(s)
Yvonne Gillette
Associate Professor
The University of Akron
School of Speech-Language Pathology
Akron, OH 44325-3001
330-972-6115
330-972-7884 (FAX)
Email: yg@uakron.edu
Roberta DePompei
Professor
The University of Akron
School of Speech-Language Pathology
Akron, OH 44325-3001
330-972-6115
330-972-7884 (FAX)
Summary
The Assistive Technology Research and Development Collaborative on Cognitive Disabilities was funded for 1.5 million dollars across five years by the National Institute on Disabilities and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) in November 2001. The collaborative partners are the Brain Injury Association of America, Inc. (administrator/evaluator), The University of Akron School of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (child and adolescent study site, cognitive disability and traumatic brain injury), Temple University, Institute on Disabilities, (adult study site for cognitive disability), and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (adult study site for traumatic brain injury disability).
Project outcomes include: 1) Web catalog of portable electronic organizers (available on biausa.org Website); 2) surveys of consumers/significant others on electronic organizer use and potential; 3) in vivo usage trials of electronic organizers; 4) tip cards and videos for families on device acquisition; 5) Web cast on survey results and catalog findings; 6) technology transfer conference for stakeholders on the state of the science; 7) white paper summary of Conference findings for distribution to developers and manufacturers.
This progress report will present a project overview and offer data on the 15 participants who used PDAs to aid memory and organization in a controlled experimental design. Forty students will participate in trials within the next year.
Participants and Settings
Students, age 8 through 21 with cognitive disability or traumatic brain injury participated in the study. Students enrolled with their parent at home, or teacher at school.
Procedures
Participation involved independently completing a scheduled personalized task (three times a week) or a scheduled call-in task (five times a week). The research team and support person negotiated a set of potential times for the tasks and randomly selected actual appointment times from that set of potential times.
Participants used four memory and organization techniques changing to another technique each week for four weeks. Participants used a list of appointments during Week 1 and 5 (the baseline condition). During Weeks 2-4 and Weeks 6-8, participants were randomly assigned to three memory techniques, a paper-based appt. book, The Palm Zire personal data assistant (PDA), and the Dell handheld PDA. During the first four week trial, participants who forgot to call in or perform a task were given a reminder to make the call or perform the task the morning of the next day. During the final four week trial, the reminder was dropped.
Data on memory, cognitive, and literacy skills are also being collected on the participants using standardized tests and informal measures. Additional data on the environment (home, school), partners (parent, teacher), technical difficulties with electronic systems, and exit reactions of the support person and participant are being collected as well. All of the variables will be correlated with participant outcomes when all trials have been completed.
Results
Results on the initial 15 participants indicate general subject outcomes tend to form three groups: 1) Electronic systems had a definite positive influence on timeliness (n=5, 2) timeliness across all conditions -baseline, paper-based system, Dell PDA, Palm PDA (n=6), 3) equivocal results (4). Graphs of the three outcome groups follow to illustrate the outcome groups.
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Summary
Current trend in the data indicate the following outcomes: 1) Students with cognitive disability or traumatic brain injury may benefit from electronic systems. 2) Students who participated in the home environment made up 2/3 of outcome group 2 which indicated success with home systems. The one-on-one nature of the home environment may give cues to the student to meet deadlines that a school environment does not. 3) The electronic system with the loudest alarm showed the most success. Preliminary exit interviews indicate that the students enjoyed using the technology and that they discovered and used other features, such as the games, camera, and voice recorders.
At least 3 cases, one from each outcome group will be presented in depth to provide the audience with information they can use to apply the electronic technique in their intervention situation. PDAs provide one option for enhancing a student's capacity to process and interpret information and to improve the person's ability to function more independently in the school environment. Electronic organizers appear to have the capacity to enhance contextually-based intervention to promote independent participation for at least some students.
Early intervention in the area of electronic memory/organization aids can foster skills in independence that can extend into adulthood. Rehabilitation costs are currently skyrocketing because of the number of people who must be hired to assist individuals with disabilities with essential tasks. Portable electronic devices for memory/ organization may provide a means to reduce costs of care and enhance independence among individuals with difficulties in memory/organization, key cognitive-communicative skills.
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