ITU Workshop on Accessibility Bamako, Mali, 13 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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ITU Workshop on Accessibility Bamako, Mali, 13

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ICTs for Children with Mental Challenges. Professor Arun Mehta. President, Bidirectional ... Input via touch screen, joystick (and its equivalents), mouse, ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: ITU Workshop on Accessibility Bamako, Mali, 13


1
ICTs for Children with Mental Challenges
ITU Workshop on Accessibility/Atelier UIT sur
laccessibilitéBamako, Mali 13 15 October 2009
  • Professor Arun Mehta
  • President, Bidirectional Access Promotion Society

2
Stephen Hawking only uses a single button to
communicate
3
Communication and the severely Disabled
  • From Professor Hawkings website I am quite
    often asked How do you feel about having ALS.
    The answer is, not a lot. I try to lead as normal
    a life as possible, and not think about my
    condition, or regret the things it prevents me
    from doing, which are not that many.
  • Not that many? Every communication disabled
    person should be able to say the same.
  • The problem is not the hardware even a mobile
    phone is powerful enough for such needs
  • To take full advantage of the limited abilities
    of a person, you need proper software

4
Brain Behavior Connections in Autism, Nancy
Minshew, Diane Williams
  • brain abnormalities rarely result in a single
    impairment but rather a constellation. E.g.
  • a first-trimester abnormality in the formation of
    the brain
  • a second-trimester disturbance in neuronal
    proliferation (increase or decrease in brain cell
    numbers) or migration (movement of brain cells
    from one place to another)
  • a third-trimester disturbance in neuronal
    organization (development of the elaborate
    connections of the human brain)
  • Also possibly, fetal exposure to a virus or a
    toxin.
  • a unique profile of impaired and intact abilities

5
information input is OK in autism
  • the capacity to
  • pay attention to incoming information
  • perceive (sensory perception),
  • and remember (basic memory abilities)
  • is typically not impaired
  • But fewer interconnections between different
    parts of the brain

6
Problems in higher brain functions
  • what is the object in your hand? (need to feel,
    see, recognize at once)
  • skilled motor movements (e.g. handwriting)
  • memory for complex material
  • higher-order language (idioms, metaphors,
    inferences, paragraph comprehension)
  • flexibility (shift strategy when one does not
    work)
  • concept formation (problem solving when there are
    no set rules associated skills are insight and
    judgment)

7
Sensory symptoms
  • Some children with autism are extremely sensitive
    to bright lights, loud sounds, or even touch
    (more prominent in children with autism than in
    adults)
  • The ability to filter information is a higher
    level function too in autism you very easily
    have information overload

8
Problems with complex grammar
  • Although high-functioning individuals with autism
    could readily comprehend sentences of the same
    length or longer that had simple grammatical
    construction, they had substantial difficulty
    understanding sentences with complex grammatical
    construction the information processing demands
    are greater with clauses and phrases.

9
The proof is in the eating
  • Observe what individuals with autism understand
    by how they actthe demonstration of their
    understandingand not take their words at face
    value
  • Many parents have complained, I know he knows
    the rule. He says the rule while he is doing what
    the rule says not to do.

10
How communication is different
  • People with autism dont always say what they
    mean and are dependent on their communication
    partners to carry the burden of interpreting
    their meaning.
  • Individuals with autism are generally operating
    on facts and rules. As a result, they need
    information conveyed with the fewest words
    possible. The bottom line needs to be stated,
    that is, numerous examples should not be given in
    hopes that they will figure out the concept or
    bottom line.

11
Employment for persons with autism
  • Jobs such as analyzing satellite or other
    surveillance, or screening luggage or other
    import containers coming into the country might
    be potential careers for individuals with autism
    that would draw on the exceptional ability of
    some to process information visually and to
    perceive details

12
How to communicate
  • Using visual strategies, either pictures or
    written words, to communicate instructions or
    messages to individuals with autism serves to
    reduce the amount of content and compress the
    content to essential information. The format of
    these instructions should be written like the
    directions on a soup can brief and to the point.

13
Helping learning and memory
  • Give information in small, simple chunks
  • Take more time
  • Leave the material in sight for rehearsal at the
    individuals own pace, when sensory overload is
    lower
  • (computer-based instruction is terrific for this)

14
they cannot act their age
  • A child with autism may be placed in a classroom
    with other fifth-graders because he can do fifth
    grade-level academic work. However, his social
    behavior may be more like that of a kindergarten
    age child.
  • This should not be cause for alarm from the
    teaching staff, but should be an expected and
    planned for consequence of the developmental
    disorder of autism.

15
Lack of flexibility
  • Persons with autism can have difficulty with new
    situations and environments and demanding or
    socially stressful situations due to inflexible
    problem-solving skills.
  • Need for skill practice in multiple environments
  • Society needs to be more flexible

16
Bottom Line
  • Recognition that challenging behaviors are the
    result of a differently wired brain can lead
    parents and teachers towards more innovative and
    ultimately more effective long-term interventions
    and supports

17
Interface design for Autism in Skid
  • REQUIREMENTS
  • small chunks
  • Take more time
  • Allow repetition
  • Uneven sensory sensitivity, to audio/text/images
  • Cater to inflexibility
  • SOLUTION
  • Highly modular
  • Easy ?
  • Also easy
  • Audio, text graphics, can be turned on/off
  • Similar interface across modules

18
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19
Addressing varying input abilities
  • Input via touch screen, joystick (and its
    equivalents), mouse,
  • For beginners, slow learners and the severely
    motor disabled two button interface
  • In each module, choices offered one by one. Press
    a button to say yes to the presented choice in
    the module
  • Other button switches between modules

20
Simple spring-within-a-spring switch
21
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22
About BAPSI
  • The Bidirectional Access Promotion Society seeks
    to promote

23
Securing the demand and supply
  • BAPSI sends volunteers to special schools to
    identify children whom Skid could help, and works
    with them and their care givers
  • We offer summer training to students wishing to
    add modules to Skid, and use online tools to
    collaborate (e.g. dimdim.com)

24
Recommendations
  • Put resources into researching and understanding
    mental challenges, including role of ICT
  • Collect information (first learn how)
  • Comply with the UN Convention on Rights of
    Persons with Disabilities
  • Establish an Institution with multidisciplinary
    skills to find solutions to individual problems

25
Functions of the Institution
  • Research collect data, identify problems and
    find solutions
  • Technology including semi-custom hardware and
    software
  • Support for caregivers and disabled
  • Policymaking ensure inclusion of persons with
    mental challenges
  • Common platform- create a space for public
    interaction, welcoming of persons with mental
    challenges
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