Lancioni Giulio E, Singh Nirbhay N, O'Reilly Mark F, Sigafoos Jeff, Alberti Gloria, Orlando Isabella, Chiariello Valeria, Desideri Lorenzo
Lega F D'Oro Research Center, Osimo, Italy.
Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, United States.
JMIR Rehabil Assist Technol. 2024 Jun 12;11:e59315. doi: 10.2196/59315.
People with intellectual and sensory or sensory-motor disabilities tend to have problems performing multistep tasks. To alleviate their problems, technological solutions have been developed that provide task-step instructions. Instructions are generally delivered at people's request (eg, as they touch an area of a computer or tablet screen) or automatically, at preset intervals.
This study carried out a preliminary assessment of a new tablet-based technology system that presented task-step instructions when participants with intellectual and sensory disabilities walked close to the tablet (ie, did not require participants to perform fine motor responses on the tablet screen).
The system entailed a tablet and a wireless camera and was programmed to present instructions when participants approached the tablet, that is, when the camera positioned in front of the tablet detected them. Two instructions were available for each task step. One instruction concerned the object(s) that the participants were to collect, and the other instruction concerned the "where" and "how" the object(s) collected would need to be used. For 3 of the six participants, the two instructions were presented in succession, with the second instruction presented once the required object(s) had been collected. For the other 3 participants, the two instructions were presented simultaneously. Instructions consisted of pictorial representations combined with brief verbal phrases. The impact of the system was assessed for each of the 2 groups of participants using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across individuals.
All participants were successful in using the system. Their mean frequency of correct task steps was close to or above 11.5 for tasks including 12 steps. Their level of correct performance tended to be much lower during the baseline phase when they were to receive the task-step instructions from a regular tablet through scrolling responses.
The findings, which need to be interpreted with caution given the preliminary nature of the study, suggest that the new tablet-based technology system might be useful for helping people with intellectual and sensory disabilities perform multistep tasks.
智力、感官或感官运动残疾的人在执行多步骤任务时往往会遇到问题。为了缓解他们的问题，已开发出提供任务步骤指令的技术解决方案。指令通常根据人们的请求提供（例如，当他们触摸计算机或平板电脑屏幕的某个区域时），或者以预设的时间间隔自动提供。
本研究对一种新的基于平板电脑的技术系统进行了初步评估，该系统在智力和感官残疾的参与者靠近平板电脑时呈现任务步骤指令（即，不需要参与者在平板电脑屏幕上执行精细运动反应）。
该系统包括一台平板电脑和一个无线摄像头，并被编程为当参与者靠近平板电脑时呈现指令，即当位于平板电脑前方的摄像头检测到他们时。每个任务步骤有两条指令。一条指令涉及参与者要收集的物品，另一条指令涉及收集到的物品将需要“在哪里”以及“如何”使用。对于六名参与者中的三名，两条指令相继呈现，在收集到所需物品后呈现第二条指令。对于其他三名参与者，两条指令同时呈现。指令由图片表示与简短的文字短语相结合。使用跨个体的非同期多重基线设计对两组参与者中的每一组评估该系统的影响。
所有参与者都成功使用了该系统。对于包括12个步骤的任务，他们正确任务步骤的平均频率接近或高于11.5。在基线阶段，当他们要通过滚动响应从普通平板电脑接收任务步骤指令时，他们的正确表现水平往往要低得多。
鉴于该研究的初步性质，这些发现需要谨慎解读，表明新的基于平板电脑的技术系统可能有助于智力和感官残疾的人执行多步骤任务。
