New iPad apps from Inclusive Technology!

I use resources from the HelpKidzLearn website by Inclusive Technology in my work at as a school psychologist at Wolfe School quite frequently.  The students who participate in the program at Wolfe have complex disabilities, including autism.    We have a growing number of younger students, and I've found the resources from Inclusive Technology to be a good fit.


Although many of the students can interact with the content  provided on the HelpKidzLearn website on SMARTboards, those who can't can do so using switches, as the website provides a range of switch-accessible activities.


I use my personal iPad at work, as does the program's speech and language therapist.  She recently downloaded several new apps developed by Inclusive Technology for the iPad.  I just purchased a few of the apps and think that they will be very useful in my work with students, especially during informal assessment of those who have limitations across most domains. 


Below is a video clip from Inclusive Technology that provides a nice overview of the apps, which are switch-accessible.  More apps for the iPad are in the planning stages.   This is great news!





RELATED
Inclusive Technology, UK Site
Inclusive Technology, US Site
HelpKidzLearn


Inclusive Technology has several items that provide students with disabilities access to iPads. Here are the links (US):
Big Grips Frame for iPad and iPad2
it-iClick-iPad Switch Interface
Inclusive iPad Mounts
Maxess Accessories
iAdapter for iPad
Blue2 Bluetooth Switch

Words of Wisdom from Ira David Socal: "Writing without the blocks" using free/low cost technologies.

"Liberate students from the cognitive waste going to mechanical issues which have nothing to do with effective communication. Help them to become communicators and storytellers, and let your teaching focus on construction of effective writing, and what separates "writing" from "talking" in our culture." -Ira David Socal 


You don't need to be a student to appreciate this approach to writing and communication!


WRITING WITHOUT THE BLOCKS
Ira David Socal, SpeEdChange 3/10/11


Ira Socal starts out his thoughtful blog post by mentioning that he dictated it using a Jawbone bluetooth headset and Windows 7 Speech Recognition, which is a free component of the operating system.  He's found that this is a great approach to use with students who struggle with the writing process.   He points out that there are many barriers that students face when attempting to write, especially for those who have difficulty holding a pen or using a keyboard efficiently.  He also points out that "keyboards injure more people each year than any other workplace tool."


Below are two videos Ira Socal shared on his blog:

RELATED/SOMEWHAT RELATED
How to set up Windows 7 Speech Recognition
MIT Freedom Stick (Michigan Integrated Technologies Supports)
Freedom Stick and Firefox Accessibility
"The MITS Freedom Stick is designed to provide students with information and communication access on any computer using a Windows or Linux operating system. When you insert the USB Flash Drive into the computer the LearnApps software should load giving you a menu in the toolbar on the lower-right corner of the screen. Please note, however, that when using the software on some computers you may need to open the drive and click directly on the LearnApps icon to open."

EyeTube for YouTube! Eye-gaze interaction software, free and downloadable from GazeGroup

Gaze interaction systems provide access to computers and the rich content now available on the web for many people with disabilities.  Unfortunately, commercial gaze tracking systems are very expensive and at times, difficult to calibrate.  There is hope!



Following up on my recent post, "Open-source Eye-tracking: The ITU Gaze Tracker 2.0 Beta", I thought I'd share the GazeGroup's EyeTube for YouTube interface.  What is great about EyeTube for YouTube is that it provides two different interfaces. The simplified version looks good for younger children or people with cognitive disorders, and is icon-based.  The second version is appropriate for people who can navigate through more complex visual representations of content. EyeTube requires a Windows-based system and .Net 3.5 at this time. It can be downloaded from the GazeGroup website.  If you plan to download the application, you must also make sure you have a YouTube account. To get the application up and running, you'll need to change the settings (EyeTubeSettings.xml) to match your account.   (If you don't know much about changing settings or xml, ask someone you know who works in IT.)
Below is the icon-based version of the eye-gaze interface for YouTube:


Feature-rich version of the EyeTube interface for YouTube:


From the GazeGroup site:
"The EyeTube prototype offers a feature rich eye controlled interface for the popular YouTube service. Instead of emulating a mouse pointer and interacting with a web browser the EyeTube interface is especially designed to be driven by gaze input. It offers a wide range of features such as keyword searching, popular video feeds, favorites and social aspects such as subscriptions, friends and commenting on videos.The highly optimized interfaces allows for a streamline interaction which is aleviated from the Midas Touch problem. In most previous gaze interfaces selection is made by a dwell time activator, e.g fixat a button for a specific amount of time and it will execute the function. In the EyeTube interface a fixation on a U.I element will highlight it and a second fixation on the activation button is required to execute the function. This removes the stress of having to constantly move the eyes to avoid unintentional activation."

"The EyeTube also exists in another simplified incarnation developed for users whom are distracted by a larger number of options. It supports basic features such as browsing categories, optional keyword searching and favorites."

RELATED
The GazeGroup
(The individuals mentioned below may be currently working elsewhere, but involved in the gaze research in some way.)

• John Paulin Hansen, Head of group (Ph.D. in Psychology)
• Dan Witzner Hansen, Associate professor
• Javier San Agustin, PhD student
• Sune Alstrup Johansen, PhD student
• Henrik Hegner Tomra Skovsgaard, PhD student
• Martin Tall, PhD student (Now working at Duke University, North Carolina)

GazeGroup Research Areas

Development of Gaze Tracking Technology

Application of Eye Tracking for User Experience studies and HCI

Gaze based Interaction

COGAIN (Communication by Gaze Interaction)

ACM CHI Conference Articles
San Agustin, J., Skovsgaard, H., Hansen, J. P., and Hansen, D. W. 2009. Low-cost gaze interaction: ready to deliver the promises. In Proceedings of the 27th international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Boston, MA, USA, April 04 - 09, 2009). CHI EA '09. ACM, New York, NY, 4453-4458. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1520340.1520682
San Agustin, J., Hansen, J. P., Hansen, D. W., and Skovsgaard, H. 2009. Low-cost gaze pointing and EMG clicking. In Proceedings of the 27th international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Boston, MA, USA, April 04 - 09, 2009). CHI EA '09. ACM, New York, NY, 3247-3252. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1520340.1520466 
Tall, M., Alapetite, A., San Agustin, J., Skovsgaard, H. H., Hansen, J. P., Hansen, D. W., and Møllenbach, E. 2009. Gaze-controlled driving. InProceedings of the 27th international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Boston, MA, USA, April 04 - 09, 2009). CHI EA '09. ACM, New York, NY, 4387-4392. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1520340.1520671

UPDATE

Eye-controlled games and leisure applications from the COGAIN wiki: http://www.cogain.org/wiki/Leisure_Applications

• EyeArt - EyeArt eye-drawing program, developed by Andre Meyer and Markus Dittmar, Technical University of Dresden, Applied Cognitive Research Unit, Germany.
• GazeTrain - Gaze-controlled action oriented puzzle game, developed by Lasse Farnung Laursen, Technical University of Denmark
• Puzzle - Simple puzzle game that can be played with eye movements, developed by Vytautas Vysniauskas, Siauliai University, Lithuania
• Road to Santiago - Gaze-controlled adventure game (full game), developed by Javier Hernandez Sanchiz, Universidad Publica de Navarra, Spain
• Snap Clutch - An application that uses eye gaze data to generate key and mouse events for playing games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life.
• ASE: Accessible Surfing Extension for Firefox - Follow this link to access ASE, an Accessible Surfing Extension for Firefox, developed by Emiliano Castellina and Fulvio Corno at Politecnico di Torino. (Note that this is a beta version.)
• Eye Gaze Music (SAW Selection Sets) - Point and Play – eye gaze (direct pointing) musical activities, developed by DART. Please note that SAW (Special Access to Windows) framework application is needed to play these 15 music selection sets. SAW is available for free athttp://www.oatsoft.org/Software/SpecialAccessToWindows
• EyeTube - Gaze interaction for YouTube - Follow this link to get more information and download EyeTube at ITU GazeGroup's web pages
• Eye3D and other head eye mouse software - Eye3D for education, and a collection of links to free software that works with head or eye mouse. Includes links to downloads and original sites.
• Gaze-controlled Breakout - Follow this link to access a modified version of the LBreakout2 game which can be operated by an SMI eye tracker, developed by Michael Dorr et al. at University of Luebeck
• Oleg Spakov's Freeware games for MyTobii - Follow this link to access MyTobii compatible games developed by Oleg Spakov, University of Tampere, Finland
• Free ITU Gaze Tracker and applications - Download a webcam based open-source gaze tracker and several applications that work with it, developed at IT University of Copenhagen
• GameBase - Check out the Eye-Gaze Games category at the SpecialEffect GameBase!
• More information about Gaze-Controlled Games - Follow this link to see a list of online information resources on using gaze for the control of games and other leisure applications

Cross-posted on the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog.

Kindle in Education? Problems with usability and accessibility.

When e-readers first were released to the world, I thought I'd be the first on the block to run out and get one.  But I wasn't, and I didn't.  Why not?   

• They are too expensive.
• They don't provide me with the text/content/concept/nonlinear/multimedia interaction I want (not useful for my purposes.)
  
• Issues regarding usability, accessibility, and universal design have yet to be resolved.

Read more:
Problems with Kindle in Education:  Looks as if Amazon forgot to do usability and accessibility homework!

Interacting and Communicating with HP TouchSmart Notes: Photo, Video, Audio, and More

via Interactive Multimedia Technology

The HP TouchSmart Notes application can be used in a variety of interesting ways. I have an HP TouchSmart PC, and I like how easy it is to slide the notes about the screen using this multi-modal application. It allows the user to take capture pictures, video, or audio to create notes, as well as traditional "stickies" that allow for typing or finger-writing input. You can even draw or write over photos. It is an application that has many accessibility features. It also supports many of the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

The various notes can be put together in a variety of ways, and allow for video or photo storytelling and interesting ways of leaving messages- even a song or two.

I did some hunting and found the more information about some non-verbal students with autism who are learning verbal skills through this technology at Hope Technology School in Palo Alto, California.

Video of student using the HP TouchSmart Notes application at Hope Technology School:






Here are a few "How Two" videos that demonstrate the TouchSmart Notes features and interactions:

HP TouchSmart Voice Notes


TouchSmart Text Notes


The pictures below are from the HP TouchSmart Notes Application Review , by Peter Redmer 11/14/08



Text/Drawing Note Creation Panel


Icons for selecting input method for notes



Photo notes input panel:



You can draw on your photo-notes:

Role of Psychology in Assistive Technology and Device Discontinuance: Article from the American Psychological Association

Susanne Croasdaile, from the VCU Assistive Technology Blog, posted a link to an article from APA about the role of psychology in AT. According to the article, the input of psychology can lead to a better "goodness of fit" between the person and the technology, and decrease the phenomenon of device discontinuance.

It should be noted that the traditional terminology used for device discontinuance is device abandonment. Unfortunately, this asigns blame for the discontinuance on the user of the technology or device, rather than mis-match between the device/technology and the user.

(For more information about the factors related to device discontinuance, see "ATOMS Project Technical Report - Factors in Assistive Technology Device Abandonment: Replacing “Abandonment” with “Discontinuance” by April Lauer, MS, OTR, Kathy Longenecker Rust, MS, OT, & Roger O. Smith, PhD, OT.)

From the APA article:

"Development of successful AT products requires a careful analysis of the goals, functional capacities, and physical and social environments of the intended users. Marcia Scherer, of the University of Rochester Medical School, notes that psychologists play a leading role in carrying out this work, by conducting studies of users’ judgments of whether and how particular technologies benefit them; how technologies fit within the users’ full range of activities and contribute to their sense of control; the perceptions and attitudes of users and others toward particular technologies; and the ways in which technologies actually increase users’ abilities to perform particular activities independently in daily life."

"Careful research on these questions as part of the technology development process can help ensure that the products are actually acquired and used. As Scherer points out, “We know that technology-person mismatches can have a series of repercussions including wasted resources, and people not performing at their functional best. On the service delivery level, device abandonment represents ineffective use of an assistive technology, all of which can be addressed through psychological science.”

New Assistive Technologies for the Visually Impaired: WebAnywhere, Trinetra

I came across a couple of newer technologies suitable for children, teens, and adults who have vision impairments. The technologies might also be useful to a wide range of people, including those who do not have a disability.

WebAnywhere is a screen reading interface for the web, developed by Jeffry P. Bighan, Craig M. Prince, Sangyun Hahn, and Richard E. Ladner, of the University of Washington.

Below is information about WebAnywhere from the University of Washington News:

"This is for situations where someone who's blind can't use their own computer but still wants access to the Internet. At a museum, at a library, at a public kiosk, at a friend's house, at the airport," said Richard Ladner, a UW professor of computer science and engineering. The free program and both audio and video demonstrations are at http://webanywhere.cs.washington.edu.

"Online service lets blind surf the Internet from any computer, anywhere"

WebAnywhere Site
WebAnywhere Paper
WebInSight Publications
WebAnywhere Alpha Release


From the Carnegie-Mellon Website:

Trinetra "the third eye" : SmartPhone-based assistive technologies





"Trinetra aims to develop cost-effective, smartphone-enabled assistive technologies to provide people with an enhanced quality of life in their daily activities. The broad objective is to harness the collective capability of diverse networked embedded devices to support location-aware and context-aware applications, including first-responder support, building navigation, retail shopping, smart transportation, etc."

"The project was originally conceived to enable greater independence for the blind and the visually impaired. To date, we have researched and developed a portable barcode-based solution involving an Internet- and Bluetooth-enabled smartphone to aid grocery shopping at the Carnegie Mellon campus convenience store, Entropy."

"We have also more recently extended this to assist both sighted and visually impaired commuters with their transportation and commute-planning needs, using a smart phone to convey notifications of arrivals, departures, etc. We have also developed a phone-based currency identifier for the visually impaired."

Trinetra: Assistive Technologies for Grocery Shopping pdf

Assistive Embedded Technologies pdf Priya Narasimhan

Related:

"Sight for the Blind and Speech for the Deaf: A professor turns cellphones into aides for the disabled"
-Catherine Rampell (Chronicle of Higher Education)

MICOLE: Open-source multi-modal software supports cooperative learning among sighted and visually impaired children

According to an article on the ICT Results website, a project called "MICOLE" explores the ways multi-modal computing can support co-operative learning among sighted and visually impaired children by harnessing the sense of touch through haptic input devices, and providing a means to produce pictures that can be felt.

This is a quote from the article:
“Adding the sense of touch to information and communication technology is just getting to the point where it can be commercialised,” Raisamo continues. “The first people to benefit are people with disabilities, especially people who are blind or have visual impairment. The more senses you can use, the more multi-modal your computer interface, the more inclusive the technology can be.”










MICOLE stands for Multimodal Collaboration Environment for Inclusion of Visually Impaired Children.

MICOLE is an open-source project. You can download the software and SDK (MICOLELib) from the website. There also is an on-line support forum and a list of publications.

From the MICOLE project website:
"The work in the MICOLE project aims at developing a system that supports collaboration, data exploration, communication and creativity of visually impaired and sighted children. In addition to the immediate value as a tool the system will have societal implications through improved inclusion of the visually disabled in education, work, and society in general. While the main activity is the construction of the system, several other supporting activities are needed, especially empirical research of collaborative and cross-modal haptic interfaces for visually impaired children."

According to an article about MICOLE on the Axistive website:

"Among the interfaces and application prototypes that have been developed are an electronic browser, rhythm reproduction, Post-It notes with a haptic bar code, virtual maracas (percussion instruments), a tactile maze game, memory games, a haptic version of Pong and explorative learning of the internal layers of the earth."

Related:

Hands on Learning for the Visually Impaired

Multisensory User Interface

Games for Health conference audiocast; Game Accessibility in K-12

I recently presented at the Games for Health conference in Baltimore, Maryland. The attendees and presenters at the conference came from a variety of fields- game development, education, occupational and physical therapy, health, bio-mechanical engineering, media arts, and more, all interested in sharing ideas about using game, simulations, and virtual worlds to improve health.

Many of the topics covered during the recent Games for Health conference apply to K-12 settings. If you think about it, many children and teens are at risk for health problems that will adversely impact their lives as adults. If we can provide a means for young people to develop healthy behaviors and attitudes at an early age, we will help to ensure healthy futures, for individuals and communities alike.

If you have a little time, you can listen to the overview provided in an audiocast consisting of interviews with Ben Sawyer and others involved with the conference.

My presentation slides - Game Accessibility and Health Education in K-12 Settings - from the pre-conference, are posted SlideShare, where you can find slides from other presentations on the Games for Health group section.

You can find more information on the Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation website, including a section about Games for Health.

(Cross-posted on Interactive Multimedia Technology.)

Google Lab's Search for the Visually Impaired

Just a brief post:

Google Labs' search feature for people with visual impairments is a good idea. It has been around since 2006. The search results are displayed to ensure that the top results are websites that work with screen readers and keyboard navigation.

Overview of Accessible Solutions from Google

Google Lab's Accessible Search FAQ

Google Lab's Accessible Users Group

Link: Curriculum Planning for All Learners, by Grace Meo

Take the time to read the article, Curriculum Planning for All Learners, written by Grace Meo, an advocate of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This article provides a good framework for implementing UDL at the high school level by the use of a PAL (Planning for All Learners) team. The author looks at ways that the PAL process can be applied to support vocabulary and reading comprehension, which is important, given the high numbers of students at the high school level who struggle with reading.

Be sure to scroll down to the Appendix section of the article, where you'll find a variety of references, resources, and links. If you work at the high school level, consider sharing the article with your colleagues.

Here is the abstract from the article:

"The universal design for learning (UDL) principles provide a blueprint for designing a curriculum that addresses the diverse needs of all learners. The author provides an overview of UDL, connections to curriculum planning, and practical techniques that guide general and special education teachers in planning and implementing curriculum, using the planning for all learners (PAL) procedures. PAL is a 4-step process for designing and implementing a curriculum (goals, methods, materials, and assessments) that is accessible and effective for all learners. In this article, the author focuses on high school social studies content with a goal of supporting all students' understanding of the content by bringing together principles of UDL, the PAL process, and research-based reading comprehension strategies. KEYWORDS: accessibility, curriculum planning and instruction, reading comprehension, secondary school, universal design for learning"

National Center for Technology Innovation: Technology for Intervention

Technology can make it easier to implement and track interventions, and in turn, facilitate the documentation of "evidence-based" interventions. Here are some examples:

"The National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) advances learning opportunities for all students, with a special focus on individuals with disabilities. Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education, NCTI offers technical guidance to facilitate growth and sustainability of assistive and learning tools by fostering innovative technology solutions"

Here are some of the innovations noted at NCTI's November 2007 conference:

NCTI Brightest Idea Peer Award:

SMART Brain Games

"SMART Brain Home System, developed by CyberLearning Technology, uses neurofeedback to improve the behaviors of individuals with autism, language disorders, and attention deficits. Individuals play a Sony PlayStation® racing game while wearing a visor with 3 sensors and using a specially programmed game controller. The player receives auditory, visual and tactile feedback, depending on the real time brain wave patterns being used. The equipment is being tested through an NCTI grant with adolescents with ADD."

SOCIAL SIMENTOR

Social Simentor is "an e-learning assistive technology program offering instruction, interactive scenarios, simulation and feedback for individuals with disabilities who struggle with interpersonal skills in social and business settings." One goal of Social Simentor is to develop skills related to emotional intelligence.

Access Technologies Group adapted Simentor to research the question, "Can digital role-play software, "Social Simentor™", reinforce effective social behavior, provide constructive feedback on incorrect or inappropriate behavior to such a degree that these new skills are internalized and can be applied in a real live social setting?"

Resources:
Online demo of the Social Simentor prototype.
Online demo of the Simentor Interview Simulation
Simentor website