A User-Centred Methodology for the Development of Computer-Based Assistive Technologies for Individuals with Autism.

The design and development of computer assistive technologies must be tied to the needs and goals of end users and must take into account their capabilities and preferences. In this paper, we present MeDeC@, a Methodology for the Development of Computer Assistive Technologies for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), which relies heavily in our experience working with end users with ASD. The aim of this methodology is not to design for a broad group of users, but to design highly customizable tools so that they can be easily adapted to specific situations and small user groups. We also present two applications developed using MeDeC@ in order to test its suitability: EmoTraductor, a web application for emotion recognition for people with Asperger Syndrome, and ReadIt, a web browser plug-in to help people with ASD with written language understanding difficulties to navigate the Internet. The results of our evaluation with end users show that the use of MeDeC@ helps developers to successfully design computer assistive technologies taking into account the special requirements and scenarios that arise when developing this kind of assistive applications.pre-print703 K

Future bathroom: A study of user-centred design principles affecting usability, safety and satisfaction in bathrooms for people living with disabilities

Research and development work relating to assistive technology 2010-11 (Department of Health) Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 197

Co-designing with adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: a participatory action research approach

Randy Zhu investigated how adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can participate as co-designers in an extended iterative software design process. He found that participants expect to make design decisions for applications built for them and parents, community group and fellow participants play a pivotal role in supporting a longitudinal ASD co-design study

PPI Questionnaire on Adaptive Wearable Appropriateness as an Autistic Intervention

Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) is a life-long diagnosis, which has a subset of features including hyper-, seeking- and/or hypo-reactivity to sensory inputs or unusual interests (APA, 2013). These qualities are evident across environmental (e.g. response to specific sounds, visual fascination with lights or movements) and physiological domains (e.g. anxiety, respiration or euthermia). Scholars report that ninety (90%) of autistic adults experience sensory issues causing significant barriers at school/work (Leekam et al., 2007). As part of a larger PhD Research Project, this pilot study establishes designs, processes and measures that may establish if autistic individuals find value utilising adaptive/wearable interventions that possibly alter, redirect and/or attenuate disruptive stimuli. This study incorporates benign information not yet containing practical data, other than to provision and trial space where real data is nominally present. This pilot loads systems functionality for future use (e.g. consent, demographic collection, measures, post-mortem/survey feedback, storage, sorting, query, statistical analyses and reporting). Finally, this pilot provisions a follow-on and full-fledge Participant Public Involvement (PPI) designed to exploit data from focus group and co-produced surveys/designs. In turn, these may be used to inform an as-yet-to-be developed interventional prototype. Hence, the forthcoming PPI—by leveraging this pilot—aims to describe what degree sensory distractions occur among adolescent and adult ASC participants. Both pilot and PPI aspire to whether focus, anxiety and attentional concerns are perceived as negative issues and if individuals prefer assistance (vis à vis assistive wearables) to reduce anxiety, distractions and increase focus at school and at work (Bagley et al., 2016). This study results yield promise; in that, a subsequent PPI can be leveraged to obtain co-designed autistic data leading to a randomised clinical trial

Assistive learning technologies for learners with ADHD and ASD: – a review 2006-2016

This literature review was a part of a research project investigating how technologies can be utilised to support learners with developmental and attention deficit to be included in mainstream learning contexts.  The review contains research within the field of assistive learning technologies for learners with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder from 2006 to 2016. The review is conducted, by using systematic and qualitative academically acknowledged literature search methods. Seven categories of technology-based interventions are recognised from current research, where technologies have been used to support: 1) memory disabilities and/or brain training, 2) increasing focusing attention, 3) time and task management, 4) communication, 5) reading, writing, language and literacy skills, 6) changing behaviour and 7) group work and collaboration. The results indicate that the overall findings of the rendered studies present mixed conclusions. The review calls for more research in a mainstream learning context with a universal design for learning approach

Stakeholder Perspectives to Support Graphical User Interface Design for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Qualitative Study

[Abstract] The development of digital supports for people with autism has increased considerably in recent years. Technology designers and developers have interpreted the needs and learning styles of people with autism in different ways. As a result, there are generic, non-specific or heterogeneous guidelines for the design and development of technology for people with autism. This study aims to identify and describe the recommended elements to support graphical user interface design for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), considering the stakeholders’ perspective, engaged in a computer application development. A qualitative, longitudinal, multicentre study was carried out. A sample of 39 participants belonging to four groups of stakeholders participated: children with autism, family members, professionals with experience in the intervention with children with autism, and professionals with expertise in the design and development of assistive technology. The techniques used to formalise the collection of information from participants were semi-structured interviews and observation. MAXQDA 2020 software (Verbi Software, Berlin, Germany) was used to analyse the data. The result is a guide with suggestions to support an interface design that emerges from the stakeholder perspectives. This study provides useful information to offer alternatives for children with ASD and facilitate the understanding of daily life.The authors disclose the receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: all the economic costs involved in the study will be borne by the research team. We wish to acknowledge the support received from the Centro de Investigación de Galicia “CITIC”, funded by Xunta de Galicia and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund- Galicia 2014–2020 Program), by grant ED431G 2019/01. The diffusion and publication of this research are funded by the CITIC. This study was partially supported by the Orange Foundation in Spain. Moreover, the author P.C.-M. obtained a scholarship (Ref. ED481A-2019/069), and the author M.d.C.M.-D. (Ref. ED481A 2018/205) to develop a PhD thesis. In addition, this research had the support by the National Program of R + D + i oriented to the Challenges of Society 2019 (PID2019-104323RB-C33)