Virtual reality in the rehabilitation of people with intellectual disabilities

Virtual reality (VR) possesses many qualities that give it rehabilitative potential for people with intellectual disabilities, both as an intervention and an assessment. It can provide a safe setting in which to practice skills that might carry too many risks in the real world. Unlike human tutors, computers are infinitely patient and consistent. Virtual worlds can be manipulated in ways the real world cannot be and can convey concepts without the use of language or other symbol systems. Published applications for this client group have all been as rehabilitative interventions. These are described in three groups: promoting skills for independent living, enhancing cognitive performance, and improving social skills. Five groups of studies are reviewed that utilize virtual technology to promote skills for independent living: grocery shopping, preparing food, orientation, road safety, and manufacturing skills. Fears that skills or habits learnt in a virtual setting would not transfer to the real world setting have not been supported by the available evidence, apart from those studies with people with autistic spectrum disorders. Future directions are in the development of more applications for independent living skills, exploring interventions for promoting motor and cognitive skills, and the developments of ecologically valid forms of assessment

Tech for Understanding: An Introduction to Assistive and Instructional Technology in the Classroom

This paper examines the different types of assistive and instructional technology available to students who are classified with one or more of the thirteen disabilities outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (referred to as, IDEA). While the roles of assistive and instructional technology are different, there are many instances where their uses may overlap. Thus, while these two categories will be discussed separately, it should be noted that some information may be applied to each category and more than one piece of technology. The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to the world of assistive and instructional technology for those who may be new to its concepts, particularly parents who have recently learned that their child may benefit from extra assistance and future educators who are interested in learning more about the devices they will be using to reach their students. Each of the thirteen disabilities will be discussed briefly, and then each disability will be assigned several types of assistive and instructional technology that serve it well. This will by no means be an exhaustive list of all types of technology available to teachers, parents, and students. However, it will attempt to provide a varied glimpse at some of the options that are available and how they may help children who are struggling to access the curriculum

Cognitive function and assistive technology for cognition: A review

The relationship between assistive technology for cognition (ATC) and cognitive function was examined using a systematic review. A literature search identified 89 publications reporting 91 studies of an ATC intervention in a clinical population. The WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) was used to categorize the cognitive domains being assisted and the tasks being performed. Results show that ATC have been used to effectively support cognitive functions relating to attention, calculation, emotion, experience of self, higher level cognitive functions (planning and time management) and memory. The review makes three contributions: (1) It reviews existing ATC in terms of cognitive function, thus providing a framework for ATC prescription on the basis of a profile of cognitive deficits, (2) it introduces a new classification of ATC based on cognitive function, and (3) it identifies areas for future ATC research and development. (JINS, 2012, 18, 1–19

Interactive guiding and localization platform

Technology is now part of everyone’s life, being widespread and present in the most innocuous objects, making people able to benefit from several technological solutions that only a few years ago were impossible to be implemented. For instance, the smartphone is one example of this type of technology. Usually, this device is equipped with several sensors and a GPS module, which may be used as an orientation system when it carries the right features. The current trend is providing advanced applications to the common public, excluding some fringes of the population, like the people with cognitive disabilities. Thus, everyday technology can be used for helping on several tasks, becoming an interactive terminal, aware of the user conditions. There may be orientation applications that are too complex to be used by people with cognitive disabilities. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to build and implement an orientation method that may be used by people with mild cognitive disabilities and provides several tools to the caregivers. Furthermore, the system is linked to external services like iGenda so the user is stimulated to go outside and increase his/her social participation or not to miss an appointment. The developed system is also a localization system, enabling caregivers to know in real-time the location of the person with cognitive disabilities. Allowing the user to have an independent life.The work of João Ramos was supported by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) through the doctoral grant SFRH/BD/- 89530/2012. The work of Angelo Costa through the Project ”AAL4ALL”, co-financed by the European Community Fund FEDER, through COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (POFC). The work of Paulo Novais through the project CAMCoF - Context-aware Multimodal Communication Framework funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT - Fundac¸ ˜ao para a Ciˆencia e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Evaluating Context-Aware Applications Accessed Through Wearable Devices as Assistive Technology for Students with Disabilities

The purpose of these two single subject design studies was to evaluate the use of the wearable and context-aware technologies for college students with intellectual disability and autism as tools to increase independence and vocational skills. There is a compelling need for the development of tools and strategies that will facilitate independence, self-sufficiency, and address poor outcomes in adulthood for students with disabilities. Technology is considered to be a great equalizer for people with disabilities. The proliferation of new technologies allows access to real-time, contextually-based information as a means to compensate for limitations in cognitive functioning and decrease the complexity of prerequisite skills for successful use of previous technologies. Six students participated in two single-subject design studies; three students participate in Study I and three different students participated in Study II. The results of these studies are discussed in the context applying new technology applications to assist and improve individuals with intellectual disability and autism to self-manage technological supports to learn new skills, set reminders, and enhance independence. During Study I, students were successfully taught to use a wearable smartglasses device, which delivered digital auditory and visual information to complete three novel vocational tasks. The results indicated that all students learned all vocational task using the wearable device. Students also continued to use the device beyond the initial training phase to self-direct their learning and self-manage prompts for task completion as needed. During Study II, students were successfully taught to use a wearable smartwatch device to enter novel appointments for the coming week, as well as complete the tasks associated with each appointment. The results indicated that all students were able to self-operate the wearable device to enter appointments, attend all appointments on-time and complete all associated tasks

Smart Kitchens for People with Cognitive Impairments: A Qualitative Study of Design Requirements

Individuals with cognitive impairments currently leverage extensive human resources during their transitions from assisted living to independent living. In Western Europe, many government-supported volunteer organizations provide sheltered living facilities; supervised environments in which people with cognitive impairments collaboratively learn daily living skills. In this paper, we describe communal cooking practices in sheltered living facilities and identify opportunities for supporting these with interactive technology to reduce volunteer workload. We conducted two contextual observations of twelve people with cognitive impairments cooking in sheltered living facilities and supplemented this data through interviews with four employees and volunteers who supervise them. Through thematic analysis, we identified four themes to inform design requirements for communal cooking activities: Work organization, community, supervision, and practicalities. Based on these, we present five design implications for assistive systems in kitchens for people with cognitive deficiencies

The Effect of Play on the Literacy Development of Students with Severe Disabilities

The purpose of this six week study was to better determine how my students with severe disabilities and I could use play-based literacy activities to achieve their literacy goals and support their literacy development. I designed this study specifically to target three students\u27 individual needs and interests to see how play activities might help them advance in their learning. Conducting this study has helped me notice the positive effects that play-based literacy activities can have on student learning and literacy development. The experience of researching a topic that is relevant to my teaching practices and one that I find directly interesting and relevant, helped me improve and build upon my teaching skills. Conducting this study has enabled me to significantly refine my skills as a researcher. This research enabled me to work with familiar and unfamiliar colleagues in my school, and it has brought me closer to them. The process has expanded the ways in which I view my students and their abilities, and opened my eyes to new ways of teaching that I will implement into my work with my future student

When technology cares for people with dementia:A critical review using neuropsychological rehabilitation as a conceptual framework

Clinicians and researchers have become increasingly interested in the potential of technology in assisting persons with dementia (PwD). However, several issues have emerged in relation to how studies have conceptualized who the main technology user is (PwD/carer), how technology is used (as compensatory, environment modification, monitoring or retraining tool), why it is used (i.e., what impairments and/or disabilities are supported) and what variables have been considered as relevant to support engagement with technology. In this review we adopted a Neuropsychological Rehabilitation perspective to analyse 253 studies reporting on technological solutions for PwD. We analysed purposes/uses, supported impairments and disabilities and how engagement was considered. Findings showed that the most frequent purposes of technology use were compensation and monitoring, supporting orientation, sequencing complex actions and memory impairments in a wide range of activities. The few studies that addressed the issue of engagement with technology considered how the ease of use, social appropriateness, level of personalization, dynamic adaptation and carers' mediation allowed technology to adapt to PWD's and carers' preferences and performance. Conceptual and methodological tools emerged as outcomes of the analytical process, representing an important contribution to understanding the role of technologies to increase PwD's wellbeing and orient future research.University of Huddersfield, under grants URF301-01 and URF506-01

An Intelligent Robot and Augmented Reality Instruction System

Human-Centered Robotics (HCR) is a research area that focuses on how robots can empower people to live safer, simpler, and more independent lives. In this dissertation, I present a combination of two technologies to deliver human-centric solutions to an important population. The first nascent area that I investigate is the creation of an Intelligent Robot Instructor (IRI) as a learning and instruction tool for human pupils. The second technology is the use of augmented reality (AR) to create an Augmented Reality Instruction (ARI) system to provide instruction via a wearable interface. To function in an intelligent and context-aware manner, both systems require the ability to reason about their perception of the environment and make appropriate decisions. In this work, I construct a novel formulation of several education methodologies, particularly those known as response prompting, as part of a cognitive framework to create a system for intelligent instruction, and compare these methodologies in the context of intelligent decision making using both technologies. The IRI system is demonstrated through experiments with a humanoid robot that uses object recognition and localization for perception and interacts with students through speech, gestures, and object interaction. The ARI system uses augmented reality, computer vision, and machine learning methods to create an intelligent, contextually aware instructional system. By using AR to teach prerequisite skills that lend themselves well to visual, augmented reality instruction prior to a robot instructor teaching skills that lend themselves to embodied interaction, I am able to demonstrate the potential of each system independently as well as in combination to facilitate students\u27 learning. I identify people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) as a particularly significant use case and show that IRI and ARI systems can help fulfill the compelling need to develop tools and strategies for people with I/DD. I present results that demonstrate both systems can be used independently by students with I/DD to quickly and easily acquire the skills required for performance of relevant vocational tasks. This is the first successful real-world application of response-prompting for decision making in a robotic and augmented reality intelligent instruction system