Adaptable mobile software for supporting daily activities of people with intellectual disabilities

Many a person with intellectual disabilities (PID) will experience various problems in daily life. The use of mobile applications can help PIDs to cope with these problems and feel more confident. At the present time, the number of applications (apps) that are intended to support the everyday life of PID is growing rapidly. However, different PIDs have different capabilities and limitations. Focusing on a certain category of PID significantly limits the usage of such apps. On the other hand, attempts to cater to a wide range of disabilities can make the app less suitable for most of them. Meanwhile, most PIDs have caregivers who are well aware of the capabilities and limitations of their clients and, if allowed to, would be able to customize mobile apps for each individual user. This situation makes it possible to develop apps for PID that are adaptable by their caregivers. The paper presents an approach to the development of mobile apps for PIDs whose interface can be configured by others who well understand the user’s capabilities and limitations. The mobile app’s interface is to be designed using template-based technologies. The interface templates can include mandatory and optional image elements. Development begins with the design of templates for each app screenshot, showing the mandatory and optional elements, their positions on the screen and sets of possible images for each element. A web service to manage the development of such mobile apps, with adaptable interfaces, and to configure an app’s interface to particular users (PIDs), is described. We then show the suggested approach by the development of two mobile games for PIDs, both with adaptable interfaces.</p