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RERC-AAC.PSU.EDU 1

GridDisplaystoLiteracy:EffectofdynamictextonwordreadingforindividualswithASDJessicaCaron,JaniceLight,ChristineHolyfield,ClarkKnudtson,DavidMcNaughtonPennStateUniversity

Problem:

– Morethan90%ofindividualswithCCNenteradulthoodwithoutliteracyskills(Foley&Wolter,2010)

– Asaresult,theyareseverelyrestrictedineducation,employment,healthcare,&communityliving

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RERC-AAC.PSU.EDU 2

LimitationsofcurrentAACtechnologies/appswithpicturesymbols

• IndividualswithCCNwhoarenonliterate typicallyuseAACsystems/appswithpicturesymbols

• Thedesignoftheseappsdoesnotsupportliteracylearning– Textmaybedisplayedabovepicturesymbol,butindividualsdonotattendtostatictext(Brownetal.,2015)

– Textmaybedisplayedinmessagebaruponselectionofpicturesymbol,butdisplacementoftextfrompictureselectiondoesnotsupportlearningassociation

PotentialSolution:

• AACtechnologiestosupporttransitionfromgraphicsymbolstoliteracy(T2L)• Transitiontoliteracy(T2L)isasoftware

featureforAACtechnologies/apps• T2Lprovidesdynamicpresentationoftext

withspeechoutputwhenapicturesymbolisselected– Conceptualized&developedbyLight,

McNaughton,Jakobs,&Hershberger(2014)

• T2Lprovidesafirststepinthetransitionfromuseofpicture-basedAACtechnologies/appstoliteracy

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TransitiontoLiteracy(T2L)SoftwareFeatures

• Transitiontoliteracy(T2L)softwarefeature– IndividualselectsapicturesymbolfromAACdisplay

– Writtenwordappearsdynamically

– Writtenwordisspokenbytheapp

• 2apps– Grid-basedT2LappdevelopedbySaltillo(Hershberger)

– VSDT2LappdevelopedbyInvoTek (Jakobs)• IncorporatedintoSnapScenebyTobiiDynavox

Research-baseddesignofT2Lfeature• DesignofT2Lfeatureisgroundedinthestateofthescience

invisualcognitiveprocessing,literacyinstruction,andinstructionaldesign(Lightetal.,2014)– IndividualselectsgraphicsymbolfrompersonalizedAACsystem

• Literacylearningisdrivenbytheindividual’sinterests&needsandutilizespersonallyrelevantvocabulary,thusincreasingmotivation&engagement(Light&McNaughton,2009)

– Textisdynamicallypresentedonthescreen• Movementisstrongattractorofvisualattention,increasinglearner’sattentiontothetext(Wilkinson&Jagaroo,2004)

– Textispairedwithgraphicsymbol&speechoutput• Directactivepairingsupportslearningofassociationbetweenwrittenword&referent(picturesymboland/orspokenword)(e.g.,Browder&Xin,1998)

– Textisconsistentlyincorporatedintocommunication• IntegrationofliteracysupportsintoAACprovidesincreasedopportunitiesforfunctionallearning&usethroughouttheday(Light&McNaughton,2014,2015).

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T2LfeatureforAACappsAfirststepinthetransitiontoliteracy

• T2Lappsareintendedtocomplement,notreplace literacyinstruction

• CurrentT2Lapps– onlysupportsightwordacquisition– areafirststep intechnologiesthatprovideadirectbridgefrompicture-basedsystemstoliteracy

• Futuredevelopmentsarerequiredtofurthersupportthefulltransitiontoliteracy

Aims/Questions:• Thepurposeofthisstudywastoinvestigatetheeffectsofdynamicallydisplayingtextwithingraphics-basedgriddisplayAACapp,inordertosupportthetransitionfromAACgraphicsymbolstoliteracyforindividuals.

• Specifically,theprimaryresearchquestionswere:– (a)Whatistheeffectofexposuretodynamictextwithingraphics-basedgriddisplays,ontheacquisitionofsingle-wordreadingof12words,byindividualswithASD,CCN,andlimitedliteracyskills?• (b) Aretheeffectsgeneralizedtotext-onlyAACgridsdisplays?• (c)Aretheeffectsgeneralizedtouseoftext-onlydisplaysduringacommunicationopportunity?

• (d)AretheeffectsmaintainedbytheindividualswithASDandCCN?

RERConAAC

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Methods:

• Thisstudyimplementedasingle-subject,multiple-probe,across-subjectsdesignwith5participants

RERConAAC

Participants:

• 5Participants:– Allmales– Ages6-14– 4diagnosedwithASD(“Severe”diagnosisonCARSAssessment),1diagnosedwith“characteristicsofASD”

– AllattendAutismsupportclasseswith1:1support– Allidentifiedashavingcomplexcommunicationneeds

• Rangingfromscriptedspeech,echolalic speech,tonospeechanduseofAACappsoniPad

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Participants:ReadingSkills

• Identifyallletter-sounds• 150-300sightwords• Notdecoding

• AlsoadministeredWRMT-III(modified)andTACL-3– <1%forallsubtests

Materials:SightWordProbeMaterials(howweassesslearning)• Wordprintedonyellow• Imagesrepresentingtargetedwords• All“AngryBirds”relatedwords

– Sharedinterestsacrossparticipants– Ageappropriate– AppisavailableforleisureoniPads– Selectedwordsthatwouldexpandtheir

vocabularyandthattheydidn’talreadyknow

• Wordsrangeinlength(4-8letters)– Examples:

• Corporal• Chuck• Destroy• Drag• Slingshot• shoot

RERConAAC

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Materials

Graphics-GridBasedDisplay

GeneralizationPhase:Transitionedtotext

ExposureMaterials(“intervention”)

• NovaChat Device(15buttondisplay)

• T2LSoftwareFeatures– dynamicallydisplayingtext– Textemergingfromits

graphics-basedreferentwithintheAACsoftware

– Speechoutputwithexactmatchtodynamictext

Procedures:• Priortostarting– trainedallparticipantsonphotographsthat

representtargetedwords.90%accuracyorbetterbeforestarting• Fourphases:

– (a)baselinecondition(priortoexposuretotablettechnology);• Presentword&4photographchoices

– Choicesinclude:thecorrectwordandonephotoofawordthatstartswiththesameinitialletter

– (b)exposuretotablettechnologywiththeAACapplications;• 12wordstotal(and2models)

– Showedpicture- wastoldtomatch/findthepictureontheAACT2Lapp– 4exposurestothewordpersession(wordwasonthescreenfor3sec)

– (c)generalizationtodifferenttask(totextonlydisplay)• 3 conditions

– GPà TextonlydisplayonT2Lapp,providedwithpicture– andpromptedtofindtherightword

– GOà TextonlydisplayonT2Lapp,providedwith“find__”promptandparticipantwastolocatethecorrectwordfromthearrayof15

– Communicatingaboutascene

– (d)maintenanceofacquiredsightwords• Sameasbaseline

RERConAAC

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Results:

RERConAAC

Figure 1. Percentage of single-words read correctly, per participant, out of 12 trials, in probe tasks

+69%after,92sofexposureperword

+50%after,60sofexposureperword

+62%after,72sofexposureperword

+56%after,72sofexposureperword

+45%after,72sofexposureperword

ExposureData:

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ResultsSummary:

• Alloftheparticipantsdemonstratedincreasesinthesinglewordreading,ofthetargeted12words,whenintroducedtoT2Lapp– gainsof>+45%(range45%-69%)frombaselinewithminimalexposuretime

– 100%nonoverlappingdataforallparticipants– Maintainingabovebaseline(probesat1,2and3monthspostexposure)

– Allgeneralizingthesinglewordstoanewtask(andhardertask)

Conclusion&FutureResearchDirections:

• Increasesinsinglewordreadingwithminimalexposuretime.

• Theseapps/softwarefeaturesareintendedtocomplement,notreplace,literacyinstruction

• StudyprovidessomefoundationforhowAACsupportswithT2Lsoftwarefeaturescouldbecombinedwithinstruction

• Replication– moreT2Lstudiesforreaderswithmoreadvancedliteracyskillswithdifferentdiagnoses.– Communicativecontext– Differentpartnersprovidingtheintervention(SLPs/Para)moreconsistently

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Acknowledgements/Disclosures• Transitiontoliteracy(T2L)wasdevelopedunderagrantfromtheNationalInstituteonDisability,IndependentLiving,andRehabilitationResearch(NIDILRRgrantnumber#90RE5017)totheRehabilitationEngineeringResearchCenteronAugmentativeandAlternativeCommunication(RERConAAC).http://rerc-aac.org

• NIDILRRisaCenterwithintheAdministrationforCommunityLiving(ACL),DepartmentofHealthandHumanServices(HHS).ThecontentsofthispresentationdonotnecessarilyrepresentthepolicyofNIDILRR,ACL,HHS,andyoushouldnotassumeendorsementbytheFederalGovernment.

Questions?ForHandouts:

http://aac.psu.edu