Kate Arndt, Mark Dobil, Kristen Hutt, Ryne Jenkins
Abstract
The PSU Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders is conducting a variety of research projects with young children who use tablets with application software to help aid in developing communication skills. Early intervention is a communication process for young children with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other disabilities. Programs that can be accessed through tablets are useful tools that are incorporated in the intervention steps. There are a variety of iPad cases on the market. However, there are no tablet cases already available that meet the needs of this intervention.
This project group was tasked with designing a model for a tablet case that met the needs of the PSU Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, and the needs of the children and instructors using the tablet. Throughout the design process, multiple iterations of the model were created, and thus far two Additive Manufactured prototypes have been printed.
Introduction/Background
Children who have complex communication needs (e.g., children with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities) require early access to assistive technologies to support their learning and participation in educational, home, and community environments. Current AAC technologies are often difficult for young children to learn to use; they may not appeal to children; and they do not easily accommodate changes as children grow and learn. There is an urgent need to develop AAC technologies that better meet the needs and skills of children with complex communication needs in order to enhance their communication and language development and maximize their educational outcomes.
There exists a series of studies to help understand how to design improved AAC technologies that are easy for young children to understand and use. So far, the results of the studies support the following empirically-based guidelines for designing AAC displays for assistive technologies:
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Infants perform better with visual scene displays (VSDs) that present vocabulary in context than with traditional grid displays that present isolated symbols out of context. Specifically, infants show more interest in visual scene displays and attend to them visually for longer periods of time than traditional grid displays.
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Toddlers locate vocabulary more accurately with visual scene displays than traditional grid displays.
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These results are in keeping with the research literature that suggests that humans process visual scenes rapidly within the first milliseconds of presentation, much more rapidly than isolated symbols. Rather than adding complexity, the research suggests that the context provided by visual scenes in fact facilitates rapid visual processing significantly.
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Overall these results suggest that individuals with complex communication needs in the early stages of development should be introduced to AAC technologies utilizing VSDs rather than traditional grid displays.
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Infants show more interest and attend longer to photographs than to line drawings as images. These results suggest that individuals with complex communication needs at the earliest stages of development should be introduced to AAC technologies using photographs rather than line drawings.
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Toddlers are able to understand and locate vocabulary on visual scene displays that include personalized photographs, non personalized photographs, and non personalized realistic line drawings. Furthermore, they are able to use these VSDs expressively to make requests and participate in play contexts with minimal or no instruction. Although they are able to understand all three types of displays, they perform better with VSDs that are personalized photos of their experiences for personal, human vocabulary (e.g., mommy) These results suggest that individuals with complex communication needs in the early stages of development should be introduced to AAC technologies utilizing VSDs, ideally ones that are personalized photos of their own experiences.
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Participants fixate on human figures within VSDs more rapidly and for longer periods of time than would be expected, regardless of the other elements in the scene. Human figures in photograph VSDs strongly attract visual attention even when presented alongside other attractive distractors and when the human figures are in the background and are very small. Unfortunately some of the AT manufacturers have developed VSDs that omit humans; they simply include the background. Results suggest that humans are a powerful means to attract visual attention to key elements in VSDs, especially with young children who are beginning communicators. Thus humans (e.g., the child, mom, dad) should be integral features of VSDs especially for young children.
In addition to these studies, we are also currently conducting research to investigate improved AAC technologies for young children that allow us to capture VSDs and related vocabulary on the fly during communicative interactions with the children. These new innovative technology offer several distinct advantages compared to traditional speech generating devices that must be preprogrammed with anticipated vocabulary prior to the interaction:
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this innovative technology significantly reduces the programming demands on parents and clinicians; it is fast and easy to add new concepts;
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this innovative technology allows parents or clinician to respond immediately to the child’s interests as they occur and to capture these interests and experiences “just in time” (JIT) for communication during the interaction; and
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this innovative technology allows the involvement of young children in the development of their communication displays and vocabulary, supporting a shared interactive space for the child and parents/ teachers/ clinicians.
A prototype of this innovative AAC technology was developed through a spin off SBIR grant, funded by the National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with Tom Jakobs at InvoTek, Inc. Extended field testing and evaluation of this innovative “just in time” AAC system (that offers a shared contextual space) is currently underway under the AAC-RERC with 9 children with complex communication needs (CCN), ages 1-5 years, including 3 children with autism spectrum disorders, 3 with significant motor impairments, and 3 with cognitive impairments. So far preliminary results of the studies strongly support the effectiveness of the innovative JIT technology compared to traditional SGDs.
Problem Statement
The PSU Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders is conducting a variety of research projects with young children using a Samsung Note 12.2. Early intervention is a communication process for young children with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other disabilities. Programs that can be accessed through tablets are useful tools that are incorporated in the intervention steps. While many child friendly cases exist for iPads, there are no tablet cases already available that meet the needs of this intervention: protect the tablet from accidental drops, is fun and engaging and encourages children to approach the device, is easy for children to grip, and can stand on its own on the floor, the couch, or a table. Additionally, most of the child-friendly iPad cases have various shortcomings such as the need to block the home button from accidental activation and supporting the device so that it can “sit” independently at an appropriate angle.
The tablet case should offer functionality for both an adult and child. The ideal case would be interactive for the child, while offering protection for the tablet, and a surface that can be easily cleaned. The tablet case should offer a built in stand allowing the tablet to sit on a table, couch, or surface, in a variety of positions for viewing the screen. All buttons, speakers, and cameras should be easily accessible as well as protected by the case. Specific issues to be considered when creating this tablet case include an easily gripped case for adults to hold while interacting with children, a stand-alone functionality, a versatile design that may work with multiple tablets, and a case that protects against accidental pressing of the home button that may disrupt the child’s learning experience and require the attention of the adult.
Design and Development
For the case design itself, it was developed into a two layer system with a hard plastic shell on the inside and a silicon rubber liner on the outside. The shell is made of an abs plastic that was printed from an Objet 3D printer and the liner will be made using a silicon rubber resin that will be poured into a hard plastic mold and cured. The design of the plastic shell was done in two interlocking halves to fit around the tablet. It has wide slots along all four edges to allow access to volume buttons as well as charger ports. The liner will cover those components that the children do not need to access but the rubber can be easily pulled back to give the instructor access to them. On the back of the plastic case there are two sets of two holes that will allow for the implementation of different handle designs. The goal is to have several different, interchangeable, handles that could serve a litany of purposes from functioning as handles to hold, to a hanger to hold up the tablet, to even becoming a stand for the case. The Plastic shell also covers up the home button on the front so the child is not tempted to press it while on the reverse side of the plastic there is a piece of plastic that could press the button if the front side is pressed. Only the instructor will know this is here thus he or she will be the only ones with access to it.
Final Case Design and Liner
Evaluation
This case is specifically designed to fit the needs of the PSU Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and provide solutions that conventional tablet cases don’t offer. Our tablet case focuses on the issues of disabling the home button of the tablet so that children using it do not exit the activity they are working in. Our solution for the problem was to hide the button with the tablet case so a child will not find it hidden under the plastic while a knowledgeable user will know to push in the spot of the home button to enable it. The next focus was to develop a handle system that provides the user with a handgrip to hold the device while teaching with the other hand simultaneously. Our solution was to provide two handles in the back that act as a handle but also double as a stand. The handles clip into the device currently by pegs but future prototyping would determine the ideal connection of handles to the tablet case. The tablet case also provides protection to the device while allowing access to all of the buttons. We designed the tablet case to consist of smooth shapes and curves so it would be child friendly. The final product would use these shapes to possibly portray a face with eyes at the top corners and a face below of a child friendly animal. Our design provides solutions and addresses to all of the problems the PSU Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders is facing with conventional cases but with more time we could further prototype and progress these designs yielding the ideal tablet case.
Discussions and Conclusions
Our team has successfully created CAD files of the ideal tablet for the program to use. The final design includes the key features requested:
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aesthetically appealing
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durable and protective
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easily held or propped up
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allows for use of all ports, speakers, and cameras
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blocks touch buttons from accidental pushing
Fortunately, our team was able to use 3d printing technology to create multiple prototype iterations of the inner plastic cover as we made necessary changes from one to the next. Our final printed prototype is of the inner cover and includes all of the necessary items listed above. The CAD files created include the design for this cover as well as the outer rubber protective shell. With the time given to complete this project, the materials available, and our budget, we were unable to make a physical prototype of this rubber shell. With the materials we have created, we hope the PSU Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders will be able to manufacture a tablet case for their use by using our provided designs.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our sponsors, Mari Therrien and David McNaughton for all of their help and guidance throughout this project. We would also like to give a major thanks and appreciation to our project advisor, Michael Immel. He has been a great support from the IE Department and kept us working in the right direction throughout this semester.