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Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

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Page 1: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading DisabilitiesKatherine Deibel

CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

April 5, 2005

Page 2: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Outline

Overview of Reading Disabilities

Current Accommodation Approaches

Accessible Technology for Self-Advocacy

Page 3: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

The Statistics

Specific Learning Disability

55%Mobility / Orthopedic 12%Speech / Language 1%Blind / Visual 5%Hearing 6%Mental / Emotional 10%Health 6%Other 5%

ReadingDifficult

y

Disabilities at U.S. Colleges & Universities

(NCES Report 1999-046)

90% experience difficulty with reading (Kavale & Reese, 1992)

Data includes ADD/ADHD

Page 4: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

More statistics

Dyslexia affects 7–15% of the population

(Sands & Buchholz, 1997)

≈500* new students register as having dyslexia each year at UW

*Underestimate

Page 5: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

What’s in a Name?

Dyslexia Dysphonia (auditory) Dyseidesia (visual)

Word blindness Phonological Processing Deficit Strephosymbolia (twisted letters) Visual Stress / Meares-Irlen

Syndrome = Reading Disabilities

Page 6: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

What is a Reading Disability?A neurological condition defined as a profound difficulty with reading and learning how to read that cannot be explained because of:

Low intelligence

Limited sensory ability

Lack of education

Lack of socioeconomic opportunity

Page 7: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Primary Features of Reading Disabilities

Phonological Processing Deficit

Orthography Sound

Rapid Naming Deficit Visual Forms Meaning

Comprehension Difficulties

MentalWord

Word

LetterForm

LetterSound

PhonemeMorpheme

Page 8: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Associated Symptoms

Visual stress and eye strain

Memory issues: Visual

Short-term

Poor self-confidence

Anxiety issues

Page 9: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Reversing Letters ≠ Dyslexia Letter Reversals:

Horizontal mirroring: b ↔ d

Vertical mirroring: b ↔ p

Occur only infrequently

Likely only if result is a real word: Possible: bad → dad

Unlikely: different → bifferent

Page 10: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Related Strengths

Spatial awareness

Lateral thinking skills

Artistic skills

Creativity and imagination

Page 11: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Important Takeaways

Reading disabilities… … are common

… are a cluster of related conditions

People with reading disabilities… … have a diversity of cognitive

symptoms

… face self-esteem and confidence issues

Page 12: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Outline

Overview of Reading Disabilities

Current Accommodation Approaches

Accessible Technology for Self-Advocacy

Page 13: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Defining the User Population The purpose of reading changes

over time From learning to read…

… to reading to learn

My work focuses on adult readers: High school students

Undergraduate and graduate students

Adult employees

Page 14: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Computer-Based Accommodations Text-To-Speech

Bookwise

Kurzweil 3000

ReadPlease

On-demand dictionaries

Reading focus aids: Fisheye lenses

Dynamic highlighting

Page 15: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

AT Demo

Page 16: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Why TTS Works?

Mental vocabulary store is present and functional

Speech bypasses the faulty word recognition pathway

Word

Word

LetterForm

LetterSound

PhonemeMorpheme

Page 17: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Limitations of TTS

Requires strong auditory skills Shown to be ineffective for some users

(Sands & Bucholz, 1997; Elkind et al., 1996)

Social weight (thermos vs espresso machine) Consider classroom usage

Adoption issues: ATL Usage at UW

Elkind Adult Bookwise Study (1996)

Page 18: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Outline

Overview of Reading Disabilities

Current Accommodation Approaches

Accessible Technology for Self-Advocacy

Page 19: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

The General Idea

Identify the factors that lead to AT adoption and rejection

Develop computer tools to address these factors

Page 20: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Factors of Adoption (Preliminary) Gather from informal interviews

with: Students with Disabilities

AT Experts

Identified factors: Privacy / Stigma Concerns

Learning Curve / Software Complexity

Lack of Support / No Self-Advocacy

Page 21: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Support and Self-Advocacy Diversity of reading disabilities is

problematic Need to identify what accommodations are best Need to configure said accommodations Requires expertise and manpower

Students with invisible disabilities are unlikely to seek out help Have low self-confidence due to previous bad

experiences with authority figures (Edwards, 1994)

Often postpone till too late (Cory, 2005)

Page 22: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

AT for Self-Advocacy

Simultaneously address: Caretaker issue

Hesitancy to seek out support issue

Assume reading on a computer (likely a tablet)

A toolkit of interoperable accommodations

A software “wizard” to let the user: Identify the best accommodations

Identify optimal configurations of accommodations

Page 23: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Proof of Concept

Identify a known accommodation with the following properties: Achievable on a computer

Large configuration space

Effective for only some people

Diagnostic protocol exists for diagnosis and configuration

Page 24: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Visual Stress and Color Overlays

Eye strain

Pattern glare

15-20% of people with dyslexia, 10% of general population

Treatment: Colored transparencies and

lenses

Optimal color differs between individuals

Sensitivity to even slight changes in the colors

Difficulty sustaining focus

Letter blur

Visual Stress is when text is painful to read:

Page 25: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Color Diagnosis

Iterative evaluation of oral reading accuracy

The Wilkins Rate of Reading Test: Measures visual stress

Uses 15 common, 1 syllable words

Tight, unfriendly typographycome see the play look up is cat not my and dog for you tothe cat up dog and is play come you see for not to look myyou for the and not see my play come is look dog cat to updog to you and play cat up is my not come for the look seeplay come see cat not look dog is my up the for to and youto not cat for look is my and up come play you see the dogmy play see to for you is the look up cat not dog come andlook to for my come play the dog see you not cat up and is

Page 26: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Software Design

Automate Wilkins Test using speech recognition

Mimic the optometric evaluation of color diagnosis Includes both objective and subjective

measurements

Page 27: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Additional Directions

Recent evidence suggests that individuals with dyslexia are more sensitive to typography

Use previous diagnosis wizard to adjust: Font face

Font size / Line spacing

Page 28: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Discussion

Thoughts on AT for self-advocacy?

Other accommodations to develop/explore?

Applications to other disabilities?

Page 29: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Understanding Adoption (Part 1 of 3) Survey of Technology Use

Participatory Design Studies: Future Workshop Method (Kensing &

Madsen)

Low-Fidelity Prototyping

One-on-one interviews: Students with learning disabilities

AT Experts

Page 30: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Understanding Adoption (Part 2 of 3) Survey of Accessible Technology

Use: Administer to university students with

specific learning disabilities

Focus primarily on AT but will include Classroom Technology (E-mail, Discussion Boards, etc.)

Attempt to identify environmental and social factors related to adoption

Page 31: Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities Katherine Deibel CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities April 5, 2005

04/18/23CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

Understanding Adoption (Part 3 of 3) Participatory Design of Reading

Technology Work a small number of university

students with reading disabilities Determine what does and does not

work with current technologies Will use the Future Workshops

approach (Kensing & Madsen) Brainstorm and develop new

computer-based accommodations