An Upgraded Smartphone-Based Program for Leisure and Communication of People With Intellectual and Other Disabilities

People with intellectual disability and sensory or sensory-motor impairments may display serious problems in managing functional daily activities as well as leisure activities and communication with distant partners. The study assessed an upgraded smartphone-based program to foster independent leisu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in public health 2018-08, Vol.6, p.234-234
Main Authors: Lancioni, Giulio E, Singh, Nirbhay N, O'Reilly, Mark F, Sigafoos, Jeff, Alberti, Gloria, Perilli, Viviana, Chiariello, Valeria, Buono, Serafino
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
communication
intellectual disability
leisure
Public Health
smartphone
technology
visual impairment
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Summary:People with intellectual disability and sensory or sensory-motor impairments may display serious problems in managing functional daily activities as well as leisure activities and communication with distant partners. The study assessed an upgraded smartphone-based program to foster independent leisure and communication activity of eight participants with mild to moderate intellectual disability, sensory or sensory-motor impairments, and limited speech skills. The upgraded program was based on the use of (a) a Samsung Galaxy A3 smartphone with Android 6.0 Operating System, near-field communication, music and video player functions, and Macrodroid application, and (b) special radio frequency-code labels. Participants requested leisure and communication activities by placing mini objects or pictures representing those activities and containing frequency-code labels on the smartphone. The smartphone, via the Macrodroid application, read the labels (i.e., discriminated the participants' requests) and provided the participants with the activities requested. During the baseline (i.e., in the absence of the program), the participants failed to request/access leisure and communication activities independently. During the post-intervention phase of the study (i.e., using the program), they succeeded in requesting/accessing those activities independently and spent about 70-90% of their session time busy with those activities. The upgraded smartphone-based program may be highly functional for people like the participants of this study.
ISSN:2296-2565
2296-2565
DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2018.00234