Practical Applications for Use of PDAs and Smartphones With Children and Adolescents Who Have Traumatic Brain Injury
By DePompei, Roberta; Gillette, Yvonne; Goetz, Elaine; Xenopoulos-Oddsson; Bryen, Diane; Dowds, Murdo; NeuroRehabilitation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 23, No. 6, pp. 487-499Publication Date: 2008
Study explored the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones as memory aids for children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury (TBI). An initial study including 106 participants with TBI or intellectual disabilities (ID) at three university rehabilitation centers compared the effectiveness of a paper calendar, a Dell PDA, and a Palm PDA as memory aids. During the 8-week trial, participants completed two tasks following a reminder alarm from the PDAs: placing a phone call and leaving a message, and completing a typical task. External memory aids were exchanged each week. Results showed the Palm PDA to be the most effective reminder method across the three groups, with the Palm PDA having the advantage over the Dell model of a louder alarm. Subsequent in-depth studies were conducted with 6 participants from the first trial using several functions of the Palm PDA for a variety of tasks, and 2 of those participants continuing on in a study using smartphones. Results of these studies indicated that the use of electronic devices can enhance independent behavior in individuals with TBI. Factors influencing success included student motivation, audible beep of the device, support for programming and troubleshooting, alterations of functions, and selection of features to motivate. A PDA intervention plan for use by clinicians, developed on the basis of the study results, is appended.
Published by: IOS Press (Website:http://www.iospress.nl)
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number J55585
