Use of a Hand-Held Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) to Self-Prompt Pedestrian Travel by Young Adults With Moderate Intellectual Disabilities
By Mechling, Linda C.; Seid, Nicole H.; Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 220-237Publication Date: June 2011
Study evaluated use of a personal digital assistant (PDA) with picture, auditory, and video prompts as a portable self-prompting device to facilitate independent pedestrian travel by three high school age students with moderate intellectual disabilities. Study participants were 3 young women aged 20 to 21 years who were enrolled in their public school system’s Transition Program for Young Adults. Each student had Individualized Educational Program (IEP) goals for increasing independent travel skills for working and living in their respective communities. The PDA used was the Cyrano Communicator TM augmentative communication device which used pre-installed software on a Hewlett Packard iPAQ Pocket PC. The PDA had multimedia features which allowed importing of pictures and video links directly onto templates, linking of presentation slides, and recording of auditory prompts. Using a multiple probe design across three destinations and their respective landmarks, the self-prompting device was evaluated for its effectiveness in increasing independent travel across multiple destinations. Results indicated that students were able to independently use the PDA to self-prompt pedestrian travel without the need for external adult prompting, to maintain use of the device over time, and to self-adjust the level of prompt used across the different pedestrian routes. Also discussed is future research needed to improve the PDA as a self-prompting device for travel in community settings outside the confines of the university campus where it was tested.
Assistive Products Discussed: CYRANO COMMUNICATOR
Published by: Council for Exceptional Children (Website:http://www.cec.sped.org)
Division on Developmental Disabilities (DDD) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) (Web Site: http://www.dddcec.org )
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number J61257
