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Adoption of Assistive Technologies for Reading Disabilities: Cultural, Literacy, and Technological Aspects

Adoption of Assistive Technologies for Reading Disabilities: Cultural, Literacy, and Technological Aspects. Katherine Deibel University of Washington Generals Exam Presentation November 16, 2007. What I’ve been up to…. for generals for my job for cooking for voting for fun.

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Adoption of Assistive Technologies for Reading Disabilities: Cultural, Literacy, and Technological Aspects

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  1. Adoption of Assistive Technologies for Reading Disabilities:Cultural, Literacy, and Technological Aspects Katherine Deibel University of Washington Generals Exam Presentation November 16, 2007

  2. What I’ve been up to… • for generals • for my job • for cooking • for voting • for fun I’ve been reading… K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  3. What is this talk about? The usage and adoption of assistive technologies by people with reading disabilities The usage and adoption of assistive technologies by people with reading disabilities K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  4. Why does it matter? • Reading is a critical skill in an information society • 7—15% of the population have significant difficulties with reading • Computer-based assistive tools can provide successful accommodations • A tool is only helpful when it is used Refs: Sands & Buchholz,1997 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  5. Abandonment of Assistive Technology • 35% of all assistive technologies purchased are abandoned • Waste of resources, time, and funds for users and disability services • Bad experiences lead to disillusionment about assistive technologies Refs: Phillips & Zhao, 1993, Martin & McCormack, 1999; Rimer-Reiss & Wacker, 2000 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  6. What I did • Reviewed the research literature on: • Assistive technology for reading disabilities • Technology adoption and abandoment • Assistive technology adoption and abandonment • Brought in insights from other research areas: • Human-computer interaction • Reading on computers • Disability studies • Education K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  7. Contributions • Identified gaps in current work in this area • Identified why those gaps exist and persist • Research designs to address these gaps • Synthesizing across disciplines K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  8. Outline • Motivation and Introduction • Background • Reading Disabilities • Assistive Technologies • Overview of Research Literature • Next Steps in Research • Summary K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  9. 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 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  10. What’s in a name? • Dyslexia • Dysphonia (auditory) • Dyseidesia (visual) • Word blindness • Phonological Processing Deficit • Strephosymbolia (twisted letters) • Visual Stress / Meares-Irlen Syndrome Reading Disability K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  11. Prevalence of reading disabilities • 7—15% of the population have some difficulty with reading • Reading disabilities occur in all languages • Most common form of disability at 4-year universities in the U.S. • 46% of students registered as having a disability Refs: Sands & Buchholz, 1997; Lewis et al. 1999’ Smythe et al., 2004 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  12. Difficulties • Phonological processing deficit • Difficulty translating words into sound • Word misidentification • Dropping or substitution of letters in words • Impacts reading comprehension Refs: Perfetti et al., 1992; Dickinson et al., 2002 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  13. Difficulties • Phonological processing deficit • Memory • Short-term memory • Visual memory Refs: Dickinson et al., 2002 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  14. Difficulties • Phonological processing deficit • Memory • Visual stress • Letters and words move and blur together • Eye strain and headaches • Difficulty sustaining reading • Affects 20—30% of the general population Refs: Jeanes et al., 1997; Evans, 2001; Dickinson et al., 2002; Kriss & Evans, 2005 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  15. Difficulties • Phonological processing deficit • Memory • Visual stress Severity of difficulties varies greatly across individuals Refs: Dickinson et al., 2002 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  16. Sociocultural aspects of reading disabilities • Self-doubt, low confidence, and feelings of isolation • Teasing from peers • Viewed as lazy or faking • Expectations from others to fail • Invisible aspect of disability encourages the hiding or limiting of knowledge of having the disability Refs: McDermott, 1993; Edwards, 1994; Zirkel, 2000; Cory, 2005; K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  17. Outline • Motivation and Introduction • Background • Reading Disabilities • Assistive Technologies • Overview of Research Literature • Next Steps in Research • Summary K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  18. Assistive technologies for reading • Text-to-speech software • Listening to text read aloud by a computer • Bypasses phonological processing deficit • Improves reading rate and word identification • Users need strong auditory skills • Requires digitization of texts Refs: Elkind et al., 1996; Sands & Buchholz, 1997, Laga et al., 2006 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  19. Assistive technologies for reading • Text-to-speech software • Color overlays • Colored transparencies placed over text to reduce visual stress • Optimal color differs across individuals • Optometric screening used to select optimal color Refs: Jeanes et al., 1997; Evans, 2001; Dickinson et al., 2002; Kriss & Evans, 2005 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  20. Outline • Motivation and Introduction • Background • Overview of Research Literature • Studies of assistive technology adoption • Models of technology adoption • Other research gaps • Summary of literature review • Next Steps in Research • Summary K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  21. Studies of assistive technology adoption • Phillips and Zhao (1993) • Elkind et al. (1996) • Jeanes et al. (1997) • Wehmeyer (1995, 1998) • Martin and McCormack (1999) • Riemer-Reiss and Wacker (2000) • Koester (2003) • Dawe (2006) • Shinohara and Tenenberg (2007) • Comden (2007) • Deibel (2007, 2008) K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  22. Diversity of methodologies & approaches • Variety of methodologies: • Large-scale quantitative surveys (4) • Adoption studies of a single assistive technology (4) • Small-scale qualitative case studies (3) • Different approaches • Focus on one or many technologies • Focus on one or many disabilities K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  23. MANY ONE ONE MANY Studies of Assistive Technology Adoption Study includes people with reading disabilities Study does NOT include people with reading disabilities Types of Assistive Technologies Types of Disabilities K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  24. Inclusion of reading disabilities • 6 of the 11 studies included individuals with reading disabilities: • Elkind et al. (1996) • Jeanes et al. (1997) • Riemer-Reiss and Wacker (2000) • Koester (2003) • Comden (2007) • Deibel (2007, 2008) • Mixed-disability studies do not report results by type K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  25. MANY ONE 0% 100% Studies of Assistive Technology Adoption Study includes people with reading disabilities Study does NOT include people with reading disabilities Types of Assistive Technologies Focus on Reading Disabilities K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  26. Summary of findings • Only specific technology studies for users with reading disabilities • No study of technology use among people with reading disabilities • No “in the wild” studies of adoption • Consistent findings of general predictors of technology adoption • Involvement of user in selection process • Observable performance benefit • Ease of maintenance and configuration K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  27. Outline • Motivation and Introduction • Background • Overview of Research Literature • Studies of assistive technology adoption • Models of technology adoption • Other research gaps • Summary of literature review • Next Steps in Research • Summary K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  28. Models of [assistive] technology adoption • Baker’s Basic Ergonomic Equation • Kintsch and DePaula’s Adoption Framework for Assistive Technologies • Roger’s Diffusion of Innovations Sociocultural factors of reading disabilities affect their usefulness Refs: Baker, 1986; King, 1999; Kintsch and DePaula, 2002; Rogers, 2003 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  29. Roger’s Diffusion of Innovations • Diffusion of Innovations is the seminal text and theory on technology adoption • Key aspect is communication of ideas K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  30. Roger’s Diffusion of Innovations • People with reading disabilities tend to tactically hide their disability from others • Stealth usage of technology slows diffusion • Social network of users is sparse K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  31. Summary of findings • Sociocultural aspects of reading disabilities hinders applicability of adoption models • Loss of communication and limited social network due to invisibility of disability • Stigma issues are a concern • Lack of usage of models in the adoption studies • Models referenced only in Riemer-Reiss & Wacker (2000) and Dawe (2006) K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  32. Outline • Motivation and Introduction • Background • Overview of Research Literature • Studies of assistive technology adoption • Models of technology adoption • Other research gaps • Summary of literature review • Next Steps in Research • Summary K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  33. Further gaps in the research • Reading on computers • Most work conducted on desktop machines • Most work used in CRT displays • Influence of non-reading supportive technologies not accounted for in earlier studies • Potentials of portable computers (PDAs, tablets, etc.) have yet to be explored Refs: Farmer, 1992; Gujar et al., 1998; Waycott & Kukulska-Hulme, 2003 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  34. Further gaps in the research • Reading on computers • Medical approach to reading disabilities • Near total focus on text-to-speech and compensation / remediation of the phonological processing deficit • Suggests use of the medical model of disability • Limits assistive technology to “crutches” instead of “running shoes” Refs: Hollan & Stornetta, 1992; Sands & Buchholz, 1997; Clough & Corbett, 2000 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  35. Further gaps in the research • Reading on computers • Medical approach to reading disabilities • Ignoring changes in reading over time • Emphasis on early intervention • From “learning to read” to “reading to learn” • Lack of support for more advanced reading skills and tasks Refs: Wineburg, 1991; Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997; Peskin, 1998, Peer & Reid, 2001 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  36. Further gaps in the research • Reading on computers • Medical approach to reading disabilities • Ignoring changes in reading over time • Focus on reading in schools • Reading takes place outside of schools • Systems are often deployed within the schools • Current assistive devices not designed for use in multiple locales Refs: Laga et al., 2006 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  37. Summary of findings • Various factors have limited previous assistive technology design and development • Technological • Philosophical • Educational K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  38. Outline • Motivation and Introduction • Background • Overview of Research Literature • Studies of assistive technology adoption • Models of technology adoption • Other research gaps • Summary of literature review • Next Steps in Research • Summary K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  39. Summary of literature review • Limited development of assistive technologies for supporting reading disabilities • No knowledge of what technologies are used by people with reading disabilities • Sociocultural aspects of reading disabilities cause problems with current models of technology adoption K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  40. Outline • Motivation and Introduction • Background • Overview of Research Literature • Next Steps in Research • Summary K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  41. What to do next? • Participatory design of assistive technologies has been successful • Aphasia Project (McGrenere et al, 2003) • Orientation for Amnesiacs (Wu et al, 2005) • Challenges to this approach • Diversity of user group is problematic • Unclear on what technology needs to be built K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  42. What we really need… • Fill in the gaps: • What technologies are used? Not used? • What contexts does reading take place in? • What reading tasks should we support? • Proactively address what is known? • How can we design assistive technology to be more readily adopted? K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  43. Proposed research • Study of technology and literacy practices of people with reading disabilities • Development of software tools that assist the adoption process K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  44. Study of technology and literacy practices • Case study of people with reading disabilities emphasizing: • their use of regular and assistive technologies to support reading • the types and contexts of their reading activities • Methodologies: • Semi-structured interviews • Technology biographies • Modeled after the studies by Dawe (2006) and Shinohara & Tenenberg (2007) K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  45. Assisting technology adoption through software • Findings of adoption studies are fairly consistent • General predictors of technology adoption: • Involvement of user in selection process • Observable performance benefit • Ease of maintenance and configuration • Understanding of what the technology does K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  46. Reframe findings as questions • Successful adoption of assistive technology relies on the user knowing: • What does this device do? • Why will this device help people with my disability? • Will this device help me with my ability? • How do I configure this device? • How do I use this device? Can we develop a system that insures these questions are answered? K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  47. Semiotic engineering • Interface is viewed as a communication between the designer and user • Usability breakdowns are viewed as miscommunications • Idea: • Use semiotic engineering principles and practice to insure the adoption questions are answered • Has yet to be applied to the design of assistive technologies (Deibel, 2007) Refs: de Souza, 2005; Deibel, 2007 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  48. Document Viewer User Schematic of Adoption Support System Reading Tools Screening Questionnaire Recommended Tools Expert System A Tool Demo Tool Configuration Wizard C B A. Overall application. B. Detail of expert system. C. Detail of a reading tool Refs: Deibel, 2007 K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  49. What I did • Reviewed the research literature on: • Assistive technology for reading disabilities • Technology adoption and abandoment • Assistive technology adoption and abandonment • Brought in insights from other research areas: • Human-computer interaction • Reading on computers • Disability studies • Education K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

  50. Contributions • Identified gaps in current work in this area • Lack of studies on [assistive] technology use • Models of adoption are inappropriate • Narrow focus on reading tasks and contexts • Identified why those gaps exist and persist • Lack of attention to sociocultural factors • Technology limitations • Educational philosophies • Research designs to address these gaps • Study of technology and literacy practices • How to design technology to support the adoption process • Synthesizing across mulitple disciplines K. Deibel, Assistive Technologies and Reading Disabilities

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