Understanding Computer Accommodations for Reading Disabilities

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

2. Outline • Overview of Reading Disabilities • Current Accommodation Approaches • Accessible Technology for Self-Advocacy CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

3. The Statistics • 90% experience difficulty with reading (Kavale & Reese, 1992) • Data includes ADD/ADHD Specific Learning Disability 55% Mobility / Orthopedic 12% Speech / Language 1% Blind / Visual 5% Hearing 6% Mental / Emotional 10% Health 6% Other 5% Reading Difficulty Disabilities at U.S. Colleges & Universities (NCES Report 1999-046) CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

4. More statistics • Dyslexia affects 7–15% of the population (Sands & Buchholz, 1997) • ≈500* new students register as having dyslexia each year at UW *Underestimate CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

5. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

6. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

7. Phonological Processing Deficit Orthography  Sound Rapid Naming Deficit Visual Forms  Meaning Comprehension Difficulties Mental Word Morpheme Phoneme Letter Form Letter Sound Word Primary Features of Reading Disabilities CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

8. Associated Symptoms • Visual stress and eye strain • Memory issues: • Visual • Short-term • Poor self-confidence • Anxiety issues CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

9. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

10. Related Strengths • Spatial awareness • Lateral thinking skills • Artistic skills • Creativity and imagination CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

11. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

12. Outline • Overview of Reading Disabilities • Current Accommodation Approaches • Accessible Technology for Self-Advocacy CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

13. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

14. Computer-Based Accommodations • Text-To-Speech • Bookwise • Kurzweil 3000 • ReadPlease • On-demand dictionaries • Reading focus aids: • Fisheye lenses • Dynamic highlighting CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

15. AT Demo CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

16. Mental vocabulary store is present and functional Speech bypasses the faulty word recognition pathway Word Morpheme Phoneme Letter Form Letter Sound Word Why TTS Works? CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

17. 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) CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

18. Outline • Overview of Reading Disabilities • Current Accommodation Approaches • Accessible Technology for Self-Advocacy CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

19. The General Idea • Identify the factors that lead to AT adoption and rejection • Develop computer tools to address these factors CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

20. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

21. 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) CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

22. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

23. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

24. 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 and Color Overlays • Visual Stress is when text is painful to read: CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

25. 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 typography come see the play look up is cat not my and dog for you to the cat up dog and is play come you see for not to look my you for the and not see my play come is look dog cat to up dog to you and play cat up is my not come for the look see play come see cat not look dog is my up the for to and you to not cat for look is my and up come play you see the dog my play see to for you is the look up cat not dog come and look to for my come play the dog see you not cat up and is CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

26. Software Design • Automate Wilkins Test using speech recognition • Mimic the optometric evaluation of color diagnosis • Includes both objective and subjective measurements CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

27. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

28. Discussion • Thoughts on AT for self-advocacy? • Other accommodations to develop/explore? • Applications to other disabilities? CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

29. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

30. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities

31. 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 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities