Organizing Vocabulary on
Dynamic Display Devices:
Practical ideas and Strategies
Linda J. Burkhart, Augentative Communication & Assitive Technology
Specialist
6201 Candle Court, Eldersburg, MD, USA 21784
Presented at the 6th Biennial Conference of ISAAC, Maastricht, The Netherlands
October 12, 1994
Dynamic display augmentative communication devices are now
becoming more available.
Technology has advanced to the point where large quantities of graphics and speech
can
be stored in a computer or device and then accessed fairly quickly for use in a
communicative
exchange. Vocabulary can now be stored graphically across numerous pages or screens
without the need to change overlays or learn codes.
This technology has the potential to be extremely powerful
for those individuals who are
non-speaking, especially those with varying degrees of cognitive abilities and
disabilities.
These are the dream devices that many have been inventing in their minds for
decades.
Each device or software program has unique features. Which of these features make
them
more user friendly and also allow for flexibility of design? Which strategies take
advantage
of the range of possibilities?
Due to the rapid technology developments, programs and
devices are on the market prior to
being researched extensively. Parents, speech/language pathologists, teachers,
assistants
and others are setting about the task of organizing a person's vocabulary in a
whole new way.
Numerous methods are being tried. These include such strategies as category pages,
activity
based pages, repair strategy pages, grammatically structured sets, word and symbol
prediction,
accumulated messages from page to page, and endless possibilities of organizing
branching
between pages or sets of vocabulary.
With all these possibilities, it seems that a master plan is
crucial if the user will be able to
access what he/she wants to say quickly and easily. This task is further
complicated when
working with a person who is currently demonstrating low cognitive skills. From
field experience
and discussions with team members, ideas are being gathered to address this
challenge.
In this paper I would like to propose some initial basic
design concepts for dynamic display
communication systems, with an emphasis on design for individuals who are young or
functioning
at young levels. These suggestions may provide a starting point that can be further
adapted
for individual needs. In addition, these ideas may point to areas where research is
needed
and to ways current systems might be improved.
For an individual at the beginning level of communication
experience, whose control options are
also limited and who may need to learn scanning, dynamic display technology can be
an
excellent place to begin and to grow. The user will be able to experience success
with simple
communication while learning the more complicated task of scanning at her own pace.
Because
the level of difficulty is adjustable, she can have the opportunity to learn
scanning within functional
situations instead of learning via isolated scanning training software.
Dynamic display technology can offer a scanning user a wide
access to vocabulary with a
continuum from a single item per page to simple item scanning, group/item scanning
and
branching to other pages of vocabulary. Visual and auditory cues can be used to
simplify
the process and physical layout of screen can be designed to simplify the cognitive
task.
Displays may be customized and arranged to enable the individual to experience
immediate
success and then gradually expand to more sophisticated uses by building on those
successes.
An advantage of dynamic display technology is that it is
extremely flexible. It can allow for
a wide range of individual customization for use and training. For example, screens
may be
set up specifically to teach particular communicative functions, pragmatic skills
and/or more
efficient scanning strategies. Prompts and output modalities can be customized to
meet
visual and auditory needs. Frequently, these technologies offer the ability to use
a combination
of synthesized and digitized voice-output for clear social expressions, best memory
usage,
and possible text to speech for generation of novel utterances. Another plus is
that many
options and features can be turned on and off as desired and combined in a variety
of ways.
We are no longer set into a single choice of size, number or
spacing of items on a given
display as with static display devices in the past. Displays can be designed according to
the individual needs of the child within an activity taking into account the amount
of
distractions present in a specific environment where the display will be used. The
changing
nature of the display can hold a distractible child's attention while limiting
visual clutter that
may over-stimulate him. In addition, displays may be designed to allow quick access
to
social comments that are more effective pragmatically if expressed in a timely
fashion.
With planning and foresight, we can design displays that
adhere to a consistent design
for long term application, while presenting a reduced set of options for initial
success and
training. More items and branching strategies can be added to the display within
this
consistent design as the user's skills develop. This prevents the need to
completely
redesign displays as the user advances and allows for a smoother transition,
because
a whole new layout will not have to be learned.
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