The Effect of Motion in AAC Displays on Literacy Skills of Individuals with Down Syndrome
Open Access
- Author:
- Kayga, Shelby
- Area of Honors:
- Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Janice Catherine Light, Thesis Supervisor
Carol Anne Miller, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- AAC
Down syndrome
motion
developmental disabilities
communication
literacy skills - Abstract:
- Individuals with Down Syndrome, and other developmental disabilities, benefit from augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technology to support their participation in communication. Unfortunately, many individuals in this population are susceptible to distraction, which can negatively impact their learning and communication. Research is needed to resolve this issue. Motion has been found to be a very powerful attractor of visual attention. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of targeted motion and of symbols (written words) in AAC displays on the visual attention and, thus, learning by a single participant with Down syndrome. Due to COVID-19, this study was conducted remotely via Zoom web conferencing software. The individual participated in two different conditions (i.e., static and motion). Upon selection of a target symbol in the static condition, the image and the target written word remained on the screen for 5.5 seconds and the name was spoken aloud. Upon selection in the motion condition, the written word smoothly moved from the corner of the screen where the selection occurred to the middle of the screen and enlarged 400%. The participant’s exposure to the static and motion AAC displays was video recorded over four sessions as well as performance on the learning task. The participant’s eye gaze during the exposure to the display was later analyzed and coded. Results demonstrated that the participant attended visually to the target AAC symbols for a longer time in the motion condition (mean = 2.84s) compared to the static display condition (mean = 1.28s). The participant was also consistently more accurate learning the novel AAC symbols within the targeted motion display compared to the static display. These results suggest that motion may be a powerful mechanism to attract visual attention to AAC displays and other materials to maximize learning. Further research is required to replicate the results of this pilot study and to extend the findings to other age and disability groups.