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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities Outline  Overview of Reading Disabilities  Current Accommodation Approaches  Accessible Technology for Self-Advocacy

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities The Statistics Specific Learning Disability55% Mobility / Orthopedic12% Speech / Language1% Blind / Visual5% Hearing6% Mental / Emotional10% Health6% Other5% Reading Difficulty Disabilities at U.S. Colleges & Universities (NCES Report )  90% experience difficulty with reading (Kavale & Reese, 1992)  Data includes ADD/ADHD

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities More statistics  Dyslexia affects 7–15% of the population (Sands & Buchholz, 1997)  ≈500* new students register as having dyslexia each year at UW *Underestimate

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities Primary Features of Reading Disabilities  Phonological Processing Deficit  Orthography  Sound  Rapid Naming Deficit  Visual Forms  Meaning  Comprehension Difficulties Mental Word Letter Form Letter Sound PhonemeMorpheme

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities Associated Symptoms  Visual stress and eye strain  Memory issues:  Visual  Short-term  Poor self-confidence  Anxiety issues

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities Related Strengths  Spatial awareness  Lateral thinking skills  Artistic skills  Creativity and imagination

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities Outline  Overview of Reading Disabilities  Current Accommodation Approaches  Accessible Technology for Self-Advocacy

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities Computer-Based Accommodations  Text-To-Speech  Bookwise  Kurzweil 3000  ReadPlease  On-demand dictionaries  Reading focus aids:  Fisheye lenses  Dynamic highlighting

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities AT Demo

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities Why TTS Works?  Mental vocabulary store is present and functional  Speech bypasses the faulty word recognition pathway Word Letter Form Letter Sound PhonemeMorpheme

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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)

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities Outline  Overview of Reading Disabilities  Current Accommodation Approaches  Accessible Technology for Self-Advocacy

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities The General Idea  Identify the factors that lead to AT adoption and rejection  Develop computer tools to address these factors

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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)

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities Visual Stress and Color Overlays  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 is when text is painful to read:

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities Software Design  Automate Wilkins Test using speech recognition  Mimic the optometric evaluation of color diagnosis  Includes both objective and subjective measurements

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities Discussion  Thoughts on AT for self-advocacy?  Other accommodations to develop/explore?  Applications to other disabilities?

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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 ( , Discussion Boards, etc.)  Attempt to identify environmental and social factors related to adoption

6/28/2015 CSE 590W – Computers and Disabilities 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