The participatory design of a sound and image enhanced daily planner for people with aphasia

Abstract

Aphasia is a cognitive disorder that impairs speech and language. From interviews with aphasic individuals, their caregivers, and speech-language pathologists, the need was identified for a daily planner that allows aphasic users to independently manage their appointments. We used a participatory design approach to develop ESI Planner (the Enhanced with Sound and Images Planner) for use on a PDA and subsequently evaluated it in a lab study. This methodology was used in order to achieve both usable and adoptable technology. In addition to describing our experience in designing ESI Planner, two main contributions are provided: general guidelines for working with special populations in the development of technology, and design guidelines for accessible handheld technology.

Older Adults with AMD as Co-Designers of an Assistive Mobile Application

“…Their experiences (including outcome of the project) demonstrated that PD is a viable approach for involving special needs users with cognitive impairments in the design of technology. Similarly promising results have been noted by Moffatt et al (2004) who used PD methods to design a daily planner for people with aphasia.…”

Designing a Free Style, Indirect, and Interactive Storytelling Application for People with Aphasia

“…GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) systems, cameras and PDAs are all existing technologies that can be used for this purpose. Developments up to now have focused predominantly on devices to assist in direct communicative exchanges [8].…”

“…a stylus) and pointing [7]. In addition, tapping interaction has shown to be problematic for those with motoric impairments as it provides no support for targeting [8].…”

Knowledge Co-Creation and Assistive Technology

“…For instance, Mike Wu, Brian Richards, and Ron Baecker (2004) used PD with a group of six individuals with memory loss (amnesia) to develop a computational tool to help with the problem of disorientation. In another research project, PD was used with people with aphasia in the development of an Enhanced with Sound and Images (ESI) planner for the personal digital assistant (PDA) (Moffatt, McGrenere, Purves, & Klawe, 2004). Julia Galliers, Stephanie Wilson, Abi Roper, Naomi Cocks, Jane Marshall, Sam Muscro, and Tim Pring (2012) also engaged potential users with aphasia, and conducted a series of workshops in which five participants used gestures (rather than spoken or written language) to express ideas about soware and paper game prototypes and to provide evaluations of them.…”