Hello again Readers!
Today, I’m here to talk my brains out about assistive technology. What is that you may ask? Well, assistive technology is technology that enhances the daily lives of people who have disabilities. This can be from powered wheelchairs, video models, robots, assistive communication devices, advanced prosthetics, and more. You all have probably have encountered a number of these and some of you may use them in your daily life. I for one have come to notice this everyday as my mother uses a powered wheelchair to get around easily from place to place using two speeds: turtle speed and rabbit speed. I guess you can tell which of those will make the wheelchair move slower or faster. Now I am going to take a wild guess and say that most of you all are to agree with me that these technologies only give benefits to the people they help and there are not many against the use of these (unless you’re the guy who had his foot ran over by mother while she was on rabbit speed, again I am sorry about your foot). These technologies have now been integrated into our society so much that many rely on the use of these in their daily lives. So let’s talk research!
As a past behavioral therapist myself, I know and have witnessed the daily challenges children with Autism Spectrum Disorder go through each day. From repetitive behaviors to learning the steps of a daily task, children with ASD range low to high on the spectrum. What has helped though, especially what adults use to help these children, are self-modeling videos. These videos are used to increase communication and social skills, on-task behavior, and functional vocational skills. A study done by McCoy, Morrison, Barnett, Kalra, and Donovan (2017), examined the use of self-modeling videos and self-activity pictures on tablets to children with ASD in preschool. The findings were that both the videos and pictures presented by teachers to children were both helpful and increased the amount of engagement of the activity while decreasing the amount of off task behavior. Another great use of assistive technology for children with ASD is Alternative and Assistive Communication (AAC). AAC refers to many varieties of communication including pecks, sign language, and eye gaze devices. A study by Thomas-Stonell, Robertson, Oddson & Rosenbaum (2016) looked at the effects of AAC technology in children’s lives using parent reported measures. The researchers found significant positive impacts on the children’s abilities to develop relationships using the technology as their communication improved. Again, these are called assistive technologies. They are made to help people, not hinder them.
As you all were waiting for, some robots are classified under assistive technology. Robots have been used to help children with social interaction, which is why they are being used in therapy settings. Children are able to practice social skill using robots in order to help their interactions with humans and verbal communication. I will admit though, there are some kinks to robots. One is that only some children may find it difficult to interact with a robot that looks too human, also known as the uncanny valley. The uncanny valley is why you may think the characters in the Polar Express looked a little bit creepy. Let me tell you readers, you’re are not alone. Uncanny valley is when human robots look too human and are uncomfortable to be around. Reachers are unsure of why this is, but have findings that a lot of people think and feel this way with these human like robots. Another negative to the robots is that it can be hard to generalize the skills children use with robots to human interaction. Again, there is little research explaining why that is. It possibility could be how us humans just don’t see a robot as fully human or that robots could be seen too much as a toy. More research to come on the “whys”. But, there are some super cool technologies out there that many glance over, such as powered wheelchairs. A story that stuck with me during a presentation of research in my class is how a young boy was able to play tag with his sister using his powered wheelchair. Technologies such as these can help people with disabilities immensely.
So what can you all, as readers, do? Accept that assistive technology is helpful and you all can help people with disabilities as well by educating what these are. By reading this you all too the first step at understanding these different technologies, but there are a lot more out there. We all need to understand how each of these work in order to stop treating people who have disabilities as minorities. My mother never thought that one day she wouldn’t be able to walk around as much as she wanted again. It is because of assistive technologies that allow for her to go to Disneyland with my family, take the dog on a walk, or go to my father’s company party. Just remember readers, that not everyone's the same, so let’s educate ourselves.
Logging out,
Skyler Gin
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