Technology Support to Enable People with Severe Intellectual Disability and Blindness to Carry Out Occupational Activities and Transition Between Them Independently
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: People with severe intellectual disability and blindness tend to perform only simple occupational activities and are mostly unable to transition between those activities. This inability makes their level of occupation independent of staff support fairly limited. Technology-aided programs may be one of the few opportunities available to increase their independent occupation. This study assessed one such program designed to (a) monitor the participants’ responses and guide them to transition to a new activity once the previous activity had been completed, (b) ensure the presentation of brief periods of preferred stimulation contingent on the participants’ responses during the activities (i.e., to increase their engagement motivation), and (c) provide verbal encouragements/prompts if the participants failed to respond within a preset time interval. Each session included a sequence of eight or nine activities (e.g., placing glasses in a glass holder box) to be carried out at eight or nine different desks. The technology included a smartphone fitted with a commercial and a dedicated application, a series of barcodes, a barcode reader, and mini speakers. The study included six participants and was carried out using single-case research methodology. During the baseline (without the system), the participants’ mean percentage of objects used (out of those available for the activities) varied between about 33 and 71. Their mean percentage of desks/activities reached independently was zero except in one case. During the intervention (with the system), the participants managed to use between about 97 and nearly 100 of the objects available for the activities and to transition between the activities independently (i.e., with the mean percentage of desks/activities reached independently varying from about 98 to nearly 100). These findings seem to be encouraging as to the possibility of helping people with severe intellectual disability and blindness manage constructive occupation. Caution may, however, be required in drawing conclusions given the limitations of the study (e.g., a relatively small number of participants and lack of maintenance and generalization data).
Source: OBM Neurobiology
Institutions: Augusta University, Victoria University of Wellington
Language: English
Subfield: Occupational Therapy
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4414973918