Abi Roper

Codesign for people with aphasia through tangible design languages

Codesign techniques encourage designers and end-users to work together in the creation of design solutions, but often make assumptions about the ways in which participants will be able to communicate. This can lead to the unwitting exclusion of people with communication impairments from the design of technologies that have the potential to transform their lives. This paper reports our research into codesign techniques for people whose communication skills are impaired. A variety of techniques were explored on two projects; some were adaptations of existing codesign techniques, others were created specially. In both cases, the emphasis was on creating tangible design languages. The results illustrate how people with communication impairments can be given a voice in design and demonstrate the benefits of doing so.

Computer delivery of gesture therapy for people with severe aphasia

Background: Using gesture as a compensatory communication strategy may be challenging for people with severe aphasia. Therapy can improve skills with gesture, at least in elicitation tasks, but gains ar often modest. Raising the treatment dose with technology might improve outcomes. Aims: This feasibility study developed a computer gesture therapy tool (GeST), and piloted it with nine people who have severe aphasia. It aimed to determine whether practice with GeST would improve gesture production and/or spoken naming. It also explored whether GeST encouraged independent practice and was easy to use. Methods & Procedures: Pilot participants had 6 weeks practice with GeST, flanked by pre- and post-therapy tests of gesture and word production. Usability was explored through interviews and structured observations, and the amount of time spent in the programme was monitored. Outcomes & Results: Scores on the gesture test were evaluated by 36 independent raters. Recognition scores for gestures practised with the tool improved significantly after therapy and the gain was maintained. However, gains were small and only occurred on items that were practised with regular therapist support. There was no generalisation to unpractised gestures and no effect on spoken naming. Usability results were positive. Participants undertook an average of 64.4 practice sessions with GeST, and the average session length was just under 14 minutes. Conclusions: GeST was proved to be easy and enjoyable to use and had some effect on participants’ gesturing skills. Increasing the magnitude of gains would be desirable. The effect on everyday communication needs to be explored.

Benefits and Limitations of Computer Gesture Therapy for the Rehabilitation of Severe Aphasia

Aphasia intervention has made increasing use of technology in recent years. The evidence base, which is largely limited to the investigation of spoken language outcomes, indicates positive treatment effects for people with mild to moderate levels of aphasia. Outcomes for those with severe aphasia, however, are less well documented and – where reported – present less consistent gains for measures of spoken output. This study investigates the effects of a purpose-built gesture therapy technology for people with severe aphasia: GeST+. Study outcomes show significant improvement in gesture production abilities for adults with severe aphasia following computer intervention. They indicate no transfer of effects into naming gains or interactive gesture. Outcomes offer encouraging results for computer therapy methods within this hitherto under-researched population but indicate a need for further refinement of interventions in order to maximize persistence of effects and generalization into everyday communication.

Accessibility of computer therapy and technology for people with aphasia

Language difficulties present within aphasia can substantially affect a users ability to access and interact with technology. Surprisingly however, there is comparatively little research into the impact of this condition upon accessibility. The described project aims to examine general technology access and confidence in users with aphasia. It additionally seeks to shed light on the specific cognitive and linguistic factors affecting rehabilitative therapy technology use. Using an interdisciplinary approach, outcomes are intended to provide new language and technology insights to both the accessibility and the speech and language therapy communities.

Giving a voice through design: adapting design methods to enhance the participation of people with communication difficulties

Many participatory design methods are heavily reliant on the presence of communication skills, with approaches often focusing on verbal or written outputs. For people with communication difficulties it can often be difficult to engage with such approaches. This workshop aims to bring together researchers, designers and practitioners to explore share both positive and challenging experiences of working with users with communication difficulties within participatory design. We will generate a description of a set of design methods which have been adapted and used with people communication difficulties, with a view to enhancing the knowledge and skills of workshop participants for the future.

Usability Testing – An Aphasia Perspective

This paper reports the experience of participating in usability testing from the perspective of a person with aphasia. We briefly report adaptations to classic usability testing to enable the participation of people with aphasia. These included the use of short, direct tasks and physical artefacts such as picture cards. Authors of the paper include Ian, a user with aphasia who participated in adapted usability testing and Abi, a speech and language therapist researcher who facilitated sessions. Ian reports that these methods allowed him, as a person with aphasia, to engage with the usability testing process. We argue that such adaptations are essential in order to develop technologies which will be accessible to people with aphasia. This collaborative report provides a case for both how and why these adaptations can be made.

Investigating Mobile Accessibility Guidance for People with Aphasia

The World Wide Web Consortiums (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) have become widely accepted as the standard for web accessibility evaluation. This poster investigates how the mobile version of these guidelines caters for people with aphasia (PWA) by comparing the results from user testing against that of an audit using the guidelines. We outline the efficacy of the guidelines in the broader context of how they cater for various impairments and offer some recommendations for designing for people with aphasia.

Social networking sites: barriers and facilitators to access for people with aphasia

Background: The use of social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook and Twitter may help to ameliorate the social isolation prevalent amongst individuals with aphasia (Northcott et al., 2016). For therapists, SNS offer contemporary platforms for communication activities, which encourage generalisation of skills and social uses of language. While some research has explored online, social network content created by people with aphasia (PWA) (Baier et al., 2017), no work to date has directly explored the accessibility of SNS for this group.