Entering Aladdin's cave: Developing an app for children with Down syndrome

J Porter

doi:10.1111/jcal.12246

Abstract

AbstractTablets have much to offer children with learning difficulties, but evidence of their effectiveness to teach academic skills is limited and cannot be easily separated from the quality of the software. This paper analyses data from 3 iterative cycles of designing an app for children with Down syndrome to support their awareness of quantity through an inclusive game. Research with neurotypical children suggests that representation of quantity (or magnitude) is an area with considerable potential in supporting the foundations for children's mathematical learning. It has received little attention as an aspect for intervention for children with Down syndrome. Data collected in this study illustrate the need to carefully align the game mechanic to the target skills, strengthen levels of access, and introduce gradations of attentional demand. They also signal the interrelationship between children's cognitive and affective responses to the game, making it essential to find the optimal level of challenge. Children's strategies in response to mistakes indicate the importance of creating an agile responsive system. The data also suggest that developers routinely extend the number of features that are optional, enabling a greater level of personalization and a more inclusive game.

Highlights

The introduction of the tablet has extended the reach of digital technologies to children with the most significant learning difficulties, providing them with a “cool” tool for learning (Culén & Gasparini, 2012)
It has removed the challenges children experience in using the keyboard or mouse (Feng, Lazar, Kumin, & Ozok, 2010); the touch screen requires less cognitive processing and a simple motor response of pointing, all of which contributes to making tablets suitable for user groups with intellectual disabilities (Kumin, Lazar, Feng, Wentz, & Ekedebe, 2016)
Evaluations focus on outcomes— much of the literature is reviewed with respect to whether specific learning outcomes are reported and whether the methodology or research design has been sufficiently robust to draw conclusions that those outcomes were a result of that intervention

Summary

Introduction

The introduction of the tablet has extended the reach of digital technologies to children with the most significant learning difficulties, providing them with a “cool” tool for learning (Culén & Gasparini, 2012) It has removed the challenges children experience in using the keyboard or mouse (Feng, Lazar, Kumin, & Ozok, 2010); the touch screen requires less cognitive processing and a simple motor response of pointing, all of which contributes to making tablets suitable for user groups with intellectual disabilities (Kumin, Lazar, Feng, Wentz, & Ekedebe, 2016). Stephenson and Limbrick (2015) in a review of studies that employ touch screen mobile devices with participants with developmental disabilities conclude that there is a paucity of robust evidence of effectiveness, especially with respect to their use to teach academic skills They further conclude that the devices provide an accessible tool but that different apps will “present different challenges” This paper explores those challenges as they arose in the development of an app designed to support numerical awareness through an inclusive game, one that children with DS could access and play independently

Results

Discussion

Conclusion