Tackling developmental delays with therapeutic activities based on tangible tabletops

Abstract

In this work, we have studied the potentialities of tangible tabletops when applied to the therapy of children with developmental problems. The research question was if tangible tabletop activities would be useful for children with developmental delay. We present the development and evaluation of several activities for our tangible tabletop NIKVision targeted to children with developmental disorders. With the collaboration of the “Centro Base I” of the Aragonese Institute of Social Services of Zaragoza, the therapeutic goals of the activities were established and several evaluations were carried out to verify the activities’ usefulness. Following the evaluation of the children of the center, some light modifications had to be made in the activities though after a second evaluation the therapists of the center were satisfied with the result. A new activity to work language disorders through the storytelling was also made, and a new functionality was included in the software that allowed to record speech audio, so that the therapists could record comments while children performed the activities. These additions have made possible the use of tabletop in the therapy of the children of the center where one of our tabletops has been installed. Thanks to a set of tangible activities especially designed for children with developmental delay and of certain functionalities that have been added to the tabletop it has been possible to include tangible tabletop activities in the therapy of this group of children, so that they can benefit all the therapeutic possibilities offered by tangible interaction.