The Easy-to-Read guidelines recommend visual support and lexical simplification to facilitate text processing, but few studies have empirically verified the efficacy of these guidelines. This study ...examined the influence of these recommendations on sentence processing by examining eye movements at the text- and word-level in adult readers. We tested 30 non-university adults (low education level) and 30 university adults (high education level). The experimental task consisted of 60 sentences. Half were accompanied by an image and half were not, and half contained a low-frequency word and half a high-frequency word. Results showed that visual support and lexical simplification facilitated processing in both groups of adults, and non-university adults were significantly slower than university adults at sentence processing. However, lexical simplification resulted in faster processing in the non-university adults’ group. Conclusions focus on the mechanisms in which both adaptations benefit readers, and practical implications for reading comprehension.
•Visual support and lexical simplification do make sentences more accessible.•Using images and high-frequency words facilitates sentence processing.•All adults benefit from using images and high-frequency words.•Lexical simplification benefits adults with a lower education most.
•Incorporating extended conversations into video-based story retelling improves oral narratives in adolescents with ID.•The Story Hand, a novel visual support strategy, is feasible in story ...retelling.•The intervention is highly effective for improving MLU-M, NDW, and the complexity of story grammar.•This study adds evidence concerning the possibility of continued growth in oral narrative language for adolescents with ID.
Oral narrative language is a persistent area of language difficulty for individuals with intellectual disability (ID). This study aims to explore the effectiveness of a comprehensive intervention program that incorporates extended conversations into video-based story retelling instruction with a novel visual support strategy, Story Hand, to develop oral narrative skills in adolescents with ID in China.
Using a single-case multiple-probe across participants design, the researchers examined whether the comprehensive intervention program could improve participants’ oral narrative skills both microstructurally and macrostructurally.
All three participants demonstrated moderate to high treatment effects in the microstructural narrative outcomes (i.e., the mean length of utterance in morphemes MLU-M and the number of different words NDW) and one of the macrostructural narrative outcomes (i.e., the complexity of story grammar SG-complexity) in response to the comprehensive intervention program, and these acquired effects were maintained at a high level for up to one month. However, all three participants demonstrated limited treatment effects in one of the macrostructural narrative outcomes (i.e., cohesion) in response to the comprehensive intervention program.
The comprehensive intervention program that incorporates extended conversations into visually supported video-based story retelling instruction offers an option for teachers to develop oral narrative skills in adolescents with ID. However, the relative effectiveness of the different components of the intervention needs to be further explored.
In this paper, we describe a semi-automatic viewpoint moving system that employs a drone to provide visual assistance to the operator of a teleoperated robot. The objective of this system is to ...improve the operational efficiency and reduce the mental load of the operator. The operator changes the position of the drone through an interface to acquire the optimal assist image for teleoperation. We confirmed through an evaluation experiment that, in comparison with our previous study in which the final positions of the drone were determined in advance, the proposed method improves the operational accuracy and reduces the mental load of the operator.
Visual supports are recommended in autism spectrum disorder clinical guidelines. They can reduce anxiety, increase predictability, support communication and improve participation. They are ...implemented regularly in schools, but evidence about home visual supports is limited. This article reports results of a scoping literature review, alongside qualitative evaluation with parents and professionals. We report findings from 34 studies, identifying four categories of visual support and heterogeneity in participant characteristics, intervention methods, environments and outcome measures. Qualitative data from questionnaires (n = 101) and focus groups generated key themes about home visual supports, through thematic analysis: (1) Accessibility, (2) Participation-focussed (3) Individualisation, (4) Teaching Methods, (5) Consistency, and (6) Information and Training. We propose consensus with terminology and implications for practice and research.
There is evidence to suggest that the use of visual schedules within music therapy practice is beneficial; however, there is a paucity of supporting literature for using these tools in programs for ...families with complex needs. This study investigates the application of the existing Music Therapy Visual Schedule Approach (MT-ViSA) to this focus population group.
Participants considered to be families with complex needs were recruited using a purposive sampling strategy to attend a 6-week music therapy program. Data collection was informed by a hybrid mixed methods design with observation, survey and interview methods being used. A bricolage research approach forms the theoretical framework for the analysis, demonstrating the joint juxtapositioning of qualitative and quantitative data.
Eight parent-child dyads participated in the study with a 100% attendance rate achieved. The use of the MT-ViSA assisted participants with the routine and structure of the sessions, supporting attendance and engagement. When investigating how the visual flip-book schedule primed the children for music-making, four themes emerged: understanding, anticipating, self-regulating and exercising agency. A single embedded case example is included to further illustrate these themes.
This paper has implications for music therapy practice. The work highlights the beneficial role of the MT-ViSA for families with complex needs and suggests that this approach may potentially benefit different population groups. The theoretical model is presented and discussed, along with project limitations including the small sample size and data collection tools. In conclusion, future research plans and training are shared.
Structured clinical history question inventories have previously been used to try and elicit symptoms of perceptual visual dysfunction (PVD) in children with cerebral palsy (CP) in different ...settings. Earlier studies have suggested that PVD may affect quality of life and specific habilitational strategies, linked to inventory responses, may improve quality of life. Through an RCT, based on a community based sample of children with CP in Cross River State, Nigeria, we aimed to determine if a structured history inventory such as the Insight question inventory (IQI) and associated tailored visual support strategies (IQI VSS) for the management of those children who have PVD, can improve quality of life and is superior to standard therapy. Children with CP were recruited by the key informant method and confirmed by clinical examination. The parent reported IQI was used to identify children with PVD. Primary outcome measures were both Pediatric Quality of Life 4.0 Generic (PedsQL 4.0 Generic) and Pediatric Quality of Life 3.0 Cerebral Palsy (PedsQL 3.0 CP) scale scores. Children were enrolled with a parallel arm allocation to either IQI and IQI VSS or to standard therapy for CP. Children were followed up for 6 weeks with weekly phone call session and the questionnaires repeated at the end of the 6 weeks’ period. Results show that the children in the treatment group ( n = 191) showed no significantly different change between baseline and follow up in quality of life (PedsQL 4.0 Generic p = 0.943: and PedsQL-CP 3.0 p = 0.287), compared to the control group. There was suggestion of a better improvement ( p = 0.035) in the PedsQL 3.0 CP subscale of speech and communication for the intervention group. The use of IQI VSS for the treatment of PVD in children with CP in this population does not show any superiority over current standard CP management in terms of overall quality of life. However, there was some evidence of improvement in quality of life in the area of speech and communication. Further research and refinement of these management method is required. Clinical Trial Registration: www.ClinicalTrials.gov , identifier PACTR20161200188 6396.
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