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Smartphone-Based Technology to Help Individuals with Intellectual Disability and Blindness Manage Basic Indoor Travel

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Abstract

Objectives

The present study assessed a new intervention strategy to help individuals with severe to profound intellectual disability and blindness (i.e., total blindness or minimal residual vision) to travel to different rooms located on both sides of long hallways.

Methods

The intervention strategy was based on the use of a smartphone (i.e., a Samsung Galaxy J4 Plus with Android 9.0 operating system) and battery-powered light sources. The smartphone was programmed to encourage the participant to walk forward alongside a wall of the hallway until its light sensor was activated by a light source positioned before a room entrance. At that point, the smartphone encouraged the participant to stop and then enter. Nine participants were involved in the study. Each session involved seven travels.

Results

During the baseline phase, the participants’ mean frequencies of correct travels per session varied between zero and slightly above 2. During the intervention phase, with the smartphone-based cues, all participants showed a strong performance improvement. Their mean frequencies of correct travels varied between about 6.5 and (virtually) 7 per session during the second half of the intervention phase.

Conclusions

This smartphone-based intervention strategy might help support indoor travel of people with intellectual disability and blindness.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari, Corso Italia 23, 70121, Bari, Italy

    Giulio E. Lancioni

  2. Department of Special Education, University of Texas, Austin, USA

    Mark F. O’Reilly

  3. School of Education, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Jeff Sigafoos

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Lorenzo Desideri

  5. Lega F. D’Oro Research Center, Osimo, Italy

    Gloria Alberti, Valeria Chiariello & Adriana Nozzolillo

Authors
  1. Giulio E. Lancioni
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  2. Mark F. O’Reilly
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  3. Jeff Sigafoos
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  4. Lorenzo Desideri
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  5. Gloria Alberti
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  6. Valeria Chiariello
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  7. Adriana Nozzolillo
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Contributions

GL was responsible for setting up the study, acquiring and analyzing the data, and writing the manuscript. MO, JS, LD, GA, VC, and AN collaborated in setting up the study and/or analyzing the data and writing/editing the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giulio E. Lancioni.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

Approval for the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Lega F. D’Oro, Osimo, Italy. All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Written informed consent for the participants’ involvement in the study was obtained from their legal representatives.

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Lancioni, G.E., O’Reilly, M.F., Sigafoos, J. et al. Smartphone-Based Technology to Help Individuals with Intellectual Disability and Blindness Manage Basic Indoor Travel. Adv Neurodev Disord 4, 430–438 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-020-00169-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-020-00169-4

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