How Do You Learn When You Can't Turn the Pages?

How Do You Learn When You Can't Turn the Pages?

UAMS Award Winning Computer Program Helps People with Disabilities

(LITTLE ROCK, AR) -- As actor Christopher Reeves continues to bring Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) into the spotlight, interest in the research and treatments moves with him in the news. A connecting spotlight focused recently on Arkansas researcher Alan VanBiervliet. He and his team develop computer programs to help people with SCI learn important life and health skills. Their fourth CD-ROM received the highest award from INTERCOM, at its 2000 International Communications Film & Video Competition.

The winning program -- Families, Culture and Augmentative and Alternative Communication -- is offered in both English and Spanish. It includes video clips, learning games, cartoons, and it runs on either Macintosh or PC computers. In the videos, parents and professionals share their experiences with the technology.

INTERCOM writes, "This work has been singled-out in a competition filled with hundreds of entrants from around the world." The award is one of the most prestigious awards in the industry. Past global awardees include Sony, Susan B Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Science Foundation, International Olympic Committee and March of Dimes.

The Chicago International Film Festival founder and artistic director Michael Kutza writes, "Now in its forth decade, INTERCOM is one of the oldest and most respected events, celebrating excellence in the art of communication. Mastering the art of communication requires top skills and talent that come from experience and sharp awareness."

Developer and producer of the program, VanBiervliet, Ph.D. --- a professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences -- says, "We design all of our instructional programs to be intuitive and user-friendly. We want to encourage people to use them and to avoid typical frustrations and roadblocks. The programs target patients, their families, and healthcare providers."

The program's content was developed based on a series of focus groups held around the country in such diverse locations as a Navaho village, Los Angeles, East St. Louis and Little Rock. Supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to Dr. H. P. Parette, Graduate School Dean at Southeast Missouri State University, the program has been positively reviewed in the professional literature, presented at international meetings, and distributed across the country.

The design and basic programming code for the Families program was based on the team's popular SCI programs. One of its most innovative design features is the Peer Guide, which features a real person with SCI to serve as a personal guide through the chapters. The user chooses his/her person from biographical summaries and a brief digital movie in which each potential guide introduces him/herself in their own words.

One guide, Horace, explains his injury, "I was robbed and shot in the back in June of 1991. I have an incomplete injury at the T12 level. I have paraplegia. I am single. I have a daughter whose name is Laportia. I also have a cat named Tango. I am a grants coordinator in the Office of Disability Prevent at the Arkansas Department of Health. I am an active member of Big Brothers. I also enjoy motivational speaking for kids." Horace or any other chosen guide then will appear with each chapter to say hello and quickly to provide instructions, personal experiences and a description of what that chapter offers.

On-screen visual cues, such as button icons, are designed to enable users to rely on recognition rather than reading and recall strategies to navigate through the series or "linked chapters" in the program. The user can explore the information in any order or in any depth. The glossary button offers both definition and "spoken" pronunciation. Some terms also have video clips and pictures. For comic relief, the user can go to the left side of the screen and activate the diversion button, which is represented by a juggler, to view randomly chosen cartoons.

VanBiervliet says, "All narration appears as text on the screen so that persons with hearing or auditory processing problems can use our program. These capabilities will help to ensure that persons with SCI can use the program early in their rehabilitation and that persons with a wide range of motor impairments, sensory impairments and literacy levels could independently use the program. Providing information in redundant formats also will enable the program to meet the learning styles of many different persons."

He adds, "The program is designed to be used with a wide range of computer input devices including mouse, trackball, joystick, head-mounted device, touch screens and voice recognition. One of the strengths of distributing software on CD-ROMs is that you cannot change or corrupt the files stored on the CD."

The team's multimedia coordinator, Jennifer Smart, who works with VanBiervliet at the Central Arkansas Veterans Medical Center, says, "Entertaining digital video movies -- which use digitized video clips, photography, animation, and illustrations -- are used as the primary way we conveyed the chapters. The movies range from 5 to 10 minutes long and are separated by activities and anecdotes."

Among VanBiervliet's other honors, the America Congress of Rehabilitative Medicine presented him with an "Innovation Award" in 1998; Arkansas Easter Seal Society recognized him as "Volunteer of the Year" in 1992; and the Arkansas Association for Mental Retardation presented him the 1988 "Annual Research Award."

Three CD-ROMs on SCI have been developed and distributed from Australia to Saudi Arabia. Currently, VanBiervliet and his team are working on the fourth volume on spinal cord injury. They have also just begun a similar series that will target multiple sclerosis. The programs were sponsored in part by funding from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the Paralyzed Veterans of America Spinal Cord Injury Education and Training Foundation, the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

VanBiervliet and his team are also in the final stages of development of a computer program on work accommodations for persons with hearing impairments. This project is conducted jointly with the Research and Training Center for Persons Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, a division of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

The CD-ROMs are distributed by Program Development Associates of Cicero, New York. For more information about the series, CALL 1-800-543-2119 or go to website: www:PDAssoc.com. The spinal cord injury CD-ROMs are also distributed by the Arkansas Spinal Cord Commission, for information call (501) 296-1792.

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Media contact: Bonnie Brandsgaard 501-686-8013, [email protected]