CONSTRAINTS ON COMPUTER MOUSE USE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN: IMPLICATIONS FOR AUGMENTATIVE AND ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION

Open Access
- Author:
- Costigan, Frances Aileen
- Graduate Program:
- Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 14, 2010
- Committee Members:
- Janice Catherine Light, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Janice Catherine Light, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Karl Maxim Newell, Committee Member
Kathryn D R Drager, Committee Member
Carol Anne Miller, Committee Member - Keywords:
- computer access
assistive technology
augmentative communication
young children
motor control - Abstract:
- Many young children with disabilities require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to communicate functionally. There is great danger that current technologies will not accommodate the skill levels of these young children since they are typically designed from the perspective of adults without disabilities. The lack of congruence between the design of AAC technologies and the skill levels of young children may particularly affect the ability to select targets in order to construct messages and initiate communicative and navigational actions. However, there is very little evidence to support the design of developmentally appropriate target selection techniques that young children may use to operate AAC technologies. This is true even for selection techniques commonly used to access computer technologies such as the mouse. In order to address the critical need for research in this area, the current study implemented a mixed 2 × 3 × 3 factorial design to investigate the effects of age, target size, and angle of approach of required movement on the accuracy of target selection and time required for accurate target selection with a mouse for young children aged 3 to 3 ½ years (3-yearolds) and 4 ½ to 5 years (4-year-olds). Participants were asked to select one of three target sizes (1.0 cm diameter, 2.5 cm diameter, 4.0 cm diameter) along one of three angles of approach (diagonal, horizontal, vertical). Although the 4-year-olds typically outperformed the 3-year-olds, the differences in performance between age groups were mediated by the effects of target size and angle of approach. For the 3-year-olds, target size affected both accuracy and time required for accurate target selection while angle of approach affected only time required for accurate target selection. For the 4-year-olds, target size affected the time required for accurate target selection while angle of approach had no effect on performance. Regression analyses between the level of difficulty of the task and the time required to execute movements to make an accurate selection indicated that the performance of both the 3-year-olds and the 4-year-olds was characterized by Fitts’ Law; Fitts’ Law is a common model from the motor control research that relates the time required to execute aiming movements to the level of difficulty of the task. A 2 × 2 mixed ANOVA found that both age and angle of approach affected the Fitts’ Law relationship. Results, theoretical implications, clinical implications, and directions for future research are discussed.