Do PDAs enhance the organization and memory skills of students with cognitive disabilities?

Abstract

The project studied the on-time behavior of 35 students with intellectual disabilities (ID) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) under three conditions -times and tasks list, paper planner, and two different personal data assistants (PDAs). Students participated for two 4-week periods, receiving one morning reminder during Period 1 and no reminders during Period 2. Students were on time more often using a PDA compared to a list (p < .024) or a planner (p < .002). Students were on time 50% more often in Period 1 with a single daily morning reminder as compared to no reminder across all conditions. When applying results, clinicians and researchers should note that only the alarm function prompting on-time behavior was studied, and the influence of the small sample size and short time frame. Future researchers will find a framework for studying PDAs and cell phones with larger samples, over longer time periods, and with a wider range of functions. C 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Many persons with cognitive disabilities as a result of intellectual disability (ID, mental retardation) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) have difficulties with organization and memory that can interfere with successful management of activities of daily living and contribute to loss of personal independence (Hart, Hawkey, & Whyte, 2002;Knight, Devereux, & Godfrey, 1998). A number of interventions have been designed to enhance the ability of these individuals to use memory and organizational skills. Attention has often centered on the use of external aids to cognition (Parente & DiCesare, 1991;Sohlberg et al., 2007) . Specifically, the use of electronic devices may provide a dependable compensatory strategy made possible by advances in computer technology (Bergman, 2002;Wade & Troy, 2001). Generic electronic technologies such as personal data assistants (PDA) can provide a platform for enhancing memory and organization skills and may be beneficial to these individuals. Useful functions in these devices include a calendar, appointment alarms, to-do lists, contact information, and a calculator. Electronic alarms within the calendar function may be of particular interest to interventionists, because audible alarms can provide a prompt that might otherwise need to be administered by a caregiver.A partnership among the University of Akron, The Brain Injury Association of America, Temple University, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, and Spaulding Hospital, known as the Assistive Technology and Cognitive Disability Collaborative, was funded by the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research to examine the potential of generic electronic organizers to enhance the independence of adults and children with memory and organization problems. The first stage of our research agenda included a survey of children and adults with ID and TBI in order to examine the use of and preferences related to electronic organizers. Results of the three surveys (one with adults with TBI, one focusing on adults with ID, and one focusing on children with ID or TB...

Professionals’ views on the use of smartphone technology to support children and adolescents with memory impairment due to acquired brain injury

“…Other functions of smartphones, such as to-do lists could also be useful in reducing forgetfulness [20]. Furthermore, Svoboda and colleagues [18] found using a single case experimental design that smartphone use increased 4 confidence in memory demanding situations, reduced caregiver strain and increased quality of life in one 18 year old with memory impairment [18].…”

“…Gillette and DePompei [20] found that students with TBI and intellectual difficulties, aging from six to 20 years, were more often on time and were more independent if they used a PDA or smartphone, compared to using a list or planner. However, this study was undertaken with a small sample of 35 students attending special educational settings, therefore the results may not be generalisable to children in mainstream education [20]. Additionally, this study only assessed the usefulness of the alarm function to prompt on time behaviour.…”

“…However, to date only a few studies have provided evidence on the effectiveness of using smartphones as memory aids for children and adolescents with brain injury [1,20]. Gillette and DePompei [20] found that students with TBI and intellectual difficulties, aging from six to 20 years, were more often on time and were more independent if they used a PDA or smartphone, compared to using a list or planner.…”

“…In addition they often have multiple functions and applications that can support memory, such as calendars and voice recorders [1,4]. A number of studies have shown that electronic compensatory memory aids, such as pagers [12,13], mobile phones [14,15], PDAs [1,10,16,17] and smartphones [18,19,20] can be effective in supporting prospective memory in adults with brain injury, by helping them to remember and complete everyday tasks. A recent systematic review also concluded that external assistive devices reduce forgetfulness in adults after traumatic brain injury (TBI) or stroke [21].…”

“…Recently, researchers have been particularly interested in the use of smartphones as assistive devices [1,18,19,20]. Smartphones are defined as mobile phones that have similar functions as a computer, including allowing users to run software applications [22].…”