Disability-Related Issues in the Classroom

Arash Esmaili Zaghi presents on Creative Potential and Challenges of Students with ADHD in Engineering Programs

Preparing Individuals with Disabilities for Education and Work

Presenter: Randy Williams

The Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL) at the University of Pittsburgh takes great pride in our work with veterans. Our efforts are aimed at improving every aspect of their lives and the lives of their families—whether it is a program to assist with the transition from the military to enrollment in STEM-related fields of study, or research that will improve their level of satisfaction and participation in everyday life activities. To achieve these objectives, the HERL has established partnerships with local, state, and national non-profit organizations, along with colleges and universities across the country, in order to provide high-quality programs aimed at easing veterans’ transition to academic and career opportunities.

Specifically, the HERL has three offerings that are veteran-centered:

  • Experiential Learning for Veterans in Assistive Technology and Engineering (ELeVATE), a 10-week program designed to assist wounded and injured veterans with the transition into a STEM college or university program via college preparation, professional development, and social activities.
  • Advancing Inclusive Manufacturing (AIM), a 12-week program for veterans interested in machining and assistive technology and rewards a basics of assistive technology fabrication certificate.
  • Research Experience for Veterans and Teachers (REV-T), an 8-week program that pairs veterans and high school teachers to work with individuals with disabilities to design assistive technology.

The HERL, in partnership with the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), produces the State of the Science Symposia Series. These quarterly symposia address a wide array of subjects related to the care, medical rehabilitation, and well being of veterans.

Sports, and disabled veterans’ ability to participate in them, have long been a focus of the HERL. The Sport Participation Outcomes Research Tool and Comprehensive Uniform Survey (SPORTACUS) was developed by the HERL and provided empirical data that correlates sports and recreation as important elements of successful rehabilitation programs for people with disabilities. In addition, the HERL has developed multiple pieces of sports equipment, including the Racing SmartWheel for wheelchair racers and a throwing chair for use in in field events.

The HERL is proud to work with the following partners in improving the lives of disabled veterans:

  • University of Pittsburgh
  • Veterans Administration
  • University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
  • National Science Foundation
  • Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation
  • Disabled Veterans National Foundation
  • FISA Foundation
  • Operation StrongVet/Western PA
  • Paralyzed Veterans of America

Lessons Learned from Teaching about Assistive Technology

Presenter: Jeff Dusek

This talk summarized the lessons learned while serving as a project mentor and course co-instructor for the MIT class Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology (PPAT). The goal of PPAT is for student teams to work collaboratively with a person with a disability from the community to develop customized assistive devices.

  • Collaboratively: The client is a vital member of the design team
  • Community: Foster social engagement and connect students with the broader assistive technology community
  • Customized: Allow teams to develop innovative solutions free from the confines of insurance, etc.

PPAT is a project-based course. The range of projects covers a wide swath of engineering disciplines including mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science. To accommodate the wide range of disabilities and project types addressed by the course, a huge range of technical expertise is required from the course staff. This leads to lesson one: it takes a village. To run PPAT successfully the course staff includes several project mentors from MIT and local universities that bring their expertise in areas such as eye tracking and language processing to the course. Similarly, the class partners with community organizations to find projects and provide additional resources and expertise to the students.

After taking the course myself in 2013 I realized that it is particularly important to focus on lesson two: prototype early, iterate often, and fail quickly. Because the course focuses on individual design, the importance of gathering feedback from clients (our expert users) on prototypes of increasing fidelity cannot be overstated. Also, it is often the simple solution that is the most likely to be useful in the real world, a fact that is often ignored by MIT students!

Having been involved in PPAT for three years now, it has become very clear that students value challenging and socially relevant problems. The level of student engagement in PPAT has been excellent, and we have received very positive feedback each year at the conclusion of the course. With that said, I also needed to learn that not every project is right for the class. In general, I have found projects where students can interact directly with an engaged and invested client are best, and that institutional clients introduce bureaucratic challenges to the project that are often best avoided.

The curriculum for PPAT is in a continual state of development, and this year I was reminded aesthetics matter through a fantastic lecture on aesthetics in assistive technology, and that in the right setting it can be ok to ask the awkward questions through a very open and enlightening panel discussion on “uncomfortable questions” with community members with disabilities who volunteered their time and perspectives.

Assigning relevant deliverables was a key component of the course. A final documentary style video achieved the goal of chronicling projects while teaching the students effective use of the video medium—a highly desirable skill in many situations.

Learn more online at the class website.

Examples of Student Projects related to Disability

Presenter: Dave Chesney

There is a common saying that “The devil is in the details.” This is often particularly true when building accessibility into hardware and software. In several class projects focused on assistive technology, the details meant the difference between success and failure and provided students with a true understanding of universal design and ‘subtlety’ when building user interfaces. Individual Design is the design of a product or environment to be usable by one person based upon her/his specific needs. Often, the understanding of an individual design can lead to a better understanding of universal design.

A case study of a young girl with cerebral palsy was discussed. Students in the presenter’s course worked directly with this young lady over an academic year. Very unique characteristics of her interaction with tablets and computers enabled the students to gain clarity related to human-computer interfaces. As an example, the touch interface of a tablet worked best when it reacted to her ‘release’ rather than initial contact.

Insight such as this informs the development of a tablet interface that might be user-specified as either touch-enabled or release-enabled. Thus, universal design of a tablet interface is informed by the individual design for this young lady.

Creative Potential and Challenges of Students with ADHD in Engineering Programs

Presenter: Arash Esmaili Zaghi

This presentation considered the preliminary findings of two NSF-funded projects focusing on engineering student with attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder (ADHD):

  1. Research Initiation Grants: Nurturing the Creativity of Students with ADHD in Engineering Disciplines
  2. REU Site: Research Experience in Cyber and Civil Infrastructure Security for Students with ADHD: Fostering Innovation

This work was motivated by my own experiences with ADHD as well as research that suggests that individuals with ADHD have strengths in divergent thinking and risk taking.  It is important to consider this since students with ADHD are less likely to study engineering than other fields and because they are more likely to drop out of college.

Preliminary research results indicate these:

  • There is a statistically significant association between creative potential and ADHD characteristics.
  • There is a significant difference between academic performance in students with strong and weak ADHD characteristics.
  • We suggest that the lack of attention of students in classes is associated the way engineering material are presented in lecture-based passive classes.
  • The adverse impact of the impairment of memory on academic performance is an indication that the current engineering curriculum heavily relies on memorization of subjects.
  • Unfortunately, our traditional engineering education system puts the blame on students with ADHD for not being attentive in classes.

2015 was the first year of our REU and it will happen again in 2016. Students are surveyed to consider how the REU impacts the likelihood they’ll remain in their engineering program, their interest in graduate school, self-confidence, and ability to see themselves as an inventor.

Read more about these ideas in Zaghi, A. E., Reis, S. M., Renzulli, J. S., & Kaufman, J. C. (2016). Unique potential and challenges of students with ADHD in engineering programs. Proceedings from the ASEE’s 123rd Annual Conference and Exposition. asee.org/public/conferences/64/papers/17281/view

AT Hackathons

Presenter: William Li

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), we have organized an annual assistive technology hackathon, called AT Hack, each year since 2014. In the hackathon, teams of three to four students work with a person with a disability to develop customized assistive technologies.

A hackathon is an opportunity for people to come together to engage in creative problem solving. In an assistive technology hackathon, the focus is on projects that target technologies improving access and independence for people with disabilities. In each of 2015 and 2016, there were approximately 85 students who worked with 15-20 assistive technology users. The hackathon was a powerful way to introduce a large number of students to disability, accessibility, and assistive technology.

The MIT AT Hack has used the following format: a dinner for project matching, then a full-day hackathon about two weeks later. In the two-week period in between the hackathon, many teams brainstormed ideas, ordered materials, and communicated with their target AT user about ideas.

The hackathon takes place in a makerspace on campus. It includes software, electronics, hardware, and mechanical design projects—the makerspace has a machine shop, electronics equipment (soldering irons, oscilloscopes, etc.), hand tools, and space for putting together projects. Depending on the space and equipment availability, it is possible to run hackathons without some of these other categories of projects, such as one with only software.

Examples of projects from this year include the following:

  • A speech-to-text real-time captioning system using IBM Watson’s speech recognition engine
  • An iPhone app designed for a blind user to detect light sources in a room
  • A lift for a person to get from the floor into a wheelchair
  • A ball-joint-based attachment for a white cane on a wheelchair for an assistive technology user with multiple disabilities

The ingredients of a successful AT hackathon include assistive technology users, students/makers, volunteers and organizers, sponsors/money for food and materials, and space. In particular, the MIT hackathon has been successful involving assistive technology users and people with disabilities as participants, designers, engineers, and organizers.

An assistive technology hackathon differs from many other hackathons. It involves end users (people with disabilities) as testers, judges, or sources of ideas. It also doesn’t always include prizes, but instead focuses the prize on helping the community or coming together. Sometimes the prize is continued funding for a particular project.

For more information visit MIT Assistive Technology Hackathon.