Multimedia-Enabled Dot Codes as Communication Aids

Introduction

There are many reasons why students may struggle in the classroom. As educators and parents look for ways to help children, they often find undiscovered learning disabilities that interfere with learning. These disabilities know no cultural or geographical boundaries. The identification of students with special needs may vary, but the overwhelming need for understanding best educational practices does not change.

A disability is defined as a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired relative to the usual standard of an individual or group. The term refers to individual functioning and includes physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual impairment, mental illness, and various types of chronic disease. It also includes learning disabilities, which are neurologically based processing problems that can interfere with learning basic skills such as reading, writing, and/or mathematics, as well as with higher-level skills such as organization, time planning, abstract reasoning, and long- or short-term memory and attention (Leaning Disabilities Association of America, 2019). Each student with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has some problematic core verbal and nonverbal communication symptoms, such as a delay in learning to talk or a complete lack of verbal ability (WebMD, 2019; National Institute of Mental Health, 2019).

The availability of computers and a concept keyboard specially adapted for Pictogram makes it possible for students with nonverbal communication to tell others their will and desires. This has led to Pictogram’s use today as one of the main alternatives to the written word. These picture symbols provide children and adults who lack the ability to read and write in normal texts with a simple aid for their memories and thoughts, making it possible for them to keep diaries of what they have done and use their calendars to plan what they will do in the future (Dubé, 2019; Falck, 2019).

Each student with a disability has different hopes, needs, and desires, and a unique learning history. Each year, teachers at special-needs schools feel it deeply when a wonderful teaching aid and specific materials suitable for one student in the previous class do not fit a new student at all. Because each student with a disability may need individual self-made teaching aids and materials, a reasonable possibility might be easier-to-handle and cheaper software and tools that could provide the indispensable means for schoolteachers to create their own content for each student in their classes.

Widely used augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies provide students with severe speech, language, and communication difficulties with opportunities to improve their communication and, by extension, their relationships with others. AAC systems utilize assistive technology (AT) devices that range from no-tech to high-tech (Beard, Carpenter, & Johnston, 2011; Beukelman, & Mirenda, 2012; Theng, 2011). Dell, Newton, and Petroff (2012) describe the practical use of such devices in a classroom. A widely used AAC tool, voice-output communication aids (VOCAs) or speech-generating devices (SGDs) (Communication Matters, 2017; Inclusive Design Research Center, 2017; Research Autism, 2017) utilize single-level or multilevel outputs to convey sounds. Although a variety of VOCAs cater to students with different abilities and needs, most devices are severely hampered by their low-output numbers and short lengths of recording time.