This study is the first to analyze data from a national survey to investigate the significance for deaf identity of the different forms of social and technological support that deaf people rely upon. Data were derived from a survey among 839 deaf people and were analyzed with regard to social identification as deaf, hearing, bicultural, and…

This review describes available research on interventions delivered by Occupational Therapists (OTs) in schools to identify the outcomes addressed and in which tiers of support (universal, focalized or intense) the interventions are situated. Previous reviews focus on the effectiveness or efficacy of OT school interventions, but the participation…

Basketball, a dynamic team sport, demands a multifaceted approach to training and competition for players' well-being and optimal performance. This investigation aims to analyze basketball training with match-play demands and recovery strategies in the context of time-motion analysis. A descriptive research design with a quantitative approach was…

Audio description (AD) plays a crucial role in making audiovisual media accessible to people with a visual impairment, enhancing their experience and understanding. This study employs an event segmentation task to examine how people without sight perceive and segment narrative events in films with AD, compared to sighted viewers without AD. Two AD…

Artificial placentas (APs) are technologies that mimic the human placenta to treat extremely preterm infants. Being an invasive and risky technology, it will raise important ethical questions for human trials. Hence, in this Topic Piece we provide a blueprint of further issues to investigate. First, counselling will have the double role of…

Purpose: This scoping review aims to characterize the body of literature addressing literacy interventions involving young children (ages 2--8 years) who use or would benefit from aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Method: A systematic search was conducted in six databases. The search yielded 33 intervention studies.…

Evidence is lacking on the impact of bilingualism on the speech skills of children with cochlear implants (CIs). This study described the speech production of children with CIs acquiring French and one or more additional spoken languages. Four groups of children aged 4-11 were included: bilinguals (n = 15) and monolinguals (n = 14) with CIs and…

Background: Assistive technology (AT) has been successfully used by researchers and practitioners to increase task completion and independence in work and home environments for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. While prior research has shown increased outcomes of incorporating AT into daily tasks, research has also…

This research addresses the critical need for robust usability evaluation tools in Wearable Virtual Reality Educational Applications. We developed a comprehensive set of Wearable Virtual Reality Educational Applications usability heuristics through a multi-stage process. Initial heuristics were established through a literature review. Validation…

Purpose: The aims of this study were to (a) investigate speech-in-noise perception using an adaptive procedure in school-aged children with bilateral cochlear implants (CIs); (b) evaluate the impact of chronological age, age at the second implantation, and interimplant interval on auditory performance in children with bilateral CIs; and (c)…

Background: People with neurological conditions such as Parkinson's Disease are at risk of speech and voice difficulties that impact volume, clarity of speech and intelligibility. Voice-assisted technology (VAT), such as Alexa, poorly recognises speech difficulties, and this often prompts people to change their speech to enable interaction. Aims:…

The current study examined vocalizations that occurred during training of the Picture Exchange Communication System for three U.S. preschool-age participants with autism spectrum disorder. In Phase IV, the protocol incorporates a delay to reinforcement in an effort to encourage vocalizations; however, the manual does not suggest additional…

Background: Although particular technologies can enhance the quality of life (QoL) of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (we use the term pervasive support needs), their objectives and outcomes are understudied. A systematic literature review was therefore conducted to explore this topic. Method: A search of four databases…

Background: This study presents a Robot-Inspired Computer-Assisted Adaptive Autism Therapy (RoboCA[supercript 3]T) focusing on improving joint attention and imitation skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). By harnessing the inherent affinity of children with ASD for robots and technology, RoboCA[superscript 3]T offers a…

Assistive technology (AT) is critical for students with disabilities to access and engage in the general education curriculum, but research has consistently reported a lack of AT knowledge among general and special education teachers. This synthesis reviewed the literature on AT instruction in teacher preparation programs. A total of 14 studies…