Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Instructional Technology (Education)

This autoethnographic study examined how an African American male with dyslexia used self-advocacy and assistive technology to reach his personal, educational goal throughout his academic journey. Through autoethnographic storytelling, this dissertation investigated the barriers an African American male with dyslexia faced in the United States educational system and described coping mechanisms the researcher developed to overcome challenges. Using a narrative inquiry, this study documented the lived and cultural experience of an African American male with dyslexia in the special education system, as well as the user experience of how assistive technology/ computerized assistive technology (AT/CAT) contributed to success as well as their limitations. The research focus found that while there were challenges that African American males face in the educational system, which were added to by having a learning disability, but using self-advocacy and assistive technology were the great tools the researcher used to be successful during their college career. The analysis of the study provides recommendations to educators, students with learning disabilities, and parents who seek to understand the challenges minorities students with learning disabilities endure and how self-advocacy and AT/CAT might be utilized to contribute to student success.

Committee: Dr. Jesse Strycker (Committee Chair); Dr. Jesse Strycker (Advisor); Dr. Greg Kessler (Committee Member); Dr. Krisanna Machtmes (Committee Member); Dr. Dianne Gut-Zippert (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Special Education

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2021, Speech-Language Science (Health Sciences and Professions)

Individuals who have significant physical and speech disabilities have challenges controlling or accessing environmental control activities, information gathering actions, recreation and leisure activities, and communication opportunities. Smart Home Technology (e.g., Smart Speakers with Voice Control (SSVCs)) is a mainstream technology that has many potential benefits to individuals with disabilities. Smart home technology was not designed specifically for individuals with disabilities and can provide a way to give access to environmental control activities, information gathering actions, recreation and leisure activities, and communication opportunities. Because the technology was designed for a broad audience, there is a need to further investigate the benefits and challenges of installing smart home technology and teaching successful activation of voice commands with SSVCs to individuals who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Communicating with an artificial intelligent agent (AIA) in an SSVC could potentially increase successful spontaneous communication interactions with an AIA and allow for individuals who can produce speech through computer – based systems to have more direct control. Interacting with an AIA in an SSVC can allow for quicker access or control over certain behaviors in an individual's life, potentially influencing their level of independence. To address this rationale, a mixed-methods study was conducted to investigate the length of time it takes to install smart home technology equipment, teach basic, moderate, and advanced SSVC applications through the InViSTA (Independence via Smart Technology Activation) Program, the impact of smart home technology on independence for individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication, and participant patterns of SSVC applications across four domains (i.e., environmental controls, information gathering, recreation/leisure, and communication).

Committee: John McCarthy (Advisor); Francois-Xavier Brajot (Committee Member); Jim Montgomery (Committee Member); Sherleena Buchman (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Health Sciences; Speech Therapy

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2020, Design

Voice Assistive Technology (VAT) is an increasingly popular trend that provides a more natural human-computer interaction than the traditional graphical user interface interactions. VAT is an integral part of accessibility design which has the potential to help older adults (age 65+) with common age-related challenges, such as Age-Related Hearing Loss (ARHL), live better lives. Yet, as with other emerging technologies, the adoption of VAT for older adults is questionable due to the gap between the current applications of the technology and the needs of the older generation. Most of the studies focused on applications of VAT for older adults were conducted through an expert-led approach, where the end-users (in this case, the older adults) did not have a chance to express themselves or contribute to the solutions. Thus, this thesis was focused on designing with and for older adults for Voice Assistive Technology (VAT) through co-design, a participant-led research and design approach. By inviting older adult participants to join the research and design process, possible solutions with using VAT to help with ARHL were explored. Through the process of Preliminary Pilot Explorations, Idea Generation and Evaluation sessions, the results of the study emerged as design concepts and criteria. They are for the application of VAT, which can be applied in the creation of better and more meaningful communication experiences with and for older adults. A new co-design framework, “Cake Structured Co-design Framework” (CSCF), was also developed from the research process. It is a framework that will help co-design researchers to facilitate co-design sessions with older adults by using the designed toolkits and methods while, at the same time, placing a high value on the relationships between the older adults and the co-design researcher.

Committee: Elizabeth Sanders (Advisor); Peter Chan (Committee Member); Matthew Lewis (Committee Member) Subjects: Design

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2018, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Information Technology

This thesis explores improvements to assistive capability so that those living with a physical disability can also maneuver their environment, especially buildings, with ease. To do so, this study outlines a step-by-step process to understand better how buildings can be mapped using drone technologies as a method for members of society with physical challenges, especially mobility, to determine ease of accessibility before entering a building. By way of interview, observation, and survey, this thesis embarks upon requirement analysis for the use of drones as assistive technology. The study employs mixed methods to gather as well as analyze data to articulate requirements for use by universities and institutions. By doing so, the contribution of this work is to inform universities and institutions about technical and policy related requirements for using drone videos in a way that will be of most use to those in need of the building layout information. Today, technology improves at a rapid rate, and often there are limitations to the building access by the physically disabled. In some cases, it is due to a lack of proper infrastructure that can accommodate movement by the physically challenged or exposure to the technology tools necessary to improve their mobility. However, in most cases, physical incapability can be mitigated by enhancing the accessibility. This thesis addresses the issue of exclusion of the disabled, which is a human rights issue as well as a safety issue within buildings. There is, therefore, need to understand the technology advances or lack of it that enables or inhibits the physically disabled to utilize the opportunities in the physical environment at a given time. The physically challenged need to know in advance and in the shortest time possible if their mobility in a building is possible. For this, a specific innovation is suggested—sending a drone specially designed to maneuver inside of a building. This is because the remote control is (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jess Kropczynski Ph.D. (Committee Chair); James Scott (Committee Member) Subjects: Information Technology

BS, Kent State University, 2017, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

Assistive technology devices are being utilized more frequently in classrooms for accommodations and modifications, especially for students with disabilities. These devices can be high technology devices containing batteries, or low technology devices which may be inexpensive and do not require batteries to be used. Throughout the thesis, the use of high technology devices and low technology devices is specified to introduce the idea of integrating devices into general education and special education classrooms. Furthermore, resources are provided regarding learning more about specific devices, how to further implement technology in the classroom, and catalogs to buy devices.

Committee: Robert Cimera Dr. (Advisor); Sloane Burgess Dr. (Committee Member); Annette Kratcoski Dr. (Committee Member); Natasha Levinson Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Special Education

Master of Education, Miami University, 2008, Educational Psychology

The purpose of this study was to investigate special education teacher beliefs, knowledge and use of assistive technology for students with learning disabilities in writing. A ten question survey was administered to a random sample of special education teachers in Ohio. Participants viewed technology as beneficial, but use and knowledge of assistive technology was limited. Reasons revealed were demands for training and resource availability and student needs. Value placed on technology, current education, and years of teaching experience did not correlate with participants feeling adequately trained to use assistive technology or have an impact on level of assistive technology integration. Possible reasons included inadequate teacher training, lack of teachers seeing student need for assistive technology, and the rate of technology change.

Committee: Leah Wasburn-Moses PhD (Committee Chair); Doris Bergen PhD (Committee Member); Lori Tanner PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering, Cleveland State University, 2023, Washkewicz College of Engineering

People with high tetraplegia rely on caregivers or family members to help them perform activities of daily living (ADLs). Assistive robot devices have the potential to considerably reduce a person's dependence on their caregivers, thus affording them increased economic freedom and functional independence. However, these devices often lack appropriate sensors and intelligence for complex tasks and are often not designed for people who have limited naturally available command options. This dissertation aims 1) to develop an intuitive interface between a robotic assistive device and a person with tetraplegia and 2) to impart intelligence and sensing capabilities to the device to reduce the user's input demand. In Aim 1, we developed a prototype robotic assistance platform for self-feeding consisting of a vision system for food item detection and localization, a robot for carrying out manipulations, and a graphical user interface (GUI) to facilitate bi-directional communication between the human and the system. The system was capable of detecting, localizing, acquiring, and delivering food items to a human user and was controlled via eye movements. In Aim 2, we performed a pilot study in which people with tetraplegia tried out the system and provided their feedback. We recorded success rates and tasks times of the feeding task, conducted standardized quantitative human assessments, and executed qualitative post-study interviews with study participants. We included members of the spinal cord injury community as equal partners in the design process, and their post-study feedback directly guided future development. The results from the pilot study revealed key areas of system improvement as well as critical needs and desires of the spinal cord injury community. In Aim 3, we addressed these needs by upgrading the physical system's sensing and execution capabilities, developing a more intuitive human-robot interaction framework, and presenting a proof-of-concept a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Eric Schearer (Advisor); Antonie van den Bogert (Committee Member); Andrew Slifkin (Committee Member); Hongkai Yu (Committee Member); Anne Bryden (Committee Member); Ian Burkart (Committee Member) Subjects: Mechanical Engineering; Rehabilitation; Robotics

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Educational Studies

Students who are blind sometimes struggle to create a signature using a pen and pencil. Although students can often use assistive technology to write, there are also times when signatures are required but this technology is not readily available. To date there have been limited studies focused on teaching handwriting for people with visual impairment, and the existing literature typically tests high-tech tools that are complex and expensive. This study uses a multiple-probe-across-behavior design to test the effectiveness of low technology intervention tools on improvement of the signature skills of a high school student. The results showed a functional relationship between the intervention package and the handwriting skills of the student. This study shows that it is possible to use a low-tech intervention to teach handwriting skills to students with visual impairment. More research is needed to determine if these findings extend to other students who are blind.

Committee: Matthew Brock (Advisor); Tiffany Wild (Committee Member); Eric Anderson (Advisor) Subjects: Educational Evaluation; Educational Technology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Comparative Studies

This exploration of technology, violence, and the disabled bodymind, closely examines cases that demonstrate the ways that assistive technology can be used to exact harm. While assistive technology can be both beneficial and crucial, the cases discussed herein represent technology functioning as a form of violence or constraint. This study illumines how this violence is made invisible through ableism and a lack of understanding of the material experiences of disabled bodyminds in relation to technology, the body, “humanness,” human-material relationality, and domination. This project argues that Disability-Specific Abuse incorporates the weaponization of assistive technology to maim, entrap, wound, coerce, and/or terrorize a disabled bodymind into submission. This investigation highlights both the vitality of the relationality between bodyminds and assistive technology and the potential for harm when those technologies are weaponized by an outside actor. This project began as my undergraduate senior thesis. When conducting research in the field of psychology, I was struck by an absence of discussion around disability outside of what I found to be a very pathologizing lens. One of the most prevalent issues covered in the literature was abuse (especially against disabled women). There were few mentions of something called Disability-Specific Abuse that discussed the use of assistive technology to harm. As an assistive technology user, I had a visceral response to the idea that someone might exploit the complex relationship between AT user and device. And as someone who has interdepended on multiple forms of AT (both stigmatized and normative) there was an immediate recognition of the anxiety that comes with using a technological tool to navigate one's daily life and the potential for that device to fail, break down, or be made unusable (not to mention be used as a weapon). For those of us who have used non-stigmatized forms of AT like cell phones, we can probably r (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Maurice Stevens (Advisor); Margaret Price (Committee Member); Amy Shuman (Committee Member) Subjects: Comparative; Technology

Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering, Cleveland State University, 2020, Washkewicz College of Engineering

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a promising technique for restoring the ability to complete reaching motions to individuals with tetraplegia due to a spinal cord injury (SCI). FES has proven to be a successful technique for controlling many functional tasks such as grasping, standing, and even limited walking. However, translating these successes to reaching motions has proven difficult due to the complexity of the arm and the goal-directed nature of reaching motions. The state-of-the-art systems either use robots to assist the FES-driven reaching motions or control the arm of healthy subjects to complete planar motions. These controllers do not directly translate to controlling the full-arm of an individual with tetraplegia because the muscle capabilities of individuals with spinal cord injuries are unique and often limited due to muscle atrophy and the loss of function caused by lower motor neuron damage. This dissertation aims to develop a full-arm FES-driven reaching controller that is capable of achieving 3D reaching motions in an individual with a spinal cord injury. Aim 1 was to develop a complete-arm FES-driven reaching controller that can hold static hand positions for an individual with high tetraplegia due to SCI. We developed a combined feedforward-feedback controller which used the subject-specific model to automatically determine the muscle stimulation commands necessary to hold a desired static hand position. Aim 2 was to develop a subject-specific model-based control strategy to use FES to drive the arm of an individual with high tetraplegia due to SCI along a desired path in the subject's workspace. We used trajectory optimization to find feasible trajectories which explicitly account for the unique muscle characteristics and the simulated arm dynamics of our subject with tetraplegia. We then developed a model predictive control controller to control the arm along the desired trajectory. The controller developed in this dissertat (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Eric Schearer PhD (Advisor); Hanz Richter PhD (Committee Member); Antonie van den Bogert PhD (Committee Member); Deborah Espy PT, PhD (Committee Member); Levi Hargrove PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Mechanical Engineering; Rehabilitation

Master of Education, Cleveland State University, 2019, College of Education and Human Services

The A-B-A-B withdrawal design was used to explore the effects of Text-to-speech (TTS) program (Read & Write Gold 11) on comprehension for 2 fourth grade students with learning disability in an urban school while accessing grade level comprehension text. Participants read fourth-grade level comprehension passages from a reading instruction resource. For each session, the student was timed for 35 minutes to read and answer the comprehension passage. The students manipulated the speech option (Pitch, speed, voice and word pause) of the TTS program to suit them. Results show that the TTS program affected the students' comprehension score. All participants' scores increased when the TTS program was introduced to read the comprehension passages. In addition, the participants found the TTS program easy to use with less or no support. Limitation and implications for future research are discussed in this paper.

Committee: John Schaefer (Committee Chair); Amanda Yurick (Committee Member); Terri Purcell (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Technology; Special Education

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2017, Allied Health Sciences: Communication Sciences and Disorders

The purpose of this dissertation research was to explore the effectiveness of text-to-speech (TTS) technology as a compensatory reading strategy to support the reading comprehension of students with reading difficulties. The literature is mixed in regard to the usefulness of TTS to help bolster children's reading comprehension. Research examining the specific TTS presentational features that best support reading comprehension is scarce in the literature. In addition, more research is needed to address the specific reading profiles of struggling readers and their relationship to successful comprehension outcomes with TTS. Two exploratory studies were conducted. Participants included 29 children, ages 8-12 years, with reading difficulty as determined by the inclusion/exclusion reading test battery. The first experimental study examined the reading comprehension of students after reading a grade level passage with or without TTS. The researchers also examined whether there was a significant difference among the reading comprehension scores under the following conditions: (a) silent reading of the passage, (b) reading the passage aloud, (c) listening to the passage with digitized speech only and no text, (d) reading the passage with the use of text-to-speech with no highlighting, and (e) reading the passage with the use of text-to-speech with highlighting features. The second study described the relationship between the child's performance on behavioral tests of reading, language and executive function and comprehension scores following reading a passage under the aforementioned conditions. The results of the first study, showed that TTS significantly improved reading comprehension for students with reading difficulties. This initial finding is corroborated by a number of previously mentioned studies. In addition, the results of the first study extend this finding by reporting that the variation of TTS features (highlighting versus no highlighting) (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Nancy Creaghead Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Noah H. Silbert Ph.D. (Committee Member); Tzipi-Horowitz Kraus Ph.D. (Committee Member); Allison Smith Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Reading Instruction

Master of Science, Miami University, 2017, Computational Science and Engineering

Assistive technology helps improve the day to day activities for people with disabilities. One of the methods utilized by assistive technologists employs the use of robots. These are called service robots. This thesis explores the idea of a service robot for the visually impaired to assist with navigation and is inspired by the use of guide dogs. The focus of this thesis is to develop a robot to achieve autonomous indoor navigation using computer vision to identify image based goals in an unfamiliar environment. The method presented in this thesis utilizes a deep learning framework, called Faster R-CNN, to train a computer to classify and localize exit signs in real time. A proof of concept is presented using NVIDIA Jetson, and TurtleBot, a robot kit, which runs a robot software development framework Robot Operating System (ROS). The model is trained successfully using Faster R-CNN and is validated. The model is used for real-time object classification on the prototype robot.

Committee: Yamuna Rajasekhar (Advisor); John Femiani (Committee Member); Donald Ucci (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Science; Electrical Engineering; Robotics

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, EDU Physical Activity and Educational Services

The current study investigated whether four Deaf students with developmental disabilities could learn a chain of independent living skills and follow activity schedules using a combination of the two iPod Touch applications (apps): inPromptu and First Then Visual Schedule. Using a multiple probe across participants design, the study examined the effects of the intervention on skill acquisition and generalization to untrained independent living skills and novel sequences of activity schedules after the students mastered the use of the two iPod apps. All participants successfully acquired a variety of independent living skills using video prompting. Three of the four participants were able to follow varied and novel activity schedules after they were trained to follow the fixed order activity schedule. Multiple exemplars were needed for one participant to master varied and novel activity schedules. In addition, all participants successfully followed activity schedules in an untrained setting (e.g., school dorm). This study extended the current literature on video prompting and activity schedules by incorporating both approaches and testing their generalization effects. As such, the study provided new practices that may increase functional independence for Deaf students with developmental disabilities.

Committee: Joe Wheaton (Advisor); Helen Cannella-Malone (Committee Member); Peter Paul (Committee Member); Margaretha Izzo (Committee Member) Subjects: Special Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Educational Policy and Leadership

Within an educational arena of heterogeneous accumulations of power, lodged within the leaky attachment between technology and humanism, technology in special education happens. But how is authority and influence distributed among the actors in this arena, struggling over what is to some appearances a remote, low-incident interest and loss-leader, to some nothing but an unfunded mandate, and to some a life-changer? In this study, a deployment of wearable computers in special education was analyzed using methods of inquiry informed by genealogy and critical discourse analysis. Although not a methodology per se or a systematic theory, a genealogical project is a form of involvement in contemporary debate, dispute, and struggle and intervention in power/knowledge relations. In critical discourse analysis, formal features of discourse are cues to and traces of ideological conflict occurring behind language. For instance, the discursive features surrounding “work,” a concept at once laden with experiential value as a stable source of identity as well as an uncertainty induced by technology, are a cue to and trace of ideological conflict. The analysis suggests that the deployment put in tension teacher relations to technology. The deployment produced tension in the dividing practices of who shall receive assistive technology and who shall not, knowledge about which is configured in the microgaze of the state as an object that shall flow through a network of “targeted individuals.” Moreover, the heterogeneity of literacy was apparent, as the deployment redefined reading as listening – an accommodation that was seen by actors as an ethically lowered standard to ensure success, a source of self-esteem in special education, and a practice bespeaking the moral value of work.

Committee: Suzanne Damarin (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2003, Physical Activity and Educational Services

The Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission (ORSC), the Ohio state-federal vocational rehabilitation program, in partial fulfillment of its commitment to the United States Department of Education, periodically performs a statewide survey of people with disabilities. The factors studied in this “Compass 2002” study focus on education, severity of disability, employment rate, compensation, presence of health insurance and other benefits, and access to assistive technology. This study is a replication of the 1994 “Compass” project, and provides comparisons of randomly selected subsets of Ohio's disability population. The study also focuses on the impact that education has on employment and earnings within the 2002 dataset. Employment for people with disabilities has improved from 28.7% in 1994 to 35.9% in 2002. The education level of people with disabilities improved nearly one-half of a grade, from 11.8 to 12.2. Personal earnings and household earnings are significantly higher in 2002 than they were in 1994. The presence of health insurance and other benefits has risen significantly in Ohio in the past eight years. The most significant variables that predict earning potential for people with disabilities in 2002 are gender, level of education, and length of job tenure. The presence of multiple disabilities also has a significant negative impact upon earnings. In the 1994 study, the variables were gender, length of job tenure, level of education, and level of job satisfaction. When conducting cluster analysis, the variables that had the most dramatic effect of clustering cases were severity of disability and, to a lesser extent, race of the individual. The economic and educational status of Ohioans with disabilities has improved since 1994. More people with disabilities are working, they are earning more money, and they are being afforded essential benefits. Educational levels are higher and its impact on employment and earnings is significant.

Committee: Bruce Growick (Advisor) Subjects: