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Project and Design Literacy as Cornerstones of Smart Education pp 247–259Cite as

The Structured Methodological Framework “Deejay”: Foundation and Its Application to the Design of an ASD-Oriented AAC Tool

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Part of the book series: Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies ((SIST,volume 158))

Abstract

The growing diffusion of ICT-based innovative learning tools raises the need for methodological approaches able to effectively guide the activities of interdisciplinary R&D teams. This problem is often underlined in the literature related to the exploitation of ICT for training people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): Despite consolidated agreement on general design principles, studies in this field may suffer from the gap between ASD researchers on the one side and computer scientists on the other side, and the need for more structured approached is often advocated. In this paper, we give a contribution in this direction by introducing deejay, an action-research-based methodological approach oriented to interdisciplinary R&D projects, stemming from our experiences in projects aimed at designing learning tools oriented to children with cognitive disabilities. The paper discusses the general features of deejay and its application in a project aimed at designing an ICT-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tool specifically designed for ASD treatment.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    AAC systems are defined ‘unaided’ or ‘aided’ depending on whether they do not or do require an external tool, and, in turn, aided AAC systems are classified as ‘low-tech’ or ‘high-tech’, depending on whether they do not or do utilize electronic devices.

  2. 2.

    Technology-Enhanced Treatment for Autism Laboratory, a multidisciplinary laboratory of the University of L’Aquila, based on the cooperation among the Dept. of Information Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics, the Dept. of Applied Clinical Sciences & Biotechnology, and the Center for Autism of the University of L’Aquila.

  3. 3.

    The ASD diagnosis was provided by experienced clinicians according to the new criteria of the DSM-5 [1]. ASD diagnosis was confirmed using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition [31]. Verbal mental age was assessed with the Test for Reception of Grammar, Version 2 [32, 33].

  4. 4.

    Official sites of the reviewed tools (last accessed 2019/02/21): http://www.nikitalk.com/; http://www.fingertalks.it/immaginario/; https://itunes.apple.com/it/app/ioparlo/id406247136; http://www.assistiveware.com/product/proloquo2go; http://www.aactalkingtabs.com/ T6: http://www.tabletautismo.it/.

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Acknowledgements

Authors wish to thank Monica Mazza (Director of the Center for Autism of the University of L’Aquila), Marco Valenti (Director of the Abruzzo Regional Reference Center for Autism), and their teams for the fruitful cooperation throughout the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of L’Aquila, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy

    Tania Di Mascio & Laura Tarantino

Authors
  1. Tania Di Mascio
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  2. Laura Tarantino
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tania Di Mascio .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Matthias Rehm

  2. imec-mict-UGent, Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Product Design, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Jelle Saldien

  3. Institute of Educational Technology, National Research Council of Italy, Genoa, Italy

    Stefania Manca

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Di Mascio, T., Tarantino, L. (2020). The Structured Methodological Framework “Deejay”: Foundation and Its Application to the Design of an ASD-Oriented AAC Tool. In: Rehm, M., Saldien, J., Manca, S. (eds) Project and Design Literacy as Cornerstones of Smart Education. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 158. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9652-6_22

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