Multimodal Annotation Tool for Challenging Behaviors

in People with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Akane Sano, Javier Hernandez, Jean Deprey, Micah Eckhardt, Rosalind W. Picard, Matthew S.

Goodwin1

MIT Media Lab 1Northeastern University

Relevant Work• Pen & paper

o Flexible

o Prone to errors

o Slow

• Other tools for annotations

o CareLog (Hayes et al. 2008)

o Baby Steps (Kientz et al. 2009)

o SymTrend, AutismTrack,…

o Annotation Apps

Application

http://affect.media.mit.edu/projectpages/ama/

http://affect.media.mit.edu/projectpages/ama/

Application: Events Summary

http://affect.media.mit.edu/projectpages/ama/

Application: Configuration

•Portable

•Scalable

•Inexpensive

•Customizable

•Reliable

Application: Benefits

Groden Center 8 class teachers (6 females, ages 23-37, 2 males, ages 32,

52)

previous experience in behavior assessments using pen/paper annotations

familiar with the use of tablet computers

User Study

Instructions on how to use the system

Customize activities and behavior settings for each student with the guidance of the instructor

Annotate students’ activities and challenging behaviors in their classroom for half day

Evaluate usability of application: SUS, 7-point Likert usability questionnaire, open-ended questions.

User Study

StronglyDisagree

StronglyAgree

System Usability Scale - Score: 80.3 (std: 11)

(Brooke, 1996)

Results

StronglyDisagree

StronglyAgree

Results

No quantifiable impact on children's behaviors or school performance.

One child especially enjoyed using the tablet in conjunction with the teacher.

A smaller device could be a better option:

“Change the size of the tablet to one possibly a little bigger than a smart phone so staff can put it in a pocket if need to respond to student with two hands free.”

Other Findings

Future Work•More systematic comparison

between pen & paper method and the application

•Inclusion of wireless biosensors

•Infrastructure to share and visualize data

•Mobile tool to easily capture and annotate challenging behaviors

•Application available online

•Potential benefits

1) Connecting stakeholders

2) Data-driven characterization of ASD

3) More personalized behavioral interventions

http://affect.media.mit.edu/projectpages/ama/

Conclusions