An adaptive dynamic pointing assistance program to help people with multiple disabilities improve their computer...

The latest research adopted software technology to redesign the mouse driver, and turned a mouse into a useful pointing assistive device for people with multiple disabilities who cannot easily or possibly use a standard mouse, to improve their pointing performance through a new operation method, Extended Dynamic Pointing Assistive Program (EDPAP), where the user can swing his hand on the desktop to quickly move the cursor to a target. However, EDPAP has lower pointing efficiency due to the cursor jumping in sequence amongst the targets once there are many targets on the screen. This study evaluated whether two people with multiple disabilities would be able to improve their pointing performance through a new target acquisition technique based on EDPAP, Adaptive Dynamic Pointing Assistive Program (ADPAP), where the cursor movement path is selected adaptively by users' hand swing direction, as opposed to being sequential. This study used multiple probe design across participants. Participants typically received three 30-min ADPAP training sessions per week, for a period of about 6-7 weeks. Initially, both participants had their baseline sessions. Then intervention started with the first participant. When his performance was consolidated, new baseline and intervention occurred with the second participant. Finally, both participants were exposed to the maintenance phase, in which their pointing performance improved significantly. Data indicated that both participants improved their pointing efficiency with the use of ADPAP and remained highly successful through the maintenance phase. Results of this study showed that, with the assistance of ADPAP, participants can acquire targets quickly, easily, and accurately, thus helping the disabled to solve their pointing problems.