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Improving Reading in Adolescents and Adults With High-Functioning Autism Through an Assistive Technology Tool: A
Arlinda Cerga-Pashoja1,2, Jorge Gaete3,4, Antoneta Shishkova5
1Faculty of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
|August 27, 2019
Summary
Open Book, an assistive technology, simplifies text for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), improving reading comprehension. This tool enhances understanding of complex language for both adolescents and adults with ASD.
Area of Science:
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Assistive Technology
- Computational Linguistics
Background:
- Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently encounter challenges in reading comprehension, particularly with complex texts, metaphors, and idioms.
- Existing assistive technologies may not adequately address the specific reading needs of the ASD population.
- Personalized and adaptive text simplification is a potential avenue for improving reading accessibility.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate Open Book, an open-sourced, online assistive technology tool utilizing Natural Language Processing (NLP) for adaptive text simplification.
- To assess the effectiveness of the Open Book tool in enhancing reading comprehension for individuals with ASD.
- To investigate the impact of text simplification on perceived ease of understanding among participants with ASD.
Main Methods:
- A randomized controlled trial was conducted involving 243 participants (153 adults, 90 adolescents) with high-functioning ASD across the UK, Spain, and Bulgaria.
- Participants were allocated to read either original texts or texts simplified by the Open Book tool.
- Text comprehension was measured by the number of correct answers, and perceived ease of understanding was assessed through participant ratings.
Main Results:
- Participants with ASD demonstrated significantly higher text comprehension scores when reading texts simplified by Open Book (M = 11.2, SD = 4.1) compared to original texts (M = 10, SD = 4.1; p < 0.001).
- This improvement in comprehension was consistent across different age groups and participating countries.
- Simplified texts were rated as significantly easier to understand (M = 7.6, SD = 2.4) than original texts (M = 8.7, SD = 2.6; p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
- The Open Book software shows significant potential as a valuable tool for improving reading comprehension in individuals with ASD.
- Text simplification through adaptive, personalized technology can effectively bridge the comprehension gap for people with ASD.
- The findings support the hypothesis that Open Book enhances the understanding of written materials for the ASD population.
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