Using the Baby-Babble-Blanket for infants with motor problems: an empirical study

ABSTRACT

Children with motor problems often develop to be passive, presumably because of an inability to communicate and to control the environment. The Baby-Babble-Blanket (BBB), a pad with pressure switches linked to a Macintosh computer, was developed to meet this need. Lying on the pad, infants use head-rolling, leg-lifting and kicking to produce digitized sound. Data is collected by the BBB software on the infant's switch activations. An empirical study was carried out on a five-month-old infant with club feet, hydrocephaly and poor muscle tone to determine what movements the infant could use to access the pad, whether movements would increase over a baseline in response to sound, and what level of cause and effect the infant would demonstrate. Videotapes and switch activation data suggest that the infant:1) could activate the device by rolling his head and raising his legs.2) increased switch activations, over a no-sound baseline, in response to the sound of his mother's voice.3) was able to change from using his head to raising his legs in response to the reinforcer.

REFERENCES

• 1: Cruickshank. W.M. Cerebral Palsy. Tarrytown, New York: Pergamon Press, 1986.
• 2: Seligman M. Helplessness: On Depression, Development and Death. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1975.
• 3: Schweigert, P. Use of microswitch technology to facilitate social contingency awareness as a basis for early communication skills. In: Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 1989; 5 (3): 192-197.
• 4: McReynolds L. V., Kearns K. P. Single Subject Experimental Designs in Communication Disorders. Baltimore: University Park Press, 1983.
• 5: Piaget J. (1937). The construction of reality in the child, trans, by M. Cook. New York: Basic Books, 1954.
• 6: Brinker R., Lewis M. Discovering the competent handicapped infant: A process approach to assessment and intervention. In: Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 1982; 2: 1-16.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Input devices and strategies (e.g., mouse, touchscreen)

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.2 User/Machine Systems
          Subjects: Human factors
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Interaction styles (e.g., commands, menus, forms, direct manipulation)

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Human Factors