Adaptive Interfaces

With the level of human interaction incorporated into today’s technology, interface between a device and the child takes on a new meaning and new challenges. The success of a device is determined by the inter­face, which takes the form of various technologies.

Other adaptive interfaces used typically to con­trol one’s environment or access to a computer include voice activation and an eye gaze system. Voice rec­ognition may use software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking. Eye gaze technology continues to improve, as in the Tobii Eye Tracking system, a computer hard­ware and software package for explicitly measuring, recording, and analyzing what a person is doing with his or her eyes. The child can perform a broad variety of functions, including environmental control, playing games, typing, or operating a telephone. As the elec­tronics have advanced, particularly in powered mobil­ity systems, so has the ability to integrate controls. Therefore, it is possible to have a power wheelchair user also control his or her communication device using the same interface that allows him or her to control the power wheelchair. Although these technol­ogies are sophisticated, they offer another means of accessing the environment and maximizing indepen­dence. The advantages of integrated control are that persons with limited motor control can access several devices with one access site without assistance, and the user does not need to learn a different operating mechanism for each device (7).