Development of a tangible artefact prototype for treating children with speech sound disorders

• Autor(a) principal: Santos, Joaquim Nuno Salgueiro dos
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/24070
• topic: Children; Speech Sound Disorders; Tangible Artefact; Interaction; Parents/Caregivers

In the first part of this Dissertation different approaches - interaction paradigms considered relevant - that can be used to enrich a traditionally physical intervention material and how to turn everything into a coherent whole, a tangible artefact. The advantages that a tangible artefact may hold over a traditional object, as well as its role in children’s learning, are analysed. Three best practices cases are described and from them lessons are drawn for the creation of tangible artefacts. In the second part of the Dissertation the game selected to be transformed into a tangible artefact - the game of Fishing - is presented and described. Aspects of game mechanics, both in the traditional version and in the tangible/digital version, are discussed. The reasons and advantages perceived in the transformation into a tangible artefact are reviewed. The technologies used and the various stages and iterations that both the prototype and the software suffered are described. The reasons and the motivation behind the various decisions made are explained. In order to obtain suggestions and to verify if the prototype was being developed according to the needs of the identified target users, an exploratory test was prepared and carried out, with 10 participants. During this test we used the direct observation method and the following data gathering mechanisms: observation grid and semi-structured questionnaire / interview. This enabled the collection of quantitative and qualitative data, which allowed us to conclude that the prototype addresses the existing needs, has a high replay value and favours immersion. Finally, we present the conclusions and results obtained, as well as an exhaustive list of suggestions, comments and changes to be made to create a tangible artefact with final product characteristics. The artifact produced can be extremely modular and versatile and there is a clear need and interest in similar objects from speech therapists, educators and auxiliaries. However, there are aspects to improve. The process should be even more iterative, with a multidisciplinary team and all end-users able to participate as co-designers.