Using an Extended Dynamic Drag-and-Drop Assistive Program to assist people with multiple disabilities and minimal motor control to improve computer Drag-and-Drop ability through a mouse wheel.
A mouse-wheel poke interface (EDDnDAP) lets kids with minimal motor control master free-destination drag-and-drop in about six weeks.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two teens with severe motor limits and developmental delay practiced drag-and-drop on a computer.
They could only poke the mouse wheel. The team built EDDnDAP software that turns each wheel poke into a drag step.
Training ran six to seven weeks in a multiple-baseline design.
What they found
Both teens learned to drag items anywhere on the screen. Their speed and accuracy stayed high after training ended.
The gains were large and lasted.
How this fits with other research
Shih (2011) used the first version, DDnDAP, but only let users drop in fixed slots. The 2012 study upgrades to free-destination moves.
Shih et al. (2009) showed wheel-poke works for pointing. The new paper keeps the same poke motion and adds drag-and-drop steps.
Shih (2014) later moved the poke idea to typing. Together these papers form a clear line: one tiny finger motion can run three computer tasks.
Why it matters
If a client can bump a mouse wheel, you can give them full drag-and-drop control in about six weeks. No extra hardware is needed—just free software. Try it next session: load EDDnDAP, set a fun picture-sort game, and let the wheel poke be the drag button.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Software technology is adopted by the current research to improve the Drag-and-Drop abilities of two people with multiple disabilities and minimal motor control. This goal was realized through a Dynamic Drag-and-Drop Assistive Program (DDnDAP) in which the complex dragging process is replaced by simply poking the mouse wheel and clicking. However, DDnDAP has one limitation--users cannot freely define their desired destinations because the program only allows for the dragging of targets to fixed destinations. This study evaluated whether two children with developmental disabilities and minimal motor control would be able to improve their DnD performance through an Extended Dynamic Drag-and-Drop Assistive Program (EDDnDAP), which improves on the aforementioned limitation of DDnDAP. A multiple probe design across participants was used in this study to assess the effects of using EDDnDAP in enhancing participants' DnD abilities. Participants typically received three 20-min EDDnDAP training sessions per week, for a period of about 6-7 weeks. Both participants significantly improved their DnD efficiency with the help of EDDnDAP, and both remained highly successful through the maintenance phase. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.10.024