Extended smartphone-aided program to sustain daily activities, communication and leisure in individuals with intellectual and sensory-motor disabilities.

Six adults with intellectual disability and visual or visuo-motor problems used Samsung Galaxy J4 Plus phones. The phones ran MacroDroid, an app that pops up picture, sound, or vibration cues for daily tasks.

Staff first taught each adult to answer the phone, then added step-by-step prompts for things like making coffee or setting a table. The team tracked if the adults started and finished each task on their own.

Every adult began and completed the new daily activities once the extra prompts were added. Their old skills—texting photos or playing music—stayed the same.

Support staff said the longer program was easier to use and more helpful than the earlier short version.

The result lines up with Sutton et al. (2022) and Aldi et al. (2016), who also handed adults portable screens to learn daily tasks. All three studies show positive gains, so the smartphone approach repeats across slightly different gadgets.

It also extends van Timmeren et al. (2016), where teens learned to start iPhone videos by themselves. E et al. move the same self-management idea to adults and add real-time prompts instead of just video models.

At first glance Munce et al. (2010) seems to disagree: their remote telecare prompts only gave small gains and took longer. The difference is gear and setup. T et al. used old call-center staff talking over a box TV. E et al. use quick, automatic phone alerts that pop up right in the person’s hand. Same goal, faster tool.

If you support adults with ID who also have vision or motor limits, a cheap Android phone with MacroDroid can replace many verbal reminders. Load clear photos or short sounds for each step, teach the adult to swipe, and fade yourself out. You keep earlier communication or leisure skills intact while adding new self-care routines without buying extra devices.