2011 Transportation Research Board Conference - Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Travel Assistance Device on Bus Riding Behavior of Individuals with Disabilities

Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the

Travel Assistance Device on the Bus

Riding Behavior of Individuals with

Disabilities

Arica Bolechala

Raymond Miltenberger

Sean Barbeau

Marcy Gordon

Florida Mental Health Institute &

Center for Urban Transportation Research

University of South Florida


• Independence for individuals with disabilities

Individuals face dangers in their everyday lives

Lack of knowledge or ability

Safety skills in many settings

• Technological devices can help afford independence

Pagers, virtual reality, hand held computer devices, and cellular phones » (Padgett, Stickland, & Coles, 2006; Riffel, Wehmeyer, Turnbull, Lattimore, Stock, &

Fisher 2005; Self, Scudder, Weheba, & Crumrine, 2007; Taylor, Hughes, Richard, Hoch & Coelo, 2004).

Introduction


Introduction

• Independence can be afforded to these individuals across settings.

In the home (Cheslock, Barton-Hulsey, Romski, &Sevcik, 2008; Hersh

&Treadgold, 1994; Lancioni, Singh, O’Reilly, Sigafoos, Campodonico, & Oliva, 2008).

In the workplace (Davies, Stock, & Wehmeyer, 2001; Davies, Stock, &

Wehmeyer, 2002a).

In the community (Taylor, Hughes, Richard, Hoch & Coello, 2004; Zaruba,

Kamangar, & Huber; 2003).

• Training individuals with disabilities to use public transportation is one of the least researched areas (Rosenkvist, Risser, Iwasson, Wendel, and Stahl 2009)


• Fischer and Sullivan (2002):

Focused on understanding the barriers experienced by people with cognitive disabilities, designing a user friendly model to reduce the cognitive load for individuals with cognitive disabilities within public transportation

• Sohlberg, Todis, Fickas, Hung, and Lemoncello (2005):

Examined navigational patterns, focus groups

• Sohlberg, Fickas, Hung, and Fortier (2007):

Developed and tested the effectiveness of using a PDA to deliver four different prompting methods and to see which prompting method was most effective

Focused on manually-triggered alerts for pedestrians

Audio was most successful and most preferred by users

Introduction


Travel Assistance Device (TAD)

TAD is a transit navigation “app” for cell phones

Caretakers or travel trainers can plan trips via website:


TADTAD

Cancel Select

Select Trip

(1) Home to Work

(2) Work to Home

(3) Home to Movie

Work to HomeWork to Home

Back #

Distance to Final Stop:

5.6 miles

18 Livingston West

TADTAD

OK

Pull the Cord Now!

(+Sound and Vibration)


TAD cell phone app tells the traveler to “Get Ready” and “Pull the Cord Now!” when it is time for them to exit the bus.

Prompts are visual, auditory, and tactile.


Behavior Analysis Study

• Purpose:

To determine whether the prompts given by the TAD would exhibit stimulus control over participants’ behavior of pulling the “stop” cord to:

1. Stop the bus at the appropriate time

2. Exit the bus at the appropriate stop.


Method

Participants

Inclusion criteria: ambulatory & travel trained.

3 individuals with moderate mental retardation.

“Mark”, “Paige”, “Carl”

Setting

TAD training was done in a class room setting using Behavioral Skills Training (BST).

Baseline and post training tests were carried out on a city bus at Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) in Tampa, Florida.

Target Behaviors

1. The participant must pull the bus cord signaling the appropriate stop

2. The participant must exit the bus at the appropriate stop.


Method

Data Collection

Trials:

Each trial began at a local transit center.

Once the participant and inconspicuous observer board the bus the trial began.

Once the participant exited the bus the trial was considered complete.

Participant Directions:

Participants were told to take “X” bus to “Y” location.

Baseline: No prompts or feedback were given.

Post Training: Prompts were given by the TAD.


Method

• Participant Safety:

The inconspicuous observer entered the bus after the participant.

If the participant failed to pull the cord at the appropriate location the inconspicuous observer pulled the cord.

A familiar research assistant was waiting for the participant to exit the bus at the appropriate bus stop.

The primary researcher followed the bus during all trips.


Method

Mobile Device:

Sanyo 7050 phone on Sprint


mobile application

Research Design:

Data was evaluated in an ABAB reversal design

Interobserver Agreement (IOA)

Assessed for 33% of all trials.

Baseline 1= 83%,

Post training 1, Baseline 2, & Post training 2 = 100%

Overall IOA was 95.8%


Procedure

Baseline:

Participants completed novel trips at different transit centers

TAD:

Training to use TAD was done using Behavior Skills Training style training (Himle, Miltenberger, Flessner, & Gatheridge, 2004).

Post Training:

TAD was activated and trips selected for the participants

In-Situ Training:

In-Situ training would have taken place after 3 consecutive incorrect trials.

Never needed to be implemented during study

Method


0

1

2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Ste

ps

Co

mp

lete

d

Trials

Baseline Post-Training Baseline Post-Training

Results – Participant “Mark”


0

1

2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Ste

ps

Co

mp

lete

d

Trials


Results – Participant “Paige”


0

1

2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Ste

ps

Co

mp

lete

d

Trials


Results – Participant “Carl”


Results & Discussion

• Results provide supporting evidence that the TAD is an effective tool to prompt individuals to exit the bus at a desired location.

• When no prompts were given, all subjects failed to pull the stop request cord and exit the bus at the correct location

• When TAD was used, the subjects pulled the stop request cord and exited the bus at the correct location

• One rider asked the bus driver for help

Driver gave the rider incorrect directions

Rider exited the bus at the wrong stop


Results & Discussion

• Limitations

Generalization – small population in this study

• Future research

Other, and larger, populations

Individuals with visual, physical impairments, elderly

Longer trips

Multi-link trips with transfer present additional challenges

Training needed

Full user experience of application (e.g., User starting application, selecting options on phone, etc.)

How to “train the trainer”?


Acknowledgements

• Arica Bolechala, Raymond Miltenberger, and Kimberly Crosland, FMHI

• Sean Barbeau, Phil Winters, and Nevine Georggi, CUTR, USF

• Miguel Labrador and Rafael Perez, Computer Science & Engineering, USF

• Mark Sheppard, HART Travel Trainer

• Gigi Gonzalez, Special Education Facilitator for STAGES program at USF

• Amy Datz, FDOT Project Manager

• Harvey Berlin, TRB IDEA Project Manager

• Sprint Application Developer Program for cell phones and service


Questions?

Sean J. Barbeau, M.S. Comp.Sci.

Research Associate

Center for Urban Transportation Research

University of South Florida

813.974.7208

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Cheslock, M. A., Barton-Hulsey, A., Romski, M., & Sevcik, R. A. (2008). Using a speech generated device to enhance communicative abilities for an adult with moderate intellectual disability. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 46, 376-386.

Davies, D. K., Stock, S. E., & Wehmeyer, M. L. (2001). Enhancing independent internet access for individuals with mental retardation through use of a specialized web browser: A pilot study. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities, 36, 107-113.

Davies, D. K., Stock, S. E., & Wehmeyer, M. L. (2002a). Enhancing independent task performance for individuals with mental retardation through use of a handheld self-directed visual and audio prompting system. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities, 37, 209-218.

Davies, D. K., Stock, S. E., & Wehmeyer, M. L. (2002b). Enhancing independent time management skills of individuals with mental retardation using a palmtop personal computer. Mental Retardation, 40, 358-365.

Fischer, G., & Sullivan, J. (2002). Human-centered public transportation systems for persons with cognitive disabilities—Challenges and insights for participatory design. In Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference (June) Malm¨o University, Sweden, T. Binder, J. Gregory, and I. Wagner Eds. Palo Alto, CA, 194–198.

Hersh, N. & Treadgold, L. (1994). Neuropage: The rehabilitation of memory dysfunction by prosthetic memory aid cueing. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 4, 187-197.

Himle, M. B., Miltenberger, R. G., Flessner, C., & Gatheridge, B. (2004). Teaching safety skills to children to prevent gun play. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 37, 1-9.

Lancioni, G. E., Singh, N. N., O’Reilly, M. F., Sigafoos, J., Campodonico, F., & Oliva, D. (2008). Self-management of orientation technology and auditory cues for indoor travel by two persons with multiple disabilities. Journal of Developmental Physical Disabilities, 20, 129-138.

Padgett, L. S., Strickland, D., & Coles, C. D. (2006). Case study: Using a virtual reality computer game to teach fire safety skills to children diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 31, 65-70.

References


References

Riffel, L. A., Wehmeyer, M. L., Turnbull, A. P., Lattimore, J., Davies, D., Stock, S., & Fisher, S. (2005). Prompting independent performance of transition-related tasks using a palmtop pc-based self-directed visual and auditory prompting system. Journal of Special Education Technology, 20, 5-14.

Rosenkvist, J., Risser, R., Iwarsson, S., Wendel, K., & Stahl, A. (2009). The challenge of using public transportation: Descriptions by people with cognitive functional limitation. Journal of Transportation and Land Use, 2, 65-80.

Self, T., Rosalind S. R., Weheba, G., & Crumrine, D. (2007). A virtual approach to teaching safety skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. Topics in Language Disorders, 27, 242-253.

Sohlberg, M. M., Fickas, S., Hung, P., & Fortier, A. (2007). A comparison of four prompt modes for route finding for community travelers with severe cognitive impairments. Brain Injury, 21, 531-538.

Sohlberg, M. M., Todis, B., Fickas, S., Hung, P., & Lemoncello, R. (2005). A profile of community navigation in adults with chronic cognitive impairments. Brain Injury, 19, 1249-1259.

Taylor, B. S., Hughes, C. E., Richard, E., Hoch, H. Coello, A. R. (2004). Teaching teenagers with autism to seek assistance when lost. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 37, 79-82.

Wade, T. K., Troy, J. C. (2001). Mobile phones as a new memory aid: A preliminary investigation using case studies. Brain Injury, 15, 305-320.

Zaruba, G., Kamangar, F., Huber, M., Levine, D. (2005). Connect: A personal remote messaging and monitoring system to aid people with disabilities. IEEE Communications Magazine, 101-109.

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2011 Transportation Research Board Conference - Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Travel Assistance Device on Bus Riding Behavior of Individuals with Disabilities