BOOKS for Persons with Cognitive Disabilities

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BOOKS for Persons with Cognitive Disabilities

• DIPENDRA MANOCHA

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Definition of Autism

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental
  disability that adversely affects the way
  information is processed by the brain causing
  problems in
• Communication
• Adaptation
• Socialization

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Accomplishment

• DAISY Orientation with professionals and parents
• Production of DAISY Materials
• ASP brochure
• Book on Autism
• Social Stories
• Safety Prevention Manual
• Crime Prevention Manual
• Disaster Preparedness
• Daily living skills

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Repeating same audio

• In Japan, memorizing and repeating a story is
  often given as homework at school. There is a 3rd
  grade student with autism who had never
  successfully recited a story from text books. But
  when he listened to the story in DAISY book, just
  after listening to the book twice, he could
  memorize and repeat a story.
• The reason was that if someone read to him a
  story several times, the voice or tone or speed
  will be different for each time and it was
  difficult for him to remember. But with the
  recorded voice, he could listen to the sentences
  at exactly the same sound. And he could repeat
  exactly the same as a narrator's recording.

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Hypersensitivity

• One student with aspergers syndrome who can't
  touch paper because of hypersensitivity couldn't
  read books because he couldn't hold and turn over
  the pages.
• When he started reading DAISY book, he said, that
  the DAISY is the best book for him.

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DAISY creator with autism

• There is a DAISY creator who is a member of the
  organization creating DAISY text books for
  students with learning disabilities doing
  mark-ups, DAISY editing, scanning, text typing,
  image editing and all other things, but ask
  others for the recording part.
• He is very accurate and has created many books.
  He only needs detailed instructions of each steps
  but once he gets the idea, he does not make
  mistakes.

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Students with Dyslexia

• 4th Grade student with Dyslexia who couldnt read
  text book and couldnt follow the class.
• Preparation with DAISY
• Listen to the book few times and understand the
  contents
• See highlighted text with listening to the
  synchronized audio few times
• see printed text book with listening to the audio
  few times and check the position of each text on
  the printed book
• He could participate in the class
• Could find the right sentence to which teacher is
  referring
• Could give the comments because he understood the
  contents
• For him, starting from listening was a better way
  to learn how to read.
• His mother spent a lot of time with him to
  prepare for the class but DAISY reduced this
  burden

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ADHD students

• Students with attention-deficit and
  hyper-activity disorder when reading through
  DAISY books
• Didnt miss the next line
• Could read the text without mistakes

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Exam paper for Learning Disabled

• Special school teacher converted exam paper into
  DAISY format.
• Before, teachers used to read question paper to
  the group of students
• Students could take exam at their own pace

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Next steps

• I. Education and Training
• Orientation
• Focus Group Discussion
• Seminar
• Training
• National Conference

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• II. Research and Development
• Study on the Usefulness of DAISY
• Research on the Effectiveness of DAISY
• DAISY material development by specialist
• (Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists,
  Behaviorists, SPED Teachers)

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• III. Production and Employment
• Books
• Social Stories
• Booklets for Developing Skills for Daily Living
• Employment of High Functioning PWAs and Asperger
  Syndrome

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Challenges

• Funds to finance studies/researches
• Personnel to focus on DAISY
• Availability of hardware and software
• Usefulness of DAISY for other developmental
  disabilities (DS, ADHD, CP,MR)
• Availability of Specialists
• Educating stakeholders on DAISY