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This study examined special education teachers' perspectives of the instructional impact of the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA) for students with significant cognitive disabilities. Through purposeful sampling, six special education teachers who serve students with significant cognitive disabilities and had experience administering the FAA were identified. Interviews posed questions about how they used the FAA to impact their instructional decision-making, how the FAA has influenced how the development of Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals, and how the FAA impacted how they defined access to the general education curriculum. The interviews, along with IEP artifacts, and a research journal formed the research design. Results revealed 8 major themes and 18 sub-themes. Teachers reported that the FAA ignores the complex needs of their students, and highlighted the curricular tensions between academics and life skills. A third of the teachers indicated they have created and adopted curriculum to mirror the FAA, and five out of the six teachers integrated more daily assessments similar to the FAA. In addition, the study revealed varied results for utilizing FAA results on IEP development and writing goals. Finally, teachers had varied beliefs on the value of curriculum content standards called access points for students with significant cognitive disabilities. Most of the teachers stated that higher standards lead to higher expectations. The results also revealed teachers' perspectives of the instructional impact of the FAA were influenced by their teaching context: center setting versus general education setting. Implications for future research and practice are included.

Students with significant cognitive disabilities frequently exhibit reduced communicative and academic competence. The Low Incidence Initiative (LII) project was a professional development model designed to train school-based teams to facilitate increased communicative and academic competence with such students via distance-technology coaching. This study analyzed pre-existing data from year one of the LII. Data were analyzed to determine effectiveness of the project on communication status of students and on training school personnel to accurately identify student levels of communication, and for overall satisfaction with the project. Results indicated that all student participants demonstrated improvement in expressive communication output. 100% of students who required augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) increased in the complexity of AAC used. Some improvement in school personnel’s identification of student communication levels was demonstrated, however, the continued discrepancy between LII staff and school personnel indicates a need for additional training in this area. Qualitative analysis of survey question responses, and other anecdotal information, revealed an overwhelming satisfaction with the LII model, increased communicative sophistication of students, improvements in collaborative teaming, increased access to general curriculum for students, and improvement in school personnel skill-level. Implications of the results of this study and areas for future research are discussed.

Tillgängligt innehåll på webben är uppmärksammat sedan länge inom webbutveckling. Kognitiv tillgänglighet innebär att innehållet även är tillgängligt för användare med en kognitiv funktionsnedsättning. En person med kognitiv funktionsnedsättning har nedsatt förmåga att ta in och bearbeta information. Exempel på svårigheter är koncentration, inlärning eller minnesproblem. Många människor pratar om kognitiv funktionsnedsättning i termer som ADHD och andra vanligt förekommande diagnoser i kategorin. Dock händer det inte ofta att webbutvecklare talar om kognitiv funktionsnedsättning i diskussioner om tillgänglighet på webben. Detta kan anses märkligt eftersom kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar är mer vanligt än de fysiska funktionsnedsättningar som tillgänglighet oftast syfar till. Riktlinjerna WCAG 2.0 är framtagna för att möta alla användares behov men upplevs vara otillräckliga för att möta kognitiv tillgänglighet. Denna studie lyfter fram vilka kognitiva behov som finns på webben och riktlinjerna WCAG 2.0 granskas utifrån de behov som definierats. I denna och även i tidigare studier kan vi se att användare med kognitiv funktionsnedsättning behöver rättstavningshjälp, igenkännbart innehåll, textuppläsning och att slippa se popup-rutor och blinkande eller rörligt innehåll. Riktlinjer som möter dessa behov är bland annat riktlinje 10 om förutsägbart innehåll och riktlinje 11 om inmatningsstöd. Där det saknas riktlinjer för att möta kognitiva behov finns istället utvecklade hjälpmedel som stödjer olika kognitiva behov. Exempel på ett sådant hjälpmedel är Chrome-tillägget AdBlock som blockerar popup-rutor. Resultatet i denna studie visar att riktlinjerna faktiskt är tillräckligt bra och med hjälp av befintliga hjälpmedel möter de alla kognitiva behov. / Accessible web content is a familiar concept since many years. It has a fundamental purpose of making web content useful for everyone regardless of abilities. Cognitive accessibility imply that the content is also accessible for people with cognitive disabilities. Difficulty with mental tasks such as memory, problem-solving and attention is one definition of cognitive disability. It’s common to talk about cognitive disabilities in terms of diagnosis like ADHD and others. Despite the fact that accessibility and cognitive disabilities are highlighted terms apart, the compound term cognitive accessibility is not that very highlighted among web developers while discussing web accessibility. This can be considered odd since cognitive disabilities are more frequent then other physical disabilities. Te accessibility guidelines WCAG 2.0 are produced with its purpose of describing guidelines for making web content accessible for all users. These guidelines are perceived insufficient where cognitive needs are concerned. Tis study emphasizes what cognitive needs there currently are and the guidelines WCAG 2.0 are criticized towards the emphasized cognitive needs. In this study and other studies cognitive needs have been defined such as spellchecker, recognizable content, text to speech and the need of avoiding popups and blinking or moving content. There are guidelines to answer for those needs. Two of these guidelines are Guideline 10 and 11 where Guideline 10 is about predictable content and Guideline 11 is about input support. Where cognitive needs are not answered by any guidelines, there are many tools for cognitive needs available. One tool of such quality is the Chrome extension AdBlock for user to block content such as popups or ads. According to the results of this study, the guidelines WCAG 2.0 are actually good enough and together with available tools they answer for all cognitive needs.

Les pathologies neurologiques sont souvent considérées comme les plus graves et provoquent régulièrement des perturbations cognitives jugées irréversibles. Cependant, certaines affections comme le traumatisme cranio-cérébral et l’accident vasculaire cérébral disposent d’un potentiel de récupération. Ces deux pathologies restent distinctes sur l’étiologie et la population affectée mais sont communes au niveau de la prise en charge et des séquelles existantes. Les différentes recherches effectuées sur la récupération des troubles phasiques et la mise en évidence de facteurs pronostics dans les perturbations langagières, nous ont conduits à effectuer une recherche longitudinale sur les variables de la récupération dans les traumatismes cranio-cérébraux. Compte tenu du potentiel de récupération des accidents vasculaires cérébraux, nous avons effectué une recherche comparative entre les deux pathologies. L’analyse des liens entre les états dépressifs, les états anxieux, l’estime de soi, le coping, la résilience, les performances cognitives, les soins dispensés et l’anosognosie nous a permis d’appréhender les facteurs de récupération présents dans les deux affections. Les résultats de cette étude révèlent des performances cognitives similaires entre les sujets cérébro-lésés ainsi que la possibilité d’une récupération pour chacune des pathologiques. Nos résultats ont également montré une récupération identique, indiquant ainsi que quelle que soit la pathologie, nos sujets récupèrent de la même manière. / Neurological pathologies are frequently considered as serious and generate cognitive disabilities irreversible. However some diseases as traumatic brain injury and stroke have a recovery potential. These pathologies are different concerning etiology and people who are suffer but similar about medical care and sequelae. The different researches related to the recovery of language disorders and prognostic variables exposure, led us to realize a longitudinal study on recovery variables on traumatic brain injury. Considering the potential recovery of stroke, we have effected a comparative research between both pathologies. Correlational analyses between depression, anxiety, self-esteem, resilience, coping, abilities cognitive, medical care and anosognosia have exposed the determinants of recovery in traumatic brain injury and stroke. The results of this study show identical cognitive performances between patients and also a recovery for both disease. Recovery was similar for patients, which means regardless pathologies, patients recover in same way.

Abstract Context: Advancement in mobile technology is truth of this Century. Mobile phone is used mainly for calling and Short Message Service, but Smartphone are advanced form of mobile phone which have multiple features. Smartphone can have Global Positioning System, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Near Field Communication like features. These Smartphone devices are designed considering general public and can be difficult to use by people with limited cognition. But proper use of Smartphone features while developing applications to support people with cognitive disabilities is vital. The interfaces and structure of information can have impact on the success of application. Although, some special systems exist to support these people but they create a distinction among functional and non-functional population. Smartphone with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology feature was considered in this research work as a cognitive support for independence in their daily life activities. Objectives: The objectives were the Identification of issues to be considered while providing cognitive support through technology for cognitive disabled persons. And if technology used to support them is Smartphone then to investigate the appropriate structure of information to be displayed on screen to make them able to perform their activities by following instruction provided by application. To know how NFC Smartphone feature can be helpful to start an application designed to provide cognitive support i.e. providing them information of weather and suggesting appropriate clothes to wear. Methods: The systematic literature review was conducted to find the issues which should be considered while supporting cognitive disabled. The survey was used to identify the needs, abilities and disabilities of cognitive disabled persons. Interviews with higher administration involved in support facilities to the cognitive disabled were conducted to get in-depth knowledge from their experience which can be helpful for developing the application. The Participatory design workshop was conducted by involving stakeholders. Appropriate structure of information for weather and clothes scenario was decided. The NFC enabled Smartphone application was implemented and tested in real environment. For validation focus group interviews were conducted. Conclusions: The NFC enabled Smartphone application to assist in deciding clothes to be worn according to outside weather condition was evaluated in real environment. The results of user testing and focus group interviews indicate that Smartphone application through NFC feature can support people with cognitive disabilities. Furthermore, for validation purpose ethnographic methods can be used for validation of proposed NFC enabled Smartphone application.

Information and the way of perceiving it are important for people, especially people with lower cognitive capabilities. According to previous studies, animation has the power of communicating and delivering the required message to different cognitive levels in simple and realistic methods. This qualitative study investigates the animation's role in alleviating information overload for people with lower cognitive skills, and explores the possibilities of using the animation as an alternative tool to the current methods of overload such as pictures and text. Data was collected through conducting interviews with caretakers, testing a prototype, and the second round of interviews. The findings indicated that animation in this field was positive and could surely be used as a future tool for providing information in their context. However, some considerations should be taken into account regarding how animation should be tailored to the users, such as the cognitive level differences and customizing the animation for instance.

As more readers consume news through digital platforms such as computers, mobiles and tablets, it is essential to make these interfaces accessible to as many users as possible, both from an economic and social standpoint. The terms ‘universal accessibility’, ‘inclusive design’ and ‘design-for-all’ refer to the method of designing for users both with and without disabilities, which is a widely debated subject among researchers in the field where some say that it improves the usability for everyone, while others argue that it is impossible to create a design that fits all needs. The aim of this thesis is to investigate this ‘universal design’ method on news sites and answer the question whether a more accessible design can improve the experience for all users regardless of cognitive abilities. In order to do so, five current news sites were evaluated and compared to accessibility guidelines and previous research. Based on the results, two prototypes were developed and tested in a qualitative user study together with the existing sites. The user study consisted of two test groups of students with (Group 1) and without (Group 2) cognitive disabilities, with 5 users in the first group and 9 users in the second. Oral opinions were compared within and between the groups together with results from a hierarchical sorting of sites based on general preference, appearance and credibility. The results showed both differences and similarities between the groups, whereas the greatest common factor was the preference for the “clean” and “calm” design, ranking both prototypes higher than their originals. The conclusion was that it is indeed difficult to design for everybody because of individual needs and preferences, but including disabled users in the design process highlights general problems that could otherwise have been missed, while also making it easier to implement customizable options for disabled users. / När allt fler läsare konsumerar nyheter via digitala plattformar - såsom datorer, mobiler och läsplattor - så behöver dessa gränssnitt vara tillgängliga för så många som möjligt, både ur ett ekonomiskt och socialt perspektiv. Med termerna 'universell design', inkluderande design'och'design-för-alla' menas den designmetod som utgår från användare både med och utan funktionsvariationer. Denna metod är starkt debatterad bland forskare där vissa anser att det förbättrar användarvänligheten för alla, medan andra menar att det är omöjligt att skapa en design som uppfyller alla behov. Målet med denna rapport är att utforska denna 'universella design' på nyhetshemsidor och se om en mer tillgänglig design kan förbättra upplevelsen för alla användare, med fokus på kognitiva funktionsvariationer. För att besvara denna fråga så analyserades och jämfördes fem nyhetshemsidor med riktlinjer för tillgänglighet samt tidigare forskningsstudier. Baserat på resultatet så skapades även två prototyper som utvärderades tillsammans med de existerande hemsidorna i ett kvalitativt användartest. Denna studie bestod av två grupper av studenter med (Grupp 1) och utan (Grupp 2) kognitiva funktionsvariationer, med 5 användare i första gruppen och 9 användare i den andra. Muntliga åsikter jämfördes inom och mellan grupperna tillsammans med resultaten från en hierarkisk sortering av hemsidorna baserad på generella preferenser, utseende samt trovärdighet. Resultatet visade på både skillnader och likheter mellan grupperna, där den största gemensamma nämnaren var preferensen för en "ren" och "lugn" design, vilket placerade båda prototyperna högre än deras originalversioner. Slutsatsen var att det mycket riktigt är svårt att skapa en design för alla på grund av individuella behov och preferenser, men att inkludera användare med funktionsvariationer i designprocessen kan markera generella problem som annars hade kunnat missas, samt att göra det enklare att implementera skräddarsydda inställningar.