AV, tech, and neurodivergence

• Features

• 09/01/2024

Technology and social sciences can form a symbiotic relationship that holds the potential to unlock innovation, where the focus is on addressing the diverse and evolving needs of end users. To create solutions that are not only effective but also genuinely transformative, a ‘human-first’ approach is essential. This human-centric approach becomes even more critical when considering the unique needs of ‘neurodivergent’ individuals. Neurodivergence encompasses a broad spectrum of neurological differences such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Creating technological solutions for these individuals requires a profound understanding of their distinct requirements, preferences, and challenges. Dr Lee Li Neng, senior lecturer at the Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, shares his insights: “The umbrella term ‘neurodivergent’ aims to be inclusive as it caters to a broad group of neuro profiles. However, when designing interventions and solutions, looking at the specific neuro profiles of people will help narrow down the exact requirements to be accounted for when designing solutions.”

Lee delves into the intricate challenges faced by neurodivergent students in their pursuit of education: “If we look specifically at people with ADHD, they require a lot more cognitive and physical energy to deal with different mediums and different kinds of information. In schools, lectures, and classes they require a high level of auditory processing at a quick pace which then requires sustained attention. For individuals with ADHD, this may be more challenging than it typically would be for neurotypical students.”

In the evolving landscape of education, technology is becoming a bigger factor. Lee shares his thoughts: “Ever since the pandemic, remote learning has been normalised, and we are seeing features within videoconferencing platforms such as customisable playback speed and auto-captioning. As such, remote learning offers a high degree of personalisation for students. The question then becomes a matter of ‘to what degree can we replicate this personalisation in a classroom format’.”

Lee expands on the impact personalisation can have: “I noticed that a lot of my students prefer Zoom lectures because there is the option to enable live captioning and subtitles. This allows them to follow along and have a better understanding of the lecture materials, while also having the option to pace their own learning when rewatching recordings.”

From Lee’s previous comment, it is easy to see that technology has the capability to cater to the needs of neurodivergent individuals especially if it is deployed with intention, thought, and care. Lee elaborates: “In psychology, we use the term ‘cognitive misers’ to describe how humans tend to use the minimum amount of effort to get the maximum outcome. With technological advancements, it is important to learn how to use technology in a way that prevents distractions from its intended purpose.”

So, should technology just go down the route to cater to the needs of the individual? There may be hidden costs that come with the over-personalisation of learning as Lee raises his concerns: “From a pedagogical point of view, educators today are concerned with the implications of over personalising one’s educational plan as that could mean that there is too much emphasis placed on catering to the needs of the individual, which inadvertently makes them less adaptable to the changing circumstances of their environment. We need to find a way to balance this fine line.”

How then can we ensure that AV and technology are more inclusive for neurodivergent students? Lee weighs in: “If there is an AV solution that has the ability to incorporate live subtitling in a physical, real-life setting, that would be useful to students – regardless of whether they are neurodivergent or not.” He adds: “I believe that AV, in conjunction with advances in AI, could be helpful in crafting a learning experience that is more immersive. For example, having accompanying visuals and immersive graphics while a lecturer delivers a talk could be a useful way to grasp the attention of students. However, there is also the possibility that such visuals could be too distracting, leading to a case of information overload.”

Integrating technological solutions into a classroom may be a double-edged sword if not done right. Lee comments: “One of the issues that people on the spectrum deal with is information overload. For neurotypical individuals, the majority can zoom into certain information that they deem useful while blocking out unnecessary information. Those with ASD, however, may find it difficult to do so as they tend to focus on all sorts of information going on both in the foreground and background. This causes them to go into a mode of sensory overload as their senses become overstimulated.”

Lee further says: “Translating this into technology, the ability to subtract is just as important as addition. We always talk about adding more technological features into an environment when perhaps the answer lies in taking away unnecessary distractions that come in visual or auditory forms.”

He elaborates: “For example, noise cancellation technology is very popular these days, even in the workplace. Essentially the philosophy to such a technology lies in subtraction by reducing the amount of auditory information that the brain needs to process. The same line of thinking can be applied to visual information – we need to find an innovative way of filtering visual information if it is presented to us in excessive amounts.”

Lee concludes: “Ultimately, when it comes to designing technological solutions for neurodivergent individuals, it is important to recognise specifically what kind of needs they require to be more productive during the conceptualising process. The end goal is to avoid overgeneralising and clumping neurodivergent individuals into a singular mass that ignores the diverse needs of each neuro profile.”

Lack of inclusive solutions? To understand the current tech solutions being deployed to cater to neurodivergent individuals, we speak to Rainbow Centre – a charity organisation in Singapore that has three special education schools serving students with autism and multiple disabilities from birth to 18 years old. Koh Kheng Wah, head of the technology team in the development & innovation (D&I) unit at Rainbow Centre, shares: “Students with special needs require a personalised education plan unlike mainstream school students. Depending on each individual’s needs, teaching plans typically focus on key domains like daily living, communication, numeracy, social emotions, and physical development, to cultivate independence in performing daily activities.”

Neurodivergent students who are on the spectrum approach learning from a different perspective, which leads to multiple challenges. Koh details: “In mainstream schools, there is a tendency for teachers to use verbal instructions. For students with autism, it is much more challenging to retain their attention when giving them verbal instructions. This is because many of them have auditory processing issues and are more sensitive to noise and sounds. So, there is the additional challenge of having to filter different noises in a world where their internal noise is amplified to a high degree.”

Koh elaborates: “Because of this, visual learning suits our students’ learning style much better. In their day-to-day learning, educators at Rainbow Centre use visual cues to help organise the way students receive information.”

In line with the centre’s aims of enhancing the engagement and participation of the students in learning, Koh’s team has been finding creative ways to incorporate technological innovations and AV solutions into learning plans. Koh illuminates: “Teaching our students to cross roads safely so that they will be able to travel independently to school is a priority. We tap on augmented reality (AR) technology to enable an effective auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning experience. We conceptualised and worked with a technology vendor to develop an innovative, immersive AR solution with real-life like environment and conditions, such as incorporating local road conditions and vehicle types into the AR scenes. With AR, we can simulate road accidents that could happen on the road should our students cross during a red light. For someone whose cognitive level is challenged, visuals and auditory feedback become important in transforming their learning to be hands-on and experiential therefore allowing them to understand the dangers of road hazards better.”

Koh details: “Whenever I conduct a development project for technology integration in our school, it is important to really understand the needs of our students and the purpose of integrating new solutions into current pedagogical approaches. Initially, we considered VR headsets due to their immersive aspect. After some evaluation, we realised that students with autism or sensory issues may not want to put the VR headsets on as they may feel uncomfortable. From this, I started to look into alternative solutions that could create immersive experiences while incorporating kinesthetic learning and motion sensors to pick up movement. This is how our AR system came about.”

The limited awareness and understanding of the experiences of neurodivergent individuals are obstacles that prevent a more widespread comprehension of their challenges. As such, the needs of neurodivergent individuals are often underrepresented and neglected in the design process stage during the development of new technology. Koh adds to this: “It is difficult to find commercial solutions in the market, but it is also costly to get a vendor to exclusively develop solutions that serve the unique needs of only a small group of individuals with special needs. The market for inclusive technology is very small, especially for assistive technology.”

How then do end users navigate the scarcity of inclusive solutions in the AV and tech market? Koh shares: “My approach is to look at what consumer technologies are available in the market, and then innovatively repurpose it to meet the needs of our students. For example, our students with multiple disabilities face challenges in performing tasks like turning on lights or playing a YouTube video they like. We configure augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) applications, available on the iPad, whereby students can use a stylus to tap on a picture on the screen, which then triggers a verbal instruction for smart home solutions like Google Home to act on. So, a student with physical limitations can command Google Home to look for and play their favourite videos, even if they have speech impairments.”

Koh concludes: “Looking forward, I am interested to see how we can make creative use of audio to incorporate into our learning facilities, such as noise and echo cancellation or reducing external noise pollution through soundmasking. These technologies have the potential to help our students with autism focus better considering their higher sensitivity to sound levels.”