A New Technology System to Support Occupational Activity and Mobility in People with Severe-to-Profound Intellectual Disability and Blindness

People with severe-to-profound intellectual disability and blindness tend to be sedentary and detached, given their orientation and mobility problems, often combined with their limited interest in their surroundings. An approach to address this problem may involve the use of technology systems guiding the participants through mobility and occupational activity (object use) with a combination of spatial/orientation cues, basic instructions for the responses required by the activity, and positive stimulation during the activity. This study extended the above-mentioned approach using a new technology system that entailed a barcode reader, a series of barcodes, a smartphone, mini speakers, and a special application controlling the presentation of orientation cues and response instructions. Six participants were involved in the study. They were (a) guided (through orientation cues and instructions) to take objects from three different desks in a large room and deposit those objects into the carton of a fourth desk available in the same room, and (b) provided with a brief period of preferred stimulation for each object deposited in the carton. The results showed that the participants were generally unable to collect, transport, and deposit objects during the baseline phase (i.e., when the technology system was unavailable). During the intervention phase (with the support of the technology system), they managed to collect, transport, and deposit a mean of about 10 to 18 objects per session. Sessions lasted about 25 minutes. These results suggest that the technology system might be a valuable resource to help people with severe-to-profound intellectual disabilities and blindness manage mobility and occupational activity.