Angel Pampena
Tangible Language
Understanding language is the foundation of independent communication. Some children have cognitive, physical, and sensory impairments that make it difficult to learn how to understand language, and thus, have difficulty communicating needs and expressing themselves. Current teaching methods are confusing, not engaging, and lack independence.
As part of human-centered design course titled the Art of Making, myself and 5 other engineering students worked to create Tangible Language -- an interactive language book designed to help children with cognitive, physical, and/or visual impairments learn abstract (difficult-to-learn) language in a tangible and interactive way.
On the path to creating this project, my team networked with the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children to gain insight on existing problems with teaching independent communication to their students.
We specifically conducted outreach with:
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7 students
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7 Speech Language Pathologists
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3 Occupational Therapists
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1 Orientation and Mobility Specialist
While we began outreach with surveys, we expanded to meeting with professionals and instructors at the School for Blind Children, observing teaching sessions, testing pretotypes with instructors and students, and finally, testing 2 prototypes with 4 different students.
Tangible Language won 2nd in the Art of Making category at the Swanson School of Engineering Fall 2022 Design Expo.
What are the pages and how do they work?
as of December 15, 2022
Each page demonstrates one or two related abstract concepts in an interactive way. Pages demonstrate the word with cause-effect feedback -- like pressing a button activates something -- leading to sensory feedback -- touch, auditory, visual -- in order to make the teaching tool engaging.
Current pages include the words:
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Help
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On and Off
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Fast and Slow -- Fan
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Fast and Slow -- Music
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Love
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I
A student presses a button, which activates an alarm. The alarm can only be deactivated by an instructor. Thus, the student needs "help" to stop the alarm.
A student presses a button to activate a motor creating vibrotactile feedback and an LED to show "on" When the student releases the button, this demonstrates "off."
A partially-blind student can conceptualize the word "I" by looking into a mirror.
A student presses a button, which activates an alarm. The alarm can only be deactivated by an instructor. Thus, the student needs "help" to stop the alarm.
What specific tasks did I complete for the project?
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Attended user outreach
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Interviews, Class observations, Prototype testing
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Created and sent out two surveys to experts
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Led ideation sessions
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Pretotype creation
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Weekly Presentations
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Prototype material selection
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Prototype cosmetics and artistic touches
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Sewed plastic page covers to pages
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Attached symbols via velcro to be customizable by instructor
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Decorated pages
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Finalizations of system diagrams
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Design Expo script
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Design Expo poster
Design Expo Poster
Team Photo
Pictured here is the Tangible Language team with our TA Mentors, Moriah Eley and Bronco York, and our Professor Joseph Samosky
Back (left to right): Moriah Eley, Bronco York, Hassan Jafarah, Haajar Ahmad Ali, Oday Abushaban, Ronald Musto, Joseph Samosky
Front (left to right): Angelina Pampena, Shreyo Das