A smartphone-based program enabling people with intellectual and other disabilities to access leisure, communication, and functional activities

The study assessed a new smartphone-based program to enable five adults with moderate intellectual disabilities and visual or visual-motor impairments to independently access leisure events, communication with distant partners, and functional activities. The program was evaluated through a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across participants. During the intervention and post-intervention sessions, the participants used a Samsung Galaxy A10 smartphone and eight mini voice-recording devices. The smartphone was provided with a SIM card, Internet connection, and Google account, and fitted with MacroDroid. Four of the mini recording devices contained recorded requests for singers/bands’ songs (leisure). The other four contained recorded requests for telephone calls with preferred communication partners. During those sessions, periods in which the participants could engage in leisure and communication alternated with periods in which the smartphone invited them to carry out functional activities and presented verbal instructions for the activity steps. Data showed that during the baseline phase the participants’ performance was unsuccessful or only partially successful. During the post-intervention phase, on the other hand, all participants succeeded in independently accessing leisure events, making telephone calls, starting the activities, and performing those activities with high accuracy. These findings suggest that the aforementioned smartphone-based program might be quite helpful for people like those included in this study.