http://www.flickr.com/photos/courosa/6917370714/

Mobile Devices and Developmental Early Intervention

MobiMooc12

Week 3 mHealth

Malcolm Lewis

http://about.me/malcolm_lewis

The problem to solve: Too many of kids in my region score in the bottom 10% in AEDI Language

& Cognitive domain

Source: http://res.aedi.org.au/Understanding_the_AEDI_Results.pdf

Pre-school age language & cognitive problems risk factors for latter

• Crime and antisocial behaviour• Drug use and mental illness• School failure and poor employment prospects• Low income• A shorter life• Parenting another generation of kids with the same

problems.• Lack of community resilience in face of environmental,

technological & economic changes.

Relationship between low income and children’s cognitive skills, as assessed by the PPVT and WAI test. It shows the percentage of children with low pre-literacy/ pre-numeracy skills and low receptive language skills from financially disadvantaged and non–financially disadvantaged families. (Long Survey Aust Children 2009)

This graph shows the distribution of risks within financially disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged families in the Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.

Vocabulary Growth - First 3 YearsVocabulary

Age - Months

1200

600

012 16 20 24 28 32 36

High SES

Middle SES

Low SES

B Hart & T Risley Meaningful Differences in Everyday Experiences of Young American Children 1995

American Educator Spring 2003The Early Catastrophe The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3Betty Hart and Todd R. Risleywww.treehouselearning.com/pdf/The_Early_Catastrophe__The_30_Million_Word_Gap_by_Age3.pdf

The Thirty Million Word Gap by Age 3

Possible Contributing Factors in Southern Downs

• Evident local factors: 54% ♂ 46%♀, A&TSI 5.9% kids aged 0-4 , widespread social disadvantage, inequality, high numbers of recently arrived NESB population, drought impacts on parental time, stress and coping, child care and preschool attendance, low levels maternal education, long work hours of fathers.

• Possible other factors: Local parenting cultures, home learning environments, characteristics of early education and care environments, communities supportive of families with young children, discrimination, the way local services work/don’t work with families & each other.

What to do

• Evidence based interventions at a population level lacking.

• Best bet program- Let’s Read program RTC shown to be ineffective.

• Clinical evidence based interventions weak, expensive and not scalable.

• Science of language/ communication development still emerging mainly through longitudinal studies.

• Even simple models of language development are characterised by massive complexity.

Source: http://www.speckproducts.com/iguy-for-ipad.html

What could mobiles do?

• Soon nearly every family will own smart phones and tablets.

• Parents hand their over devices to their kids who are as highly engaged as their parents

• Potential low cost scalable intervention.

• Potential tool for low cost, ongoing and massive data collection supporting new paradigms of developmental research.

• Potential new setting for early intervention.

Key trends & characteristics: Potentials of Phones & Tables

• Expect in near future smart phones and Tablets to be near universal in every home including most low income homes in the developed and emerging economies.

• Devices getting more capable, cheaper and connected.• Highly engaging and fun for both kids and parents.• Built in delivery system for parenting education and games based learning.• Links through web2.0 platforms to peer networks • People and communities are becoming better at using these tools and are

showing each other what they know.• Through software – incredibly adaptable and capable of personalization. • Can supports people with low literacy and with diverse languages.• Built in data collection through survey and sensors. • Link to cloud with massive computing power and storage• Built in micro subsidy system.• Built in sensors cameras, microphones screen active, microphones,

movement and positioning sensors.• Can be attached to other sensors such as stethoscopes.

http://kida.com/2012/06/howard-shane-video-technology-solutions-to-teach-language-and-enable-communication/

• Apps and ebooks can be a focus for fun interactions that create rich language based interactions and the development of social and emotional skills.

• mHealth has much to learn from early education and care as well allied health people working with kids with disabilities like autism.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcmetroblogger/4623086634/

Not just child - computer interactions

• Combinations of interactions: Child-parent-computer-early interventionist

• Improve parenting skills.• Help solve diverse family problems improve family

functioning.• Motivate parents to talk, read and sing with their

young children.• Help create stimulating and supportive early

environments that supports healthy child development.

• Specifically improve language rich environments and social emotional bonding and skills.

• Joint attention reading, game playing, tool and strategy sharing.