We’re pleased to announce that our paper on the effectiveness of Scanning Wizard has been published in the journal Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology. Scanning Wizard is a free tool that helps assistive technology teams optimize switch and scanning setups for individuals who rely on switch access. This post summarizes the study and provides links to the published paper.
Here’s the abstract:
Scanning Wizard software helps scanning users improve the setup of their switch and scanning system. This study evaluated Scanning Wizard’s effectiveness and usability. Ten people who use switch scanning and ten practitioners used Scanning Wizard in the initial session. Usability was high, based on survey responses averaging over 4.5 out of 5, and qualitative feedback was very positive. Five switch users were able to complete the multi-week protocol, using settings on their own scanning system that were recommended from the Scanning Wizard session. Using these revised settings, text entry rates improved by an average of 71%, ranging from 29% to 172% improvement. Results suggest that Scanning Wizard is a useful tool for improving the configuration of scanning systems for people who use switch scanning to communicate.
A taste of how it works:
The paper also provides a basic description of how Scanning Wizard works. The tool runs on a web browser. It guides switch users and practitioners through a series of tasks and generates individually-tailored recommendations based on the data collected. For example, the Switch Test checks basic switch use by measuring response time to an onscreen prompt. It reports a variety of data, including an overall difficulty score that indicates how well the current switch setup is meeting the user’s needs.
The citation for the paper is:
Koester HH, Simpson R. (2017). Effectiveness and usability of Scanning Wizard software: a tool for enhancing switch scanning. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, ePub ahead of print.
Please see our publications page for additional papers and resources on scanning and switch access.
Try Scanning Wizard yourself:
Use Scanning Wizard yourself at scanningwizard.com. It’s completely free to use and runs on any web browser.