iTeach Eye Gaze

iTeach Eye Gaze By Erin Ross

instruction, literacy & inclusion

iTeach Eye Gaze

A NEW BEGINNING An assistive technology evaluation was just completed and it is determined that eye gaze is the best access method for your student to access a computer. The next step is implementation! This can feel so exciting, yet daunting because now that the ac- cess method is determined, the sky's the limit to the student’s potential. It is important to note that if the evaluator and the implementer for the eye gaze system are not the same, then the implementer must take the time to develop a rapport with the student and get to know their interests. The implementer needs to understand what the student’s vision is for their future (both short-term and long-term) and whether they are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated to use eye gaze. Depending on the age of the eye gaze user, they may not understand everything they can do by using their eyes to access a computer/tablet. Teaching eye gaze is a team effort. Make sure to include as many members from the student’s education team as possible, including the eye gaze user’s family. The goal is to build capacity amongst the team because the more adults on the team that are invested, the more likely the eye gaze user will build his/her intrinsic motivation and confidence. When building the founda- tion of the team, ensure that it is built upon strong communi- cative ties. Students with complex bodies fluctuate day-to-day, hour-by-hour or moment-by-moment on how they are feeling, which can impact the use of eye gaze. DEFEYENITIONS When working with the student’s team, it is important that they are clear with technical terms that are associated with eye gaze. The first term is Surface Pro, which is a Windows operated

Image 1: Microsoft Windows Surface Pro

tablet. See Image 1, a picture of a Microsoft Windows Surface Pro. It MUST have Windows 10 software to operate with an eye tracker and eye gaze software. The second term is Communica- tor 5 by Tobii Dynavox. Communicator 5 is a text-based commu- nication software, but offers eye gaze users to have access to the following: Windows software, customizable keyboards that have predictive text, environmental controls and social media. Windows Control by Tobii Dynavox enables computer access for eye gaze users on Windows PC’s or Surface Pros. Dwelling is

ERIN ROSS, Erin is an Assistive Technology Facilitator with experience working in public schools. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago' Assistive Technology Certificate Program and received her ATP from RESNA. Prior to her position as an Assistive Technology Facilitator, she was a special education teacher for students with severe autism. Erin's passion for helping people with disabilities sparked when she was in kindergarten and met her best friend Justin. Erin helped Justin communicate on his low to high tech devices as they grew up together. Justin not only inspired her to help others communicate but as Justin reached adulthood, she realized the need to help adults with disabilities. Erin founded Home Sweet Home Foundation, a nonprofit that transforms supportive housing for adults with I/DD into safe, happy, and nurturing homes-empowering them to live with the confidence and dignity they deserve.

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Image 2: Tobii Dynavox’s latest eye tracker, known as the PCeye, that is compatible outdoors.

when the eye gaze user’s mouse cursor needs to hover over the intended selection before they can right or left click. Tracking re- fers to when the eye gaze user’s eyes can follow a moving object in any direction across the whole screen. The eye tracker, also known as the PCEye, is the hardware that is able to read an eye gaze user’s eyes. See Image 2, a picture of Tobii Dynavox’s latest eye tracker, known as the PCeye, that is compatible outdoors. Think of teaching eye gaze as breaking everything down into a task analysis. Task analyses can be taught by applying chaining strategies. Chaining strategies are used to teach students multi- step skills. Once the skill is broken down, one can teach the stu- dent the skill in one of two ways: Forward chaining or backwards chaining. Forward chaining is when a skill is broken down into multiple steps. The teacher instructs the student the first step until it is mastered and then subsequently provides prompting until the student completes the skill. Once the first step is mastered, then the teacher instructs the second step to mastery, then provides the student prompting until the student completes each step of the skill. The skill is taught in a “forward” progression. Backwards chaining is when a skill is broken down into mul- tiple steps, the teacher provides prompting until the very last step and teaches the last step until mastery. Once the last step is mastered, the teacher provides prompting to the student until the second to last step, etc. The skill is taught in a “backwards” progression. As previously mentioned, Windows Control and Communi- cator 5 softwares by Tobii Dynavox are two different eye gaze softwares and each have distinct features. In order to determine which software will be the best fit for your eye gaze user, you will need to do a feature matching approach. WINDOWS CONTROL The task bar contains all of the mouse emulation functions for the eye gaze user to execute the tasks that he/she needs to ac- complish. See Image 3 a picture of the Windows Control Taskbar. Refer to Image 4, the chart is titled, “The Meaning of All of the Tasks in the Windows Control Taskbar.”The chart lists the images of each task on the taskbar and lists the action that each task is associated with. When the eye gaze user holds their gaze at the left click icon, he/she can activate a Secondary Click. The user will know that left click, also known as Primary Click, changed because the color will change from a faded color to white. The Tobii Dynavox Support and Training define Secondary Click as,

Image 3: Windows Control Taskbar

Image 4: The chart lists the images of each task on the taskbar on the left and lists the action that each task is associated with on the right.

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Image 5: A pop-up of the 21 different Windows Control shortcuts that appears on the left side of the screen.

“Same as Primary Selection [Left Click] but with a higher pre- cision. Secondary Selection means that the zoom will progress deeper before the final execution of the Task, making the de- sired portion of the screen bigger and easier to select within.” Tertiary Click is another task that is not visible on the taskbar. The eye gaze user must dwell on the “Left Click” a little bit longer than when trying to activate “Secondary Click.” Ultimately, the tertiary click activates “Sticky Left Click.” Imagine you are holding down the Left Click on your mouse or trackpad. It is the same emulation using eye gaze. It is less work for the eye gaze user to activate “Sticky Left Click” than to activate “Left Click” to perform the action, then activate “Left Click.” The shortcut task opens up a pop-up on the left side of the eye gaze user’s PC or Surface Pro. See Image 5 for a picture of the pop-up that appears on the left side of the screen. This allows the eye gaze user to execute certain tasks more quickly without having to do more work on their eyes. If you begin to teach an eye gaze user with Windows Control first, I suggest going into “Settings” and limiting the number of tasks on the taskbar to “Left Click” only and “Settings” because it isolates the targets for them. The reason for starting with “Left Click” is because it is the most commonly used mouse emula-

tion for accessing games or fun activities. For a beginning eye gaze user, holding a gaze at a small target can be very difficult and fatiguing. By limiting the number of tasks on the taskbar, it limits the eye gaze user from making so many errors. As the implementer, you want your eye gaze user to experience that immediate gratification of success, especially if you are trying to build their intrinsic motivation. In order for the eye gaze user to experience imminent success, use a backwards chaining ap- proach. At first it might be very difficult for the eye gaze user to select the “Left Click” from the taskbar, then shift their gaze to the desired target. As the implementer, I may activate “Left Click” with my finger for the eye gaze user, let the eye gaze user track and then dwell to activate the target. It is important to remember that the tasks on Windows Con- trol are very small icons. In order to activate the secondary and tertiary clicks, it takes a great deal of practice to hold a gaze and dwell over a small target as a beginning eye gaze user. When the shortcut window opens, it requires tracking to the pop-up win- dow and dwelling on a target. When the targets are very close together, this can increase the probability of error.

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COMMUNICATOR 5 The taskbar of the Communicator 5 software has three “pag- es.”View Image 6 to see “Page 1 of the Communicator 5 Taskbar.” Refer to Image 7 of “Page 2 of the Communicator 5 Taskbar.” See Image 8 for “Page 3 of the Communicator 5 Taskbar.” The tasks on the taskbar are larger target sizes. There are also words or phrases beneath the icons. It requires navigation to get to all of the tasks on the taskbar. Sticky left is its own task on the taskbar, meaning it is not an embedded click on the taskbar like Win- dows Control. Sticky Left is the most frequently used mouse em- ulation feature for a beginning eye gaze user, as it is needed to play games. Remember, on Windows Control, the eye gaze user has to maintain their gaze to activate the Sticky Left Click. On the third page of the taskbar is “Programs.” Programs can be cus- tomized to be a shortcut to any software on the eye gaze user’s PC or Surface Pro. Unlike Windows Control, the “Programs” can- not be customized into the same actions under “Shortcuts” like, “Minimize Window,”“Maximize Window,”etc. Some other consid- erations are that Communicator 5 does not have “Drag & Drop.” Additionally, the scrolling up and down tasks require more eye movement than Windows Control. When determining which software is the better fit, it is criti- cal to take into account the following characteristics and traits of the student: personality, self-confidence and self-esteem. It is also very important to ask yourself these questions: How per- sistent is the student? How often is he or she willing to try again without getting defeated? What is the school team’s buy-in? What is the family’s buy-in, training and availability to help the student at home? How much time is being allocated in and out of school for the student to practice? Just because the student may start out learning eye gaze with one software doesn’t mean they cannot change softwares down the line. Again, it is all about which software they start feeling immediate success with. If the student sets any short-term or long-term goals for themselves when learning eye gaze, take into account their preference of which software they think will help them achieve those short- term and long-term goals. HEYERARCHY The suggested order of mouse emulation functions to teach your eye gaze user is as follows: Sticky Left (if using Communica- tor 5 Software), Left Click, Double Click, Right Click, Scroll, Drag and Drop. It is important to note that the order may differ based on what your eye gaze user’s interests are. “Shortcuts” and “Pro- gram” shortcuts can be taught after the student can do Sticky Left and Left Clicks. When learning a difficult skill, it is always best to work on the skill when doing something fun and engaging. Playing games is the first step to learning eye gaze. As the implementer, you would use a backwards chaining approach when teaching your student to play games. As the implementer, you should first ac- tivate “Sticky Left,” so the eye gaze user can focus on playing the

Image 6

Image 7

Image 8

Communicator 5 Taskbar.

game. The next step would be activating “Sticky Left” and letting the student dwell and click “Play.” After that, give the eye gazer user three opportunities to activate “Sticky Left” before selecting that for them. If they don’t activate “Sticky Left” in those three opportunities, then you will activate Sticky Left. Over time, you’ll repeat the previous step and give them 5 opportunities to ac- tivate “Sticky Left.” "I cannot tell you how much time it will take to progress to each step in your individualized task analysis, or even progressing from three to five tries to activate “Sticky Left” is appropriate for your student because every student is differ- ent. This is where you are going to have to gauge the whole student in this process, especially their tolerance level and per- sistence because you do not want the student to hit their maxi- mum frustrational level and give-up or shut down.

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GAMES AND MORE GAMES! HelpKidzLearn, Inclusive Eye Gaze Learning Curve Games, Look to Learn and Look to Read are the games that I use when teaching eye gaze to my students. As the implementer, I like to introduce students to age appropriate games. However, I do take into consideration that this might be the first time ever that an eye gaze user is able to play games independently. The stu- dents might not care that the games they are playing are not necessarily age appropriate. I also understand that kids have dif- ferent interests at all different age levels. HelpKidzLearn is an accessible website for kids that use dif- ferent access methods (e.g. touch, eye gaze, switches, etc.) and was created by Inclusive Technology Ltd. They are currently of- fering a 14-day free trial. HelpKidzLearn has different monthly and yearly licensing options on their website: helpkidzlearn.com They do a nice job of separating games for kids in Pre-K through about 1st grade under “Early Years.” Under “Games” they have games that vary by age appropriateness, from about kindergar- ten-fifth/sixth grades. “Stories” has a lot of stories and songs that target counting from 1 to 5. “Creative” has activities that would gauge the interest of kids of all ages. There are different activi- ties that allow kids to create their own masterpieces (e.g. paint, holiday cards, sandcastle, etc.). HelpKidzLearn releases holiday themed games seasonally! The Inclusive Eye Gaze Learning Curve games are organized by targeted skills necessary for using eye gaze. They also do a nice job of breaking down the skill of eye gaze into a task analy- sis. If you play the games in this progression (it goes from easy to hard) and if you master the skills in progression, then you should be able to do the higher level skills: Tracking, Fixating, Locating, Take Turns, Explore, Choose Anything, Preferred Choices, Linear Choices and Multiple Choices. These games also take data while the user is playing the games. The cost for the Learning Curve game varies by how many licenses you want to purchase. For a single user, the cost is $799. Look to Learn sequences their games in a task analysis similar to the Inclusive Eye Gaze Learning Curve games. The categories of games progress from “Sensory,”“Explore,”“Target,”“Choose,” to “Control.” Look to Learn has an assessment tool called heat map. The heat map shows the progression of where the eye gaze user looked on the screen. This can be a tool to measure progress. Look to Learn costs $570 or $684 with tax. Look to Read is for beginning readers to learn how to recog- nize sounds and letters, as well as track words on a page. This may be the first time that the eye gaze user is able to interact and access a book or literary material independently. The cost of Look to Read is $285. BEYOND GAMES You are probably wondering, “How do I know when my stu- dent is ready to move on from only playing games?”This can oc- cur when your student is making one to zero mistakes, is access-

ing targets all over the screen while playing games, and wants to continue playing games. Additionally, you may also notice an increase in the eye gaze user’s intrinsic motivation. You may be using the built-in assessment features in the games to measure your student’s progress. When you are ready to make the shift from using eye gaze to play games to applying eye gaze to natural opportunities, find out what the student’s interests are, or talk to same aged peers and find out what applications or websites they are interested in. It is also beneficial to reach out to the eye gaze user’s family and get their input! Some ideas are: YouTube Kids, logging on and watching Netflix and listening to music or podcasts on Pan- dora, Spotify, or any other streaming platform. Make sure to use a forward chaining approach when teaching eye gaze users to apply skills learned from playing games to the natural oppor- tunities. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS Take the features described in this presentation and match them to your student(s)! There is no right or wrong direction, you may try one software and realize it is not the right fit and go with another. You may go with one and realize as they become more proficient, the other option has features for the skills they need to access at that point in time. Consider the whole child in this process! Most importantly, celebrate every success! REFERENCE What are sticky tasks? Tobii Dynavox. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.tobiidynavox.com/support-training/faq-from- salesforce/what-are-sticky-tasks/

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