Bringing back real-world richness in interactive story reading: lessons from linguabytes

This paper describes the iterative development of LinguaBytes, a play and learning system that stimulates the language development of toddlers (1 – 4 years old) with Cerebral Palsy. In particular this paper focuses on interactive story reading since collaborative parentchild story reading plays an important role in early language development. The authors have observed that interactive applications for children with Cerebral Palsy are hardly available or unsuitable. Usually, applications are PC-based or rely on menu structures that are cognitively too difficult for children in this age group, let alone children with a disability. This paper describes the iterative development process of a system that both benefits from interactive technologies and from the richness of the physical world. To achieve this, the authors use a Research-through-Design approach, which is an iterative process in which scientific knowledge is generated by designing, testing and evaluating experienceable prototypes in real-life settings. The prototypes are evaluated using formative evaluation techniques. This paper describes four consecutive designs of an interactive story-reading device and in doing so shows the value of physicality within an ever more virtual world