PBS KIDS Inclusive Design Research & Practice: Designing and play testing accessibility settings in games for young children (ages 3-8) with disabilities

• In Event: Communication Outcomes for Differently-abled Individuals: Factors associated with Language Development and Accessibility

Abstract

Significance: PBS KIDS reaches approximately 8 million young children (ages 3-8) a month on pbskids.org, and strives to serve the widest possible audience, including learners with physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities. As part of their work to both accommodate children with disabilities and improve the experiences of typically developing children, the PBS KIDS Digital team has been iteratively developing and researching a comprehensive set of accessibility features (noted below) and their presentation within the context of a popular game on pbskids.org. To accomplish this, the PBS KIDS Digital team worked with the Johns Hopkins IDEALS Institute to engage in formative research and a participatory design process that proved the importance of and “the need for deep engagement with all stakeholders, and with the children’s [special] needs” (Alper, Hourcade & Gilutz, 2012).

Note: PBS KIDS accessibility features: language, closed caption display, adjustable pointer size, descriptive text, color blind filters, text and button resizing; adjustable music/sound effects/ voiceover; key bindings; removal of distracting layers in background art; adjustable controls; adjustable speeds/timers for “twitch” games; audio description for visually rich information, and voice interaction.

Research Design & Methods: Formative research was conducted over eight weeks during August - September 2019, and included the highest number (n= 50) of children (ages 3-8) with diagnosed disabilities (i.e. 37% intellectual disability, 30% neurodevelopment disorders, 21% communication disorders, 7% visual impairment, 5% fine motor difficulty) participating in PBS KIDS-related formative testing to date. Research took place in homes, public libraries and the IDEALS research facilities. The purpose of the research was to answer these questions: What is the appeal, navigability, understanding, and level of support needed to engage with the accessibility settings successfully for children and their parents? Where do users expect to access these features and which features are most salient?

For the play-testing protocols and testing considerations, the IDEALS team followed the principles of Developmentally Appropriate Practice and Universal Design for Learning principles. Their data collection tools included parent pre and post-surveys and a child observation checklist. Pre-surveys were used to inform testing conditions (i.e. sensory concerns, behavioral triggers etc). During play-testing sessions, researchers captured children’s comprehension, independence level, and interest. Post-surveys, designed to inform the participatory design process, allowed for parent feedback.

Results & Conclusions: Results indicated that caregivers responded positively to familiar (i.e. captions) and less familiar accessibility features (i.e. key bindings), and that child participants could interact with few features on their own. A key takeaway was that children often mistook the settings for “the game” itself (i.e. Boyle & Poss, 2019). Additional findings that have informed iteration work:
*Children did not notice the settings “gear” icon and needed to be prompted to interact with it.
*Children needed significant support to navigate all the accessibility options.
*Parents were enthusiastic about the accessibility settings and made recommendations to improve usability
*Suggestions included: reducing text, and making the panel, itself, accessible to parents with disabilities.
*Some parents noted that the ability to control individual sound tracks would enable kids who experience severe seizures to play as well - no sudden shocking noises.

Authors

• Jennifer Rodriguez, Public Broadcasting Service
  Presenting Author

• Beth Boyle, Johns Hopkins University
  Non-Presenting Author