Cognitive Disabilities

Dyslexia in Arabic
o Arabic: Alphabetic - 28 letters
o Consonants - letters
o Vowels - diacritics
oCursive script
o Bi-Directional
o Letters: RTL
oNumbers: LTR
oOrthography
Visual
complexity
o Shallow – diacritics/vowelized
oDeep –no vowels hrd can be
heard, hard, hired, herd
o Full justification works better
o Also have font types
sensory inputs:
eyes
ears
sensory
buffers
Visual Image
Store
Perceptual
Processor
Long-term Memory
Working Memory
Auditory Image
Store
Motor
Processor
Cognitive
Processor
fingers, limbs, vocal system
Phological
processing
Attention Deficit Disorder
o Often fidgets and squirms
o Difficulty remaining seated
o Easily distracted
o Difficulty waiting to take
turns
o Often blurts out answers
before question
completed
o Difficulties following
instruction
o Difficulties sustaining task
attention
o Often shifts from one
activity to another
o Difficulty working
quietly
o Often talks
excessively
o Interrupts or intrudes
on others
o Seems not to listen
o Loses necessary
things (books, toys)
o Behaves in
dangerous ways
without thought
Human Information Processing Aging Cognition
Simple ways to help
o Use consistent layouts and formats
o Use left-justification for alphabet-based
languages
o Present information in more than 1 formats
o Use clear and simple wording and easy to
understand graphical cues
o Use judicious white space
o Always provide step-by-step instructions
o In user interfaces/websites:
o Allow the user to control: font sizes, font styles,
background/text colors.
o Make sure the page/interface is readable
by a screen reader
o Allow the user to turn off any animated elements,
pop-up windows, and any distracters in general
Tode or mot to pe
o Episodic memory is impaired while semantic
memory remains relatively intact
o Language comprehension improves
o More affected by interference in LTM tipof-the-tongue
phenomenon
o Working memory deficit (forgetting)
o Slower cognitive processing
o More easily distracted by irrelevant material
(reduced selective attention).
o Less ability to have divided attention
o Knock-off effect (impairment at sensory level
causes more load in already reduced
cognition)
Helping through Universal Design
o Good metaphor: use real-world objects to
represent functions
o Good mapping: doesn’t need a rocket scientist
to figure out which controls which
o Safety from prosecution: Make it difficult for users
to do unintended errors, undo and redo,
automatic backup.