Computer-supported Learning in Rett syndrome: The role of representation of designers and operators in the validation of software for the rehabilitation

Abstract

Computer-supported intervention effectiveness in rehabilitation and education is not entirely due to the intrinsic quality of employed software, but also to  the personal representation of needs, to the  instrument mental model, to the belief of its use and to the personal evaluation of its effects. All these variables have been found in a intervention of planning, implementation and validation of two software designed to develop cognitive and communication skills in girls with Rett Syndrom. The reporting of subjective representations of the designers and users in the previous phase and subsequent testing of the software allowed you to track changes in the representations themselves and in their mutual relations. Experience shows that it is possible to conduct a process of education and rehabilitation co-constructed in which the use of a technological tool becomes a real opportunity for reflection on the reasons for acting.