The USF Florida Mental Health Institute performed the first research study which examined the actual impact of TAD on the bus riding behavior of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Master’s student Arica Bolechala’s thesis demonstrated that when the participants used TAD, they were always successful in exiting the bus at the correct location. When the participants did not use TAD, the individuals were not able to exit the bus at the correct bus stop. Bolechala’s work was presented at the 2011 TRB Conference in January in Washington, D.C. (this presentation) and the 2011 Applied Behavior Analysis International 37th Annual Conference in Denver, CO in May 2011.

1. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Evaluating the Effectiveness of the
Travel Assistance Device on the Bus
Riding Behavior of Individuals with
Disabilities
Arica Bolechala
Raymond Miltenberger
Sean Barbeau
Marcy Gordon
Florida Mental Health Institute &
Center for Urban Transportation Research
University of South Florida

2. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
• Independence for individuals with
disabilities
 Individuals face dangers in their everyday
lives
 Lack of knowledge or ability
 Safety skills in many settings
• Technological devices can help afford
independence
 Pagers, virtual reality, hand held computer devices,
and cellular phones
» (Padgett, Stickland, & Coles, 2006; Riffel, Wehmeyer, Turnbull, Lattimore, Stock, &
Fisher 2005; Self, Scudder, Weheba, & Crumrine, 2007; Taylor, Hughes, Richard,
Hoch & Coelo, 2004).
Introduction

3. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Introduction
• Independence can be afforded to these
individuals across settings.
 In the home (Cheslock, Barton-Hulsey, Romski, &Sevcik, 2008; Hersh
&Treadgold, 1994; Lancioni, Singh, O’Reilly, Sigafoos, Campodonico, & Oliva, 2008).
 In the workplace (Davies, Stock, & Wehmeyer, 2001; Davies, Stock, &
Wehmeyer, 2002a).
 In the community (Taylor, Hughes, Richard, Hoch & Coello, 2004; Zaruba,
Kamangar, & Huber; 2003).
• Training individuals with disabilities to use
public transportation is one of the least
researched areas (Rosenkvist, Risser, Iwasson, Wendel, and Stahl 2009)

4. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
• Fischer and Sullivan (2002):
 Focused on understanding the barriers experienced
by people with cognitive disabilities, designing a user
friendly model to reduce the cognitive load for
individuals with cognitive disabilities within public
transportation
• Sohlberg, Todis, Fickas, Hung, and Lemoncello (2005):
 Examined navigational patterns, focus groups
• Sohlberg, Fickas, Hung, and Fortier (2007):
 Developed and tested the effectiveness of using a
PDA to deliver four different prompting methods and to
see which prompting method was most effective
 Focused on manually-triggered alerts for pedestrians
 Audio was most successful and most preferred by users
Introduction

5. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Travel Assistance Device (TAD)
 TAD is a transit navigation “app” for cell phones
 Caretakers or travel trainers can plan trips via website:

6. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
TADTAD
Cancel Select
Select Trip
(1) Home to Work
(2) Work to Home
(3) Home to Movie
Work to HomeWork to Home
Back #
Distance to Final Stop:
5.6 miles
18 Livingston West
TADTAD
OK
Pull the Cord Now!
(+Sound and Vibration)
Travel Assistance Device (TAD)
 TAD cell phone app tells the traveler to “Get Ready”
and “Pull the Cord Now!” when it is time for them to
exit the bus.
 Prompts are visual, auditory, and tactile.

7. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Behavior Analysis Study
• Purpose:
 To determine whether the prompts
given by the TAD would exhibit stimulus
control over participants’ behavior of
pulling the “stop” cord to:
1. Stop the bus at the appropriate time
2. Exit the bus at the appropriate stop.

8. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Method
 Participants
 Inclusion criteria: ambulatory & travel trained.
 3 individuals with moderate mental retardation.
 “Mark”, “Paige”, “Carl”
 Setting
 TAD training was done in a class room setting using
Behavioral Skills Training (BST).
 Baseline and post training tests were carried out on a city
bus at Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) in
Tampa, Florida.
 Target Behaviors
1. The participant must pull the bus cord signaling the
appropriate stop
2. The participant must exit the bus at the appropriate stop.

9. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Method
 Data Collection
 Trials:
 Each trial began at a local transit center.
 Once the participant and inconspicuous observer
board the bus the trial began.
 Once the participant exited the bus the trial was
considered complete.
 Participant Directions:
 Participants were told to take “X” bus to “Y” location.
 Baseline: No prompts or feedback were given.
 Post Training: Prompts were given by the TAD.

10. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Method
• Participant Safety:
 The inconspicuous observer entered the bus
after the participant.
 If the participant failed to pull the cord at the
appropriate location the inconspicuous
observer pulled the cord.
 A familiar research assistant was waiting for
the participant to exit the bus at the
appropriate bus stop.
 The primary researcher followed the bus
during all trips.

11. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Method
 Mobile Device:
 Sanyo 7050 phone on Sprint
 Travel Assistance Device (TAD)
mobile application
 Research Design:
 Data was evaluated in an ABAB reversal design
 Interobserver Agreement (IOA)
 Assessed for 33% of all trials.
 Baseline 1= 83%,
 Post training 1, Baseline 2, & Post training 2 = 100%
 Overall IOA was 95.8%

12. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
 Procedure
 Baseline:
 Participants completed novel trips at different transit
centers
 TAD:
 Training to use TAD was done using Behavior Skills
Training style training (Himle, Miltenberger, Flessner, & Gatheridge, 2004).
 Post Training:
 TAD was activated and trips selected for the
participants
 In-Situ Training:
 In-Situ training would have taken place after 3
consecutive incorrect trials.
 Never needed to be implemented during study
Method

13. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
0
1
2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
StepsCompleted
Trials
Baseline Post-Training Baseline Post-Training
Results – Participant “Mark”

14. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
0
1
2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
StepsCompleted
Trials
Baseline Post-Training Baseline Post-Training
Results – Participant “Paige”

15. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
0
1
2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
StepsCompleted
Trials
Baseline Post-Training Baseline Post-Training
Results – Participant “Carl”

16. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Results & Discussion
• Results provide supporting evidence that the
TAD is an effective tool to prompt individuals to
exit the bus at a desired location.
• When no prompts were given, all subjects failed
to pull the stop request cord and exit the bus at
the correct location
• When TAD was used, the subjects pulled the
stop request cord and exited the bus at the
correct location
• One rider asked the bus driver for help
 Driver gave the rider incorrect directions
 Rider exited the bus at the wrong stop

17. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Results & Discussion
• Limitations
 Generalization – small population in this study
• Future research
 Other, and larger, populations
 Individuals with visual, physical impairments, elderly
 Longer trips
 Multi-link trips with transfer present additional challenges
 Training needed
 Full user experience of application (e.g., User starting
application, selecting options on phone, etc.)
 How to “train the trainer”?

18. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Acknowledgements
• Arica Bolechala, Raymond Miltenberger, and Kimberly
Crosland, FMHI
• Sean Barbeau, Phil Winters, and Nevine Georggi, CUTR,
USF
• Miguel Labrador and Rafael Perez, Computer Science &
Engineering, USF
• Mark Sheppard, HART Travel Trainer
• Gigi Gonzalez, Special Education Facilitator for STAGES
program at USF
• Amy Datz, FDOT Project Manager
• Harvey Berlin, TRB IDEA Project Manager
• Sprint Application Developer Program for cell phones and
service

19. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Questions?
Sean J. Barbeau, M.S. Comp.Sci.
Research Associate
Center for Urban Transportation Research
University of South Florida
813.974.7208
barbeau@cutr.usf.edu

20. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
Cheslock, M. A., Barton-Hulsey, A., Romski, M., & Sevcik, R. A. (2008). Using a speech generated
device to enhance communicative abilities for an adult with moderate intellectual disability.
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Davies, D. K., Stock, S. E., & Wehmeyer, M. L. (2001). Enhancing independent internet access for
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Davies, D. K., Stock, S. E., & Wehmeyer, M. L. (2002a). Enhancing independent task performance
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Davies, D. K., Stock, S. E., & Wehmeyer, M. L. (2002b). Enhancing independent time management
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21. Copyright © Ray Miltenberger, 2007
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