Design of a touch-screen mathematics input system for children with upper extremity disability

athematics is an indispensable element of many disciplines and essential in daily life. While handwriting modality is conventionally used for learning mathematics, it is difficult for children with upper extremity disability. Although computer-based editing software allows them to write mathematics using mouse and keyboard, the software is considered cumbersome to use, even to many physically-abled users. In this paper, we propose a touch-screen mathematics input system to assist the children in writing mathematics. It supports context-specific keyboard layouts to keep the number of keys per layout optimal, thus better tolerating position error caused by motor control deficiency in picking the desired keys. Favorable initial comments on the prototype system have been obtained from experienced school teachers. Experimental study will be conducted to assess system usability and user performance in a more rigorous way and to further improve system design.