MenuCoach: A Multimedia Software Tool to Enhance Independence and Knowledge in Menu Planning, Grocery Shopping, Meal Preparation and General Nutrition for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities

General nutrition issues consistently rank among the highest of needs for individuals with developmental disabilities in terms of dependency on others. The cognitive challenges faced by this population create great barriers in understanding the complexity of nutritional concepts such as the food groups, caloric values, saturated fats, cholesterol, etc. The proposed research will demonstrate the application of MenuCoach, a multimedia system for self-directed menu planning, grocery list development and meal preparation. The proposed system will use live video, audio prompts and still picture or animated graphics to: 1) guide the special needs user through the process of preparing a nutritionally healthy menu; 2) generate a shopping list based upon that menu, and; 3) provide step-by-step, timed instructions for preparing a variety of meals. Specific objectives for Phase I include development of a prototype for the Menu Planning Module to be tested against traditional methods of menu planning by persons with mental retardation in a pilot study. Meeting the Challenge, Inc. will build upon three previously prototyped multimedia training systems to develop the MenuCoach prototype.