Context-Smart AAC

by Dora Raymaker · 2009-06-11 09:15:00 UTC
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perspective above and behind the left shoulder of a young girl with light brown hair in pony tail sitting in a wheelchair next to a young woman with blond hair pulled back in a bun and glasses sitting to the girl's right. the two are both looking at a lcd computer screen attached ot the left arm of the wheelchair which has some indistinct icons on itWhen I saw the headline about a new innovation in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Software 'gives children a voice' (or the Guardian's version Device offers hope to children with communication problems) I had my usual cranky thought "why not adults too?" But when I read the article it became immediately clear that, yes, this case, the kid reference really is being used 100% appropriately; the current implementation of this technology does not translate into adult usage at all. However, the broader technology definitely could translate for adults, and is really quite exciting!

The technology uses various sensors to record what a person does during the course of their day at primary school, hence both the name of the technology pilot program "How was school today?" and the reason why the current implementation is quite literally just for kids. The information recorded by the sensors is then used to generate stories about what the person did at school that day, filling in names and activities, and using natural language processing to make it coherent and put it all into neat grammar. The child can then review and edit the story, delete anything they don't want shared, and add remarks like "that was boring."

Next steps for the software involve making it work in additional contexts, and making versions that are appropriate for autistic kids (no longer assuming the child uses a wheelchair perhaps?).

This technology is very interesting for a number of reasons, one being that it sounds like it assists with figuring out what to say as much as it assists with the actual saying. I may be able to use my speech device to tell someone about my day, but I typically have no clue what about my day could possibly be interesting or relevant to others. Most of the time I seem to guess wrong (occasionally with near-catastrophic effect--"you're supposed to tell someone when you have nearly chopped off your finger!" oh, oops...).

The research was done at University of Dundee. Here is the University's page on the project.

The Times Online's story How was school today? Now disabled pupils can tell the story also notes that the principle investigator on the project has cerebral palsy--one more plug for why it's so important to include people who actually use assistive technology in the creation of that technology. We know what is useful to us!

Eager to see what this technology develops into (and finding time to read the academic papers).

Photo source http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/8081410.stm

Dora Raymaker
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