Teaching and augmenting communication in non-verbal autistic children project.

Duration 18 months.

AAC. Augmentative Alternative Communication

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterised by abnormalities in social interaction, communication and the presence of restricted stereotyped behaviours. An estimated 40% of ASD individuals have limited verbal communication skills. The project proposes to provide a computer-based interface to improve the efficacy of teaching of language and augment the communication skills of severely speech-impaired autistic children. Computer assisted teaching methods can be effective because of the use of concrete visual information of a highly motivating and stimulating nature, with reduction of distracting information. Complex aspects of language can be addressed in logical and structured manners and taught effectively following the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis. In addition to its function as a teaching tool, a computer device can be used to enhance the individual’s communication skills, serving as an augmentative alternative communication tool. Speaks4me™ is such a device, newly developed to augment communication of non-verbal autistic children. It is a small portable touchscreen computer that allows images or photographs to be dragged & dropped onto an onscreen sentence strip. The sentence is spoken by pressing the onscreen Speak button. Simple or complex expressive requests can be created to meet the needs and specific learning requirements of individuals. In the first stage of the project, children distributed in two main teaching settings will be taught to use Speaks4me™ to identify receptively a progressively large repertoire of pictures and symbols. In a second stage, the children will be taught to use Speaks4me™ with functional communicative intents. The research primary aims are to demonstrate efficacy of teaching of language. The secondary research aims are to identify factors that can maximise the benefits of Speaks4me™, controlling for the age, communication abilities and level of autism of the children as well as teaching settings.

Status: submission to Big Lottery was turned down on budget criteria, project currently being sized down to meet smaller budget applying to several potential funders.