Touch and Speak: Autism AAC

Speak Silently: Autism Dialogue is an intelligent assistant for children who have communication problems with adults and other children – for children with autism, down syndrome, alalia, aphasia, apraxia and aspergara. This electronic communicator is designed help children with special needs to communicate their desires to the interlocutor – parents.

“Speak Quietly: Autism Dialogue” is an IT product of the Indigo Kids company. This company specializes in the development of educational and developmental programs for children with special needs. The purpose of this communicator is to give parents confidence that with the help of modern technologies, the problem of communication between children with special needs and adults has been solved.

The algorithm of the application. The program uses visual cards PECS – a system for transmitting information using images. PECS cards reflect the basic needs of children. Parents can replenish the library of cards with new images on their own. The display of squats is accompanied by a voice commentary – a professional announcer voices their meaning. Thus, with the help of visual cards, autistic children can express their desires aloud – what they want.

In addition to communicating, the application teaches children to form their desires from simple to complex. This process is divided into four stages.

1. At the first stage, the child learns to interact with the application:
   • One card – one wish;
   • Clicking a child on a card means to parents: “I want this!”.

   At this stage, it is important that parents actively participate in the process – they must respond to every desire of the child. The desire expressed in this way should establish a strict dependence in the child: the image – pressing the card – the reaction of the parents – means receiving the desired.

2. At the second stage, the child learns that it is possible to tell adults about their desires at a distance – for this, parents literally increase the physical distance between themselves and their children.
3. At the third stage, the child learns to make a choice of one object – desires – from a variety of proposals. Parents – use the principle of error correction.
4. In the fourth, final stage, the child learns that you can tell your parents about your desires with the help of several cards – one phrase. The role of parents is this, to respond appropriately to the child’s ambiguous message.

Children think about the world around them with the help of images. This is a feature of the child’s psyche, both in general and in a particular case – autistic children. Children think in images, not in the abstract sounds of words.

Features of the communicator:

1. The cards are voiced by professional announcers. Choice of English and Russian.
2. Parents can replenish, edit and voice their own vocabulary and card library.
3. Children can send their message to their parents via SMS or iMessenger.
4. The application interface is concise. Several color schemes to choose from.

“Speak Silently: Autism Dialogue” is an indispensable assistant that can open wide the doors of communication and understanding between children with special needs and the rest of the world.