Quentin Travers likes the feeling of cool dry rice against his skin. He enjoys burying his hands and arms in a box full of the stuff.
For much of his life, Quentin has had to squeal, point or use pictures to communicate a desire for such an object because he cannot talk. But now he is able to articulate his want for the rice box.
"I want rice box," says the iPad in the voice of a 20-something male. The iPad sits on the table as 12-year-old Quentin, who has autism, loudly taps the screen.
His grandmother, Mary Ann Harrison, repeats the phrase in hopes of having Quentin make a sound. When he does, he is rewarded with the rice box or other object of his desire.
"For this training to work it needs to be items he really likes that are motivating to him," said Oliver Wendt, an assistant professor of speech, language and hearing sciences at Purdue University.
Wendt and a team of Purdue students were in Harrison's West Lafayette home Friday for Quentin's weekly in-home therapy with a new app Purdue students have developed. The SPEAKall! app gives children such as Quentin a voice. Initially designed to help children with severe autism who cannot speak, SPEAKall! was launched in November on iTunes and has been downloaded about 3,300 times.
"We are looking for feedback; that is why we put it online," said Nick Schuetz, a senior in electrical and computer engineering at Purdue.
Schuetz leads the Purdue EPICS, or Engineering Projects in Community Service, team that was responsible for the technical development of the application.
Within the program, teams of undergraduate students build, design and solve engineering or technical problems for local community service and education groups. The program started at Purdue in 1995.
Schuetz's team was given the task of helping Greater Lafayette Area Special Services, a cooperative that serves children with special needs in Greater Lafayette school corporations.
Wendt approached Schuetz's EPICS team last February with the idea to create an app that would help children with severe autism communicate better.
An estimated one in 88 children has some form of autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disorder appears in early childhood and affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Wendt said nearly half of children with severe autism have no functional speech or language skills. "They have immense difficulty meeting their daily communication needs."
His research is sponsored by the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, a statewide research initiative involving Purdue, Indiana University and University of Notre Dame.
The app is based on traditional communication aides such as a low-tech picture exchange communication system in which children trade pictures for items desired and a mid-tech electronic device that speaks out constructed sentences.
However, Wendt said the iPad app is more customizable than existing communication aides for children with verbal impairment. He said users can import images and audio to make communication more personal.
It's also user-friendly, he said. All children need to do is drop and drag or touch images to construct sentences that the iPad then speaks for them.
There are other apps available such as Proloquo2Go or Sono Flex that offer the same type of aide, but they tend to be expensive or too complicated for children with severe autism, Wendt said.
But the SPEAKall! app is not only limited to children with autism.
Tracy Holdman, a special education teacher at West Lafayette Jr.-Sr. High School, uses the app with four of her students, two of whom have autism.
The students in her classroom all have moderate to severe disabilities.
"It's been great for my student who repeats what is said to him," she said. "It gives him the ability to have his own voice."
Holdman said the iPad app also helps students interact with their peers or follow simple instructions.
They enjoy using it as well, she said. "I have three iPads in my room," she said. "Sometimes the kids fight over who gets to use the iPad. It's a hot item, sometimes too hot."
The app also helps improve behavior, Wendt said. When Quentin first started the therapy with the app in January, he was less focused, would yell, or squeal, Wendt said.
"Early on he would throw things," Wendt said.
"We had beans all over the floor one day," said Harrison, Quentin's grandmother.
But now, Quentin's behavior has improved, Wendt added.
"He's more relaxed and at ease," he said. "He makes his friendly face (smiles) more often."
Wendt said much of Quentin's earlier behavioral problems were due to the fact that he couldn't communicate his simple wants and desires.
Harrison could attest to that. "Sometimes he'll be crying and we'll have no idea what the problem is because he can't tell us," she said. "That's very frustrating for all of us."
She hopes the app will not only speak for him but help him speak on his own.
"Hopefully, it will encourage him to speak because he's going to hear the words," she said.
(Source: indystar.com)
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