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Social inclusion and the different challenges faced by children with hearing disabilities from early childhood are due to a not very inclusive education. It is necessary to develop various tools and technologies that allow and guarantee integration. This article shows a systematic review about alternative augmentative communication systems (SAAC) for children, which aims to develop a Virtual Learning Object (OVA) aimed at teachers, to strengthen their skills in Colombian Sign Language (LSC), according to the curriculum for various grades of schooling, which allow strengthening the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in educational inclusion.

This document exposes a technological tool built under the guidelines of the augmentative and alternative communication system - PECS, which consists of six phases and aims to promote independent communication of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The obtained tool is an application for Windows OS developed on the Unity and Arduino platforms to facilitate physical user interaction. The methodology used was iterative design, whose agile development approach allows improving the product incrementally in each iteration with the contribution of a multidisciplinary team made up of experts in information and communication technology, language rehabilitation, education, and graphic design. As a result, an augmentative and alternative communication system of easy installation, learning and configuration by the therapist was obtained. Its design and implementation were done considering the requirements of the users.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are one of the complex, pervasive, and multifactorial neurodevelopmental conditions that affect one in 68 children. Scientific research has shown the efficiency of using technologies to improve communication and social skills of autistic children. The use of software systems, such as mobile applications and multimedia, increases the interest of autistic children to learn while playing games. This paper presents an Andriod mobile application called Ying which is augmented with facial and emotion recognition. This mobile app complements existing traditional therapeutical approaches to autistic children social interaction, such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Ying integrates various computer-assisted technologies to enhance autistic children’s social behavior and verbal communication skills. An experiment showing the efficacy of using Ying has been conducted and its results are presented in the study.

Diagnosing a disease or a condition has become easy and convenient for the clinician, in this digital era. However, the focus on rehabilitative medicine and recovery oriented technology is not as popular as diagnostics. The current trends in eye-tracking involve the tracking of the progression of cognitive disorders in the elderly patients. The tracking of eye motion can give deterministic data about the patient's ability to focus, socially interact, track moving objects (muscle movement), and so on. With the help of eye-tracking, the proposed system helps in designing an efficient system for alternative and augmentative communication (AAC), by utilizing a camera and a screen (with visual prompt display) to determine the accuracy, and speed of response, to categorize the efficiency of AAC method. The system in design can help to improve the latency of patient response and can help to determine the recovery status of the patient.

Today, mobile devices are cheap, affordable and are a part of our day to day life. It has paved its way into learning inside and outside the class. These devices have become a part of our body; it is with us $\mathbf{24\ x\ 7}$ . These smart devices provide us with learning beyond the classroom and textbooks. It has not only enhanced teacher-student interaction but has also solved many classroom related issues. With the advent of mobile devices MOOCs, m-learning, e-learning have grown exponentially in last few years. These pervasive devices are not only used for communication, but also for teaching, learning and development purpose. In this work we try to find the modalities which will be regulated by systematic inclusion of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) based classroom interaction. The system used task technology fit (TTF) model to find if this technology is fit for the educational aid. This study includes survey to find the cognitive behaviour of students towards mobile devices including laptop, tablet, and smart phones. The parametric data collected over survey have been analysed for finding out the variation in treatment group and control group using Bayesian paired sample t-test, which clearly shows the effective use of BYOD based interaction in classroom for enhancing teaching learning process.

A developing nation like, Bangladesh, has been experiencing a transformation from individualized computing to a versatile mobile technology recently. It makes the chance to manufacture defensible solutions for individuals who are verbally challenged and facilitate their method for correspondence. Inexpensive Smart Electronic devices are presenting fresher correspondence potential outcomes that were not even believable a couple of years back. In view of the effect of these inconceivably prevalent electronic devices and their technologies on the clients, we have looked into and advanced an Android application named “Bolbo Kotha”. The goal was to construct an effective communication to elucidate the verbally challenged individual with customized facilities, adequate costing and general flexibilities. The ease of use and viability of the application have been assessed in view of four criteria, to be specific, customization capacity of the application in light of client's need, creating abilities to work out the application, insignificant resources and time required to adapt with the application, general costing of the overall framework, keeping in mind about the preferable cost of the users. In real life, the outcome demonstrates that proposed application is profoundly encouraged by the verbally challenged individuals, which can be utilized as an ultimate solution to upgrade communication abilities.

Previous research identifies facilitators and barriers related to the use of Alternative and Augmentative Communication Systems, however, more evidence is needed to understand aspects related to introduction of such systems in an outpatient setting. This paper aims to analyze theses aspects by identifying the facilitators and barriers that comprise systems' use by aphasic people at a University Clinic in Brazil. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the collected data were analyzed based on qualitative techniques like open coding and constant comparison. In addition to the factors found in previous research, this study identified new factors such as: cost, infantilized systems and sentences' quality produced, that can be considered as facilitators or barriers in using AAC systems. The results of this research can be used to improve the current and new AAC systems.

Almost 40% of the world's crop yield is lost to diseases and pest infestations. According to a 2012 survey, Maharashtra has the highest rate of farmer suicides and one of the major reasons for this is the failure of crops. This paper presents an image-based classification system for identification of plant diseases. Since existing datasets have diluted focus across several countries and there are none that pertain to India specifically, there is a need for establishing a local dataset to be of use to Indian farmers. It uses Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to augment the limited number of local images available. The classification is done by a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model deployed in a smart phone app.

Over the last decade, there has been a gradual increase in the number of people with mobility and speech impairments who require novel communication devices. Most of the recent works focus on the Latin script; there is a lack of appropriate assistive devices for scripts that are specific to a country. In this paper, we propose a novel multimodal Hindi language virtual keyboard based on a menu selection with eight commands providing access to spell and type 63 different Hindi language characters along with other functionalities such as the delete command for corrections. The system has been evaluated with eight able-bodied individuals who performed a specially designed typing task. The spelling task has been achieved in three different modalities using: (i) a mouse, (ii) a portable eye-tracker, and (iii) a portable eye-tracker combined with a soft-switch. The performance has been evaluated over the changes that occur with the use of each modality in terms of typing speed and information transfer rate (ITR) at both the command and letter levels for each participant. The average speed across participants with mouse only, eye-tracker only, and eye-tracker with soft-switch were 17.12 letters/min, 10.62 letters/min, and 13.50 letters/min, respectively. The ITRs at the command and letter levels were about 67.58 bits/minute and 62.67 bits/minute, respectively, with only the eye-tracker option. Based on its robustness, the proposed system has the potential to be used as a means of augmentative communication for patients suffering from mobility and speech impairment, and can contribute to substantial improvement in their quality of life.

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is an alternative/augmentative communication device that can provide users with a different interaction path, based on the interpretation of his/her brain activity. Such technology, applied to Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) contexts, could potentially make the full set of features of such systems accessible to users affected by severe motor impairments, for whom the interaction with the surrounding environment is troublesome. In this paper, a low cost BCI development platform, consisting of a hardware acquisition unit and a Matlab-based prototyping environment is presented. BCI performance assessed by means of an illustrative application example using a 4 class SSVEP paradigm to switch on and off lights. Comparison with other reference methods from literature is also presented.

The implicit robotic communication is highly appreciated in the fields of security and defense. The reason for such communication is to conceal the commands or its source to others to gain the whole benefits of the hidden robotic assistance to make it available in the case of emergency and critical situations. To interpret and communicate most distinctive orders to the robotic system, a well defined and distinguishable gesture paradigm is necessary. Moreover the conversion of such paradigms should also be precise and augmentative. The Random Average Distribution helps to reduce the complexity of the SVD features and augment the clear classification. The signals acquired from a pair of different gestures from five subjects with ten trials, were subjected to the proposed feature extraction method and were classified. The results obtained were found better than the results obtained by the direct SVD and reduced in complexity.

Kommunicator Audio Visual Interface is Augmentative Alternative Communication Picture-To-Speech software addresses the development of augmentative alternative communication modes for children with loss of language or social skills, typically from 15 to 30 months of age.

This paper presents an application formed by a series of games based on tangible interaction, using an interactive horizontal surface (tabletop), oriented to the educational context. The set of games has been designed for the special education scenario, and in particular, for the development of communicational competencies in users of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). The tool that groups the set of games is called ACoTI (Augmentative Communication through Tangible Interaction). ACoTI proposes that students, by using conventional toys, interact with the computer to perform various simple and complex association activities. Thus, the focus is to train and develop abstraction processes that favor the communication between the individual and his/her environment. In this case, toys have two essential roles: on the one hand, they act as mediators for individual-computer interaction, and on the other, they help to train students in the abstraction processes required for developing communicational skills. A detailed description of ACoTI is included in this paper, as well as the field work carried out to support its design and implementation, and the assessments carried out to validate both the application and its interaction mode. Initial results and possible future works are also described.

The research work presented in this paper belongs to the area of Computer Technology applied to Special Education. In this context, the design of a collaborative web system (ECCA) is presented. This system incorporates features to facilitate Augmentative Communication, devised as a technology aid for the development of communication competencies in students with Complex Communication Needs. Details are provided regarding previous research work carried out to better understand the needs of the target group and the decision-making process of ECCA. Finally, the conclusions and future lines of work are presented.

Virtual keyboards or on-screen keyboards are commonly used as a means of augmentative communication by people with severe speech and motion disability. Any such virtual keyboard is characterized by keys' layout design and method of access. In this paper we present a virtual keyboard that can support multiple modes of access and has an optimum layout based on the frequency of occurrence of alphabet in English text. We have compared our proposed layout against commonly used alphabetical layout, which demonstrates a superior performance of our design.

We propose a low complexity image recognition algorithm based on Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) suitable for handheld applications. The target application is an Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) device used in speech rehabilitation and education. The device recognizes images (pictograms and pictures) and plays a sound message associated with the recognized image. Experimental validation of the proposed algorithm using MATLAB and its DSP implementation is presented.

Communication is very important in our daily lives. Unfortunately, there is a minority group of people who suffers from both speech and physical disability. For example, people with cerebral palsies (CP) suffer from speech and physical, and also mental disability in some cases. Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) or Assistive Communication tools have been developed to help them to communicate. However, due to the limitations of these tools, it is less efficient and effective in helping them. This research proposed an enhanced assistive communication tools as enhancement to the existing AAC tools. Results have shown that our proposed tool has the potential to assist people with Cerebral Palsy to communicate through facial expressions.

Providing a communication aid is a complex issue which requires a deep insight on the theoretical backgrounds, the technological basis and, specially, the problems faced in bringing together the expectations and needs of users, teachers, speech therapists, families… and the perspectives and knowledge of linguists, teachers, engineers and speech pathologists. In this ongoing project we intend to develop and implement helpful tools for students with communicative impairment by means of communication boards based on icons, pictures or conventional characters.

The objective of this project is to develop an Arabic predictive communication system for physically disabled people with speech and language impairments who are resident at the Shafalah Qatari center for children with special needs in Doha. We aim to improve the learning and understanding skills of children with special needs. We aim to develop graphics-based and interactive tutorials. The main topics of these tutorials include: human body, transportation means, time and date, animals, food and plants. We design some intelligent puzzles to be assembled by the disabled children. Greedy algorithms will used to guide the potential users to reach a solution. The disabled children will be asked to arrange a set of simple words and phrases to form a meaningful sentence on the tutorials' topics that they learnt. The existing augmentative systems for disabled children are solely designated for western children (design, interface and contents). Thus the development of an Arabic augmentative communication system taking into consideration the culture and specificity of Qatari disabled children will be an important tool that helps them to overcome communication problems and access independently digital information.

A great number of defective communication can affect disabled people, who moreover can suffer more or less severe troubles of vision, audition, speaking or mental disabilities. The troubles affecting these functions can be cumulative, and more, motor handicaps of superior limbs can be added, increasing difficulties to found a palliation which cannot be separated from the perceptuo-cognitive system of a person. To translate in text different substitutive means of communication, good linguistic models have to be designed. They must be formal to be computed and to produce efficient technical aids in augmentative and palliative communication. Here we show the importance of a good model of language to obtain a good quality of technical aid.

Virtual scanning keyboards are augmentative communication systems used by people with speech and motor impairments. Each of these systems consists of (a) a virtual keyboard and (b) a scanning input method. Designers of these systems need to choose from a large number of design alternatives, which requires evaluating alternate designs. Evaluation of alternate virtual scanning keyboard designs with disabled users is problematic due to the difficulties in (a) getting sufficient number of users for evaluation, particularly in countries like India where social conditions prevent many potential users from participating in the design process and (b) collecting sufficiently large data for analysis due to users' physical disabilities. The problems can be alleviated with the use of model based design methods. In model based design, models of user performance are employed to evaluate designs automatically, thus reducing the need for extensive user testing. Existing performance models of motion impaired users, however, do not consider scanning input methods. This limits the applicability of the existing models to the design of virtual scanning keyboards. To address the limitation, we developed performance models of virtual scanning keyboards. The models are validated by comparing the model predictions with results from user trials. Development and validation of the performance models are described in this paper.

Integration of the Dasher text-entry program with a brain-computer interface (BCI) system may give individuals with severe motor disabilities the ability to write using their neural signals. Five able-bodied participants previously trained to control their neural signals using motor imagery in an electroencephalogram-based BCI study were trained to control the Dasher program using similar methods. The time to write simple phrases in Dasher using BCI and standard mouse inputs were compared. To compare with existing technology, four disabled participants wrote the same phrases using their own augmentative communication input. The time to input phrases with Dasher-BCI was greater than that for Dasher-mouse and other alternative inputs. However, as Dasher is optimized for BCI control, it will become increasingly useful for people with severe motor and speech disabilities.

There is a growing interest among computer scientists to devise methods by which people can interact with a computer through a combination of manual, visual or facial gestures. For individuals who are unable to speak, a gestural method of communication may offer a more efficient method of communication. If the method of communication can be translated by computer to produce synthetic speech, the requirement that other individuals know the gestural language is eliminated. A strategy for gestural control over synthetic speech has been developed as an alternative to keyboard or single item selection based augmentative communication. The gestural method interprets a gesture indicated by a mouse or track-ball as a syllabic utterance in English which in tun is acoustically synthesized. The strategy includes an orthographic representation of English that takes into account the phonotactic constraints on English syllable structure in order to minimize the complexity and time associated with the production of a syllabic utterances. This study compares two alternative organizations for gestural control over synthetic speech. One organization is based on syllable structure and places perceptually similar phonemes in close proximity; the other organization is based on a design which minimizes the overall time required to indicate a word. Able-bodied adult subjects' performance on generating a vocabulary of approximately twenty frequently used words among able-Wed children in classroom settings is studied with respect to time and accuracy.

The objective of this project was to design and construct a group of input modules (input interface devices) which could be used to augment/ assist a handicapped child to function more independently. These modules will provide an optimal interface between the child and various augmentative devices (e.g., a computer or an environmental control system). Several first generation p rototypes utilizing various new input methods have been designed. Design features and considerations for t heir long term use will be presented along with future plans for the design of additional interface devices.

A new augmentative communication device has been developed which serves as both a si alling device and a data collection tool for developmenta[rdisabled students. The simple, flexible design minimizes power consumption and allows the device to be conFgured for individual communication training needs.

We developed an augmentative communication system that generates a well-formed sentence in Korean language by symbols for people with communication disorders. The system should place a minimal burden on the users. The augmentative communication aids combine the benefits of pre-stored messages with linguistic prediction capabilities to create unique acceleration techniques. Different from traditional approaches, the lexicon is organized along dimensions using a dynamic approach as a connectionist model. When the users press symbols, the software predicts verbs, which are displayed in scanning modes based on semantic markers. In order to generate the well-formed sentences, adequate postpositions follow it according to verbs for each input word.

Therapeutic teleplay focuses on the use of personal augmentative devices (PADs), exploratory agents to enable tele-interaction, evaluation, and development of abilities in children with severe disabilities. The child controls the remote agent to accomplish a variety of cognitive and motor developmental tasks. Human factor challenges include optimizing the human-technology interface by using physiological signals to control the device, mapping the actions of the remote agent to the inputs of the user, and providing appropriate multisensory feedback to the user.

The author discusses the motivations behind the application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in augmentative communication, describes the representative research activities in augmentative communication, and explores the potential research areas which merge AI and augmentative communication. Current research on augmentative communication consists of three areas of concentration: clinical study, device assessment, and design methodologies. Clinical study focuses on identifying the types and levels of dysarthria that can be matched to the use of certain 'assistive' technologies, for example, use of speech synthesis and recognition to assist voice communication. The other two areas focus on the assessment of existing augmentative communication devices and design methodologies for new augmentative communication devices, respectively. >

A control language that accepts user commands through an isolated-word recognizer is described in terms of its function and structure. The commands enable either text processing or robotic motion. Entirely speech driven, the system functions as an augmentative aid for individuals with severe motor disabilities. Based on a design that results in a transparent user interface, the system puts the technically nontrained end user in control of developing a speech recognition vocabulary and programming a robot to perform useful tasks. >

The prescription process used by the expert system involves matching the client's capabilities and needs to an augmentative communication device. The formalized knowledge of the relationships between the client's needs and capabilities and the device parameters was implemented in a personal computer program. The expert system was consulted on 13 in-house cases, and its prescription was identical to the device the client had actually received. >

Augmentative and alternative communication has always suffered from difficulties of equipment set-up and interaction. A three-dimensional input device is presented which is based on a non-contact movement sensor. In this way the movement of the head or limb can be tracked and converted into the movement of a PC mouse. The advantage of the noncontact approach is further increased by the incorporation of adaptive gesture recognition thus allowing user defined movement interpretation and click strategies.

The proposed augmentative/alternative system of communication provides a solution for children with language disabilities due to cerebral palsy. This assistive system allows them to communicate through icons without the intervention of a therapist. This methodology favors independent conversations between four children; each one of them utilizes an input device according to his/her residual motor functions.

Investigation into novel and useful communication aids for the deaf and nonverbal that are portable, cost-effective, and easy to operate has been hampered in the past by the lack of funding to develop prototype systems capable of satisfactorily testing new augmentative communication methodologies. A computer-based simulator was designed and clinically tested to allow the development and clinical trial of a wide selection of different portable communications devices. Suggested designs were then tested through repeated redesign cycles at minimal cost, allowing for the design and proving of multiple configurations and leading to an expedient series of final designs for actual prototype construction and field testing. >