Testing an AAC system that transforms pictograms into natural language with persons with cerebral palsy.

Testing an AAC system that transforms pictograms into natural language with persons with cerebral palsy. Assist Technol. 2017 Oct 18;: Authors: Pahisa-Solé J, Herrera-Joancomartí J Abstract In this paper, we describe a compansion system that transforms the telegraphic language that comes from the use of pictogram-based Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) into natural language. The system was tested with 4 participants with severe cerebral palsy and ranging degrees of linguistic competence and intellectual disabilities. Participants had used pictogram-based AAC at least for the past 30 years each and presented a stable linguistic profile. During tests, which consisted in a total of 40 sessions, participants were able to learn new linguistic skills, such as the use of basic verb tenses, while using the compansion system, which proved a source of motivation. The system can be adapted to the linguistic competence of each person and required no learning curve during tests when none of its special features, like gender, number, verb tense or sentence type modifiers, were used. Furthermore, qualitative and quantitative results showed a mean communication rate increase of 41,59%, compared to the same communication device without the compansion system, and an overall improvement in the communication experience when the output is in natural language. Tests were conducted in Catalan and Spanish. PMID: 29045194 [PubMed - a...
Source: Assistive Technology - Category: Rehabilitation Tags: Assist Technol Source Type: research