Speech Development During First Year

There are typical speech development patterns that are common in birth to 5 years, and there is assistive technology that can help children develop these communication skills. 

 

Between birth and 3 months, infants normally being to recognize voices. The sounds of a caregiver’s voice can calm an infant and help him or her to stop crying. Some parents begin to use assistive technology even at this young age. It’s good for infants to hear voices. Some parents begin reading books to infants that include many colors and textures. At this age, infants normally make cooing noises. 

 

Between 4 and 6 months, babies recognize changes in the tone of voice. This is also an important development because recognizing tone of voice is something that helps humans communicate. At this age, the babbling begins to sounds more speech-like. 

 

Between 7 months and 1 year, babies become even more reactive to conversation. They can communicate by waving or moving arms. Around the first birthday, a baby might be speaking one or two words. 

 

It is important for SLPs to know the typical speech development of a child so that problems can be recognized. Sometimes a child’s lack of speech development can be recognized within the first year, and early intervention can be helpful in the long run. In a sense, the wide range of toys available for infants can be considered assistive technology. There are toys with visual buttons that can be pressed, activating speech sounds so that the infant may attempt to imitate these words.

 

For example, the Talking Ball Learning Toy is a great assistance for children to develop speech skills (http://www.melissaanddoug.com/2-in-1-talking-ball-baby-and-toddler-learning-toy).

 

“Toss it back and forth to hear this amazing ball say the ABCs or count to 10! Just flip a switch to select the mode you prefer, then turn the reversible fabric panels to highlight counting quantities, alphabet artwork, and bright colors and patterns. Designed to delight kids of any age”

 

 

What is the Echoes project?

“ECHOES is a technology-enhanced learning environment where 5-to-7-year-old children on the Autism Spectrum and their typically developing peers can explore and improve social and communicative skills through interacting and collaborating with virtual characters (agents) and digital objects.  ECHOES provides developmentally appropriate goals and methods of intervention that are meaningful to the individual child, and prioritises communicative skills such as joint attention.”

– http://echoes2.org

 

ECHOES is assistive technology that can be displayed on a touchscreen for children to interact with. It helps children work on fine motor skills and problem solving.

Child Using Echoes

 

Echoes also encourages exploration and development of social skills. Children with Autism Disorder don’t develop social skills normally. ECHOES has become a popular assistive technology for teaching. Technology helps socially-shy students explore without the fear or failure or fear of embarrassing themselves.

 

“Researching autistic / Aspergers children’s social skills”

 

ECHOES was designed around the needs and desires of children. The technology has been placed in some schools that have touchscreen tablets. It is not yet possible for a wide range of schools to have, but it is expected for schools to continue to obtain more technological devices. This is great news for children with Autism disorder because not just ECHOES, but many forms of assistive technology help them learn more effectively.

 

 

Autism and Technology Dependence

Key Questions:

• Should we be worried about autistic children becoming dependent on assistive technology for communication?
• Does the use of assistive technology help or hurt verbal communication development?

Technology Addiction sometimes hampers development:

Laura Davis wrote an article called “Autistic teens and children struggle with cyber addiction” in which she explains that technology, in a way, prevents social development of autistic teens and children. People living on the autism spectrum can be overwhelmed by direct social contact, and find pleasure in routine and sameness. The internet gives them a crutch to communicate with the world behind a screen. Davis gives the example of a 21-year-old with autism disorder who spent so much time on the internet that he hasn’t developed the social skills to get a job. This article made me realize the importance of balancing assistive technologies with real human interaction for teaching children with autism.

Read the article here: http://sundial.csun.edu/2012/04/austistic-teens-and-children-struggle-with-cyber-addiction/

Assistive Technology also helps:

After reading more about assistive technology and verbal communication development, it has become apparent to me that usually, people with Asperger’s syndrome would be more likely to become addicted to the computer and internet. They normally have better cognitive development, so they have more of a capability to develop social skills.

In most other cases of Autism disorder, assistive technology will do nothing but help. In severe cases of autism in which people cannot develop much ability to communicate, Augmentive and Alternative Communications (AAC) are very useful. These are all types of methods of communication besides verbal. In previous blog posts, I discussed the different levels of assistive technology and mentioned the Voice in the Box. Another popular assistive technology that only seems to help (rather than hurt) the development of verbal communication is the Tobii S32 device. Below is a picture from the website http://www.tobii.com/en/assistive-technology/global/products/hardware/tobii-s32/

The Tobii device is similar to the Voice in the Box. Tobii plays back pre-recorded phrases activated by the touch of a small picture representing the phrase. This AAC device helps advance communication skills.

How do Speech Pathologists use technology to communicate with their patients?

Gabrielle Russon wrote a touching article about Joselyn Johns, a girl born without the ability to communicate. Many times, Joselyn threw major fits because she had no way of communicating to people what she was feeling. Finally, her school got a grant and began using iPads in classrooms. Joselyn was able to scroll through pictures and point to them to communicate what she wants or needs. I wish that someone could have created iPads for this use long ago because the article shows she is much happier being able to communicate. Also, the iPads help her advance her cognitive skills that deal with communication.

Article: http://www.toledoblade.com/Education/2012/03/30/Speech-pathologists-embrace-technology.html

Reading this article made me realize that with my major in Speech Pathology, I can help people with a huge range of speech disabilities, from stutters to the complete inability to form words. The use of iPads with learning and communication is a great method to keep in mind.

Another great article by Tracy Sippi discusses the use of the iTouch in speech therapy. She says she’s seen faster improvement in pronunciation from using iTouch apps and games in comparison to the traditional picture flash cards. The highly detailed visuals and familiarity of Apple products (for most students) keeps them engaged. The apps remind them of games they might play on the iTouch at home, which is comforting. One example of an app is Speech4Good. This app allows speech therapy patients to practice on their own by recording their voices and playing it back. Also, they can keep a library of recordings among other things. Below is a picture of the main screen of Speech4Good

Speech therapists have had greater success using technology with patients in comparison to traditional ways without technology. I’m sure they will continue to widen the range of assistive technologies used in speech therapy. I can’t wait to see what assistive technology is available for me to use with patients when I graduate from UGA!

 

 

Picture from: http://speech4good.com/features/

How can parents help children with autism learn?

Autistic children learn to use many assistive strategies in therapy and school, but they have trouble performing these tasks outside of the places they learn them. It can be incredibly helpful for parents to incorporate the things autistic children learn at home. Having them perform these activities at home helps them adjust to having these habits in new surroundings. Parents should observe therapy appointments or communicate with the therapist so that they can encourage children to do the activities at home.

Assistive Technologies that can be used at home:

One example of an assistive technology that parents can use at home is a visual chart of activities that are to be performed in a day. It can include activities such as nap time, chores time, homework time, etc. The visual images help children with autism pay attention to the activities. Colorful images help to capture their attention.

Another example of an assistive technology that parents can supply to children is computers or iPads. There are so many possibilities of games and apps that can help autistic children learn to communicate better. “Communicate Easy” is an app that allows parents to take pictures of household items or activities. Children can then click on the picture to hear the name of the item, or parents can make visual picture charts quickly and effectively. Below the App Icon is pictured.

 

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/autism_help.htm

http://autismappszone.com

How does the type of autism a child has affect how well he or she works with technology?

Asperger’s Syndrome:

Children with Asperger’s Syndrome don’t have problems with language, but have trouble communicating. They tend to have a limited scope of interests. Often, they have one or two topics that are of high interest to them. Considering the fact that children with Asperger’s don’t have trouble with language, they would use different assistive technologies than children with different types of autism. Computers are helpful because many autistic children don’t have trouble typing on a computer to communicate. Also, voice recordings or videos are good to use because children with Aspergers may be uncomfortable with talking to a teacher one-on-one. They like the predictability of a recording or video.

Rett Syndrome:

Children with Rett Syndrome begin developing normally, but between 1 and 4 years old they begin to lose their communication skills and make repetitive movements with their hands. The best Assistive Technologies for children with Rett Syndrome are anything that allows them to actually communicate. Rett Syndrome can be very severe, sometimes resulting in a complete loss of controlled movement. An interesting technology that has been developed is eye-gaze technology. It uses cameras to track eye movement. By focusing their eyes on cute characters, they can play a game without communicating or moving at all. When their eyes are focused, the characters jump or react in some way on the screen. Although this is not used in schools, it can be useful for special education teachers to know about Rett Syndrome during preschool years.

Autistic Disorder:

Children with autism have trouble communicating, social interactions, and making eye contact with others. They love routine, and dislike physical contact. Many assistive technologies are useful when teaching children with autism. They can be preoccupied by colors and lights, so picture charts of the schedule for the day will help them cooperate at school when making transitions to other activities. Also, technologies such as the Voice in the Box are great because it encourages the use of fine motor skills and also becomes fairly predictable, so they become comfortable using it.

Voice in the Box

Sources:

http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/understanding-autism-basics

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/205709.php

Question: How is technology used to help children with Autism learn?

Browsing articles on the subject of autism and technology, I came across one that discusses “low”, “mid”, and “high” technology assistive strategies. This article, (http://www.eastersealstech.com/2011/09/27/assistive-technology-for-children-with-autism-and-aspergers/) written by Nikol P, gives specific examples of each of these. I had previous knowledge about the habits of autistic children, including their lack of ability to communicate effectively, but I never thought about how much technology can help with this problem. 

This visual schedule is an example of a “low” tech assistive strategy. Autistic children tend to be more calm if they understand what is going on, and the pictures help make up for their lack of ability to listen to a teacher explain the schedule verbally. I can imagine the fun designs and pictures also get autistic children’s attention. This method probably makes the typical school day go by slightly more smoothly. 

 

(http://www.specialed.us/autism/assist/asst14.htm)

The “mid” technological device shown above is a “Voice in the Box”. It allows children to develop language skills in a comfortable environment where they aren’t intimidated by one-on-one conversation with a teacher. “Mid technology provides the means of expressive language that the autistic individual lacks.” Tape recorders are also considered “mid” technology. 

 

(http://studentweb.con.ohio-state.edu/PhD%20Resources/What%20kind%20of%20computer%20resources%20are%20avialable.aspx)

Lastly, a computer is considered a “high” technology assistive device because there are so many ways to use it. Often, use of a computer increases attention and fine motor skills. Many autistic children are comfortable using computers.  Simon Cohen said “We can use computers to teach emotion recognition and to simplify communication by stripping out facial and vocal emotional expressions and slowing it down using email instead of face-to-face real-time modes.” I have a friend who has high-functioning autism, and ever since a young age she has loved computers, the internet, and communicating with me through text and email. She finds it really easy to communicate when she’s not expected to look someone in the eyes.

I’m really glad I found this and many other articles on the different types of assistive technology that can be used to help kids learn. It makes sense that technology gives a real advantage for autistic children because technology helps us communicate in many ways.