Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) might restore communication to people severely disabled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or other disorders. We sought to: 1) define a protocol for determining whether a person with ALS can use a visual P300-based BCI; 2) determine what proportion of this population can use the BCI; and 3) identify factors affecting BCI performance. Twenty-five individuals with ALS completed an evaluation protocol using a standard 6 × 6 matrix and parameters selected by stepwise linear discrimination. With an 8-channel EEG montage, the subjects fell into two groups in BCI accuracy (chance accuracy 3%). Seventeen averaged 92 (± 3)% (range 71-100%), which is adequate for communication (G70 group). Eight averaged 12 (± 6)% (range 0-36%), inadequate for communication (L40 subject group). Performance did not correlate with disability: 11/17 (65%) of G70 subjects were severely disabled (i.e. ALSFRS-R < 5). All L40 subjects had visual impairments (e.g. nystagmus, diplopia, ptosis). P300 was larger and more anterior in G70 subjects. A 16-channel montage did not significantly improve accuracy. In conclusion, most people severely disabled by ALS could use a visual P300-based BCI for communication. In those who could not, visual impairment was the principal obstacle. For these individuals, auditory P300-based BCIs might be effective.

This applied dissertation was designed to provide online multimedia training materials for parents of children, ages 2-11, with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), who use or need Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Many children with ASD have communication difficulties, and the best path to communication competence is through some form of AAC. Parents can have an enormous impact on their children’s ability to learn and use AAC effectively. By implementing a few supportive strategies, they can help their children become successful communicators. Implementing strategies in a home-based learning environment is important to provide generalization of skills across settings. Typically, parents do not have access to AAC learning materials to facilitate their child’s AAC learning and language growth. Barriers to accessing this material may be time, accessibility, stress, transportation, or financial constraints. Online education is becoming increasingly more popular and is looked upon as a means to obtain information in an efficient manner. Using specific AAC strategies to enhance receptive and expressive language, parents will be taught how to increase their child’s language skills during this natural routine. Along with input from content-area experts, training materials have been created to help parents better understand ways to support AAC learning at home. Parent participation allows for the materials, which focus on two key strategies, Aided Language Stimulation (ALgS) and Communication Temptations, to be field tested. The information provided by the content experts resulted in changes to the online multimedia training materials in order to determine content validity, evaluate the design, and assess the feasibility. The results indicated that the participant’s knowledge and self-efficacy did significantly increase from the pretest to the posttest after completing the online multimedia training materials. Additionally, the participant’s self-efficacy from The Usage Rating Profile – Intervention Revised (URP-IR) significantly increased after viewing the online multimedia training materials and the URP-IR is a reliable assessment to utilize when measuring self-efficacy.

No description available.

SammanfattningSyfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka pedagogernas användning utav TAKK i deras undervisning i grundsärskolan. Mina frågeställningar är: 1.På vilket sätt använder pedagogerna TAKK och i så fall varför?2.Vilka TAKK kunskaper har pedagogerna?3.Vilka andra kommunikationssätt använder pedagogerna?Metod: Datainsamlingen i studien genomfördes utifrån kvalitativa intervjuer med fem pedagoger på en grundsärskola i södra Sverige. Utöver intervjuer genomfördes under två dagar observationer, både i en träningsklass och i en särskoleklass. Intervjuerna transkriberades och en analys gjordes utifrån tematisering av materialet. Intervjuerna tolkades sedan hermeneutiskt. Under de två observationstillfällena genomfördes fria anteckningar i direkt anslutning till observationerna. Teori: Den teoretiska förankringen i studien är ur ett symboliskt interaktionistiskt perspektiv. Detta perspektiv fokuserar på hur en individ handlar i samspel med andra och hur hen tolkar vardagliga händelser med symboliska handlingar som t.ex. tal, gester och ansiktsuttryck (Trost och Levin, 2010).Resultat: Utifrån intervjuer samt observationer har det framkommit att pedagoger som arbetar i träningsklasser använder betydligt mer TAKK än pedagoger som arbetar i särskoleklass. Pedagoger som arbetar i särskoleklass använder sig inte utav TAKK i sin undervisning trots att observationen har visat att behovet finns. Pedagogerna använder sig mer utav olika datorprogram som stöd till sina elever. Pedagogerna som arbetar i träningsklasserna använder sig utav TAKK i betydligt mer utsträckning men även här har resultatet visat att det finns situationer som pedagogerna inte använder sig utav TAKK. Dessa situationer är bland annat raster och lunchraster. Resultatet har även visat att inte alla pedagoger som arbetar i träningsklasser använder TAKK i lika stor utsträckning som sina andra kollegor. Skolan har erbjudit all personal att delta i grundkurser i TAKK och alla intervjupersoner har deltagit i dessa kurser.

This study surveyed speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working in medical settings in the state of Florida in order to: (a) assess the availability of AAC devices, related materials, and services in acute, sub-acute, long-term care, and outpatient medical facilities, (b) examine barriers and supports in providing AAC services to patients with complex communication needs (CCN) in the aforementioned settings, and (c) determine perceived levels of AAC knowledge of health care practitioners. One of the study's major findings was that 97.59% of SLPs served at least one patient they identified as having CCNs, and 94.1% of respondents indicated that their patients could benefit from increased access to AAC devices and service delivery. A notable finding relating to the need for increased AAC-related communication partner instruction (CPI) is as follows: 97% and 100% of respondents indicated that increased CPI for medical practitioners/staff and family members, respectively, were important elements in order to ensure functional communication for individuals with AAC needs in the medical setting. Major barriers to providing AAC services related to device access (i.e., lack of AAC supports / devices, lack of funding for equipment, length of time of device funding). Other barriers were related to the nature of medical settings (i.e., frequently changing caseloads, limited time with patients) and demands of the job (i.e., lack of time to prepare AAC materials / devices). Supports to providing AAC services included low-tech AAC options and mobile technologies. In terms of practitioner knowledge, 57.6% of respondents rated themselves not at all or somewhat knowledgeable regarding AAC. Physicians, nurses, and other rehabilitation professionals were rated as less than knowledgeable by 95%, 97%, and 84.3% of participants, respectively. Overall, the findings of this study suggests there is a high prevalence of patients in medical settings with AAC needs, and some face unmet communication needs resulting from barriers related to the setting itself, lack of access to AAC devices and materials, and limited time spent on AAC service delivery.

No description available.

No description available.

The thesis deals with severe speech impairments, which require using assistive verbal devices as the means of everyday communication. Its main objective was to create an augmentive communication appplication for a mobile phone. The thesis specifies some severe communication disorders, mentions available communication applications for mobile phones and gives a description of developing and trial testing of the application. The appliaction is primarily intended for children of pre-school and younger school age who suffer from sever communication disorders. Its main purpose is to support the target groupe in communication with other people.

A maior parte da população mundial se comunica de forma multimodal (fala, gestos, expressões faciais, etc.). Na medida em que algum destes modos falta, a pessoa afetada encontra dificuldades para manifestar suas idéias e pensamentos. Este trabalho é destinado a pessoas com dificuldades severas de fala e graves danos, tamb6m, na parte motora, o que as impede de se comunicarem por outras formas usuais, como a linguagem de sinais dos surdos, por exemplo, restando-lhes buscar alternativas de comunicação. Estas alternativas são pesquisadas em uma área denominada Comunicação Alternativa e Aumentativa (comumente chamada de AAC, do inglês: Augmentative and Alternative Communication), dentro da qual ha uma linha que estuda a utilização de sistemas simbólicos para comunicação, que é abordada neste trabalho. A fim de auxiliar estas pessoas que apresentam distúrbios motores e de fala, na sua busca por autonomia pessoal, estudou-se maneiras de facilitar a utilização destes sistemas simbólicos de comunicação, com o emprego de recursos de Multimídia e técnicas de Inteligência Artificial. O intuito foi o de auxiliá-las no aprendizado da forma de comunicação a ser utilizada e de proporcionar-lhes uma interação mais amigável e eficaz com o sistema. Para estes fins, foram estudados os conceitos básicos de Comunicação Alternativa e Aumentativa, bem como diversas técnicas de Inteligência Artificial (Modelagem de Usuário, Interfaces Inteligentes, Ajudas Inteligentes, etc.), a fim de verificar quais se adequavam mais aos propósitos do trabalho. Como resultado destes estudos, foi proposto um modelo de sistema inteligente que objetiva empregar estas técnicas e conceitos abordados. Este modelo tem como objetivo aprimorar os sistemas de AAC existentes, principalmente, nos seguintes aspectos: adaptação as preferências do usuário (como sua velocidade de varredura, símbolos mais utilizados) e seu nível de conhecimento do sistema simbólico em questão e do próprio sistema computadorizado que esta sendo utilizado; prestação de auxilio individualizado no aprendizado dos símbolos utilizados, através do acesso ao significado viso-auditivo real ou aproximado dos mesmos, possibilitando o use de tabuleiros de comunicação "normais" (não computadorizados) de forma mais eficaz. A partir deste modelo, foi construído um protótipo, denominado FALAS (Ferramenta Alternativa de Aquisição Simbólica), com o intuito de validar as idéias do trabalho. Além dos objetivos principais do modelo, o protótipo pode ser utilizado, não só pelo usuário padrão AAC, mas também pelas pessoas que irão comunicar-se com ele e ajudá-lo na interação com os símbolos. Por fim, levantou-se uma serie de sugestões, as quais utilizando as pesquisas realizadas para este trabalho, poderiam auxiliar na construção de sistemas para outras áreas, em especial para a Reabilitação, onde a redução de esforços por pane do usuário e sua maior compreensão do que esta se passando, lhes proporciona uma maior autonomia, o que a maioria dos estudos, nesta linha, buscam. Alem disto, foram sugeridas varias idéias a fim de dar seguimento a este trabalho e incentivar pesquisas nesta linha. / Most of the population of the world use to communicate in a multimodal way (by using speech, gestures, facial expression, etc.). If there is a lack of any of these abilities, this person will have difficulties to express his ideas or thoughts. This work is directed to people with major speech difficulties and severe motor impairments. These difficulties prevent them to communicate by the usual means, as the signal language for deafs, for example, so they need to use alternative means of communication. These alternative means of communication are studied in an area called Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). In this area there is an approach which studies the usage of symbolic systems to communicate, and it will be addressed in this work. In order to help this kind of people in his search for personnal autonomy, we studied some ways to make the symbolic systems easier for them to use, by applyind Multimedia and Artificial Intelligence techniques. The goal was to help them to learn how to use this new mean of communication and to provide a more friendly and efficient interaction with the system. Finally, we are suggesting many aspects that can direct the designs and implementation of systems to other areas, namely the Rehabilitation, where a reduction in the effort needed from the users and their better understanding this activities result in a greater autonomy. This greater autonomy is searched by most of the works in this area. Besides, many ideas are suggested in order to continue this work and to help the research in this area.

O acesso às tecnologias de informação e comunicação tem impactado significativamente a forma como as pessoas se relacionam com o mundo. Essas mudanças afetam a realização de atividades do dia-a-dia, as relações humanas, o trabalho e a aprendizagem. Para as pessoas com deficiência física, o desenvolvimento dos recursos de tecnologia tem possibilitado maneiras de interagir, de se comunicar e de participar em contextos diversos superando as barreiras impostas pelas suas limitações e pelo meio. A vigência de políticas públicas e de ações concretas em prol da inclusão contempla a diversidade humana e o direito de acesso à tecnologia para a comunicação, aprendizagem e trabalho para os cidadãos com deficiência. Para a efetivação da participação e aprendizagem dos alunos com deficiência nas escolas públicas brasileiras são disponibilizados os serviços do Atendimento Educacional Especializado (AEE) com vistas à eliminação de barreiras para o acesso à construção do conhecimento. É através da tecnologia assistiva apropriada que esses alunos poderão desenvolver suas competências possibilitando maior autonomia e independência na vida social de acordo com suas necessidades e interesses. Desta forma, este trabalho teve como foco principal a proposição de uma metodologia para avaliação em acessibilidade ao computador e à comunicação alternativa para alunos com deficiência física. Para tanto, utilizou-se do design de recursos e estratégias em Tecnologia Assistiva com apoio de produtos assistivos envolvendo um conjunto de recursos para acessibilidade ao computador e a comunicação alternativa. No cenário de estudo buscou-se o desenvolvimento da pesquisa-ação envolvendo a participação dos professores do AEE e de quatro alunos com deficiência física (paralisia cerebral) da rede municipal de educação de Florianópolis - SC. Os quatro alunos foram previamente selecionados por necessitarem de alternativas em recursos e estratégias para o acesso ao computador e à comunicação. Fizeram-se estudos de campo no ano letivo de 2010, e complementos no início de 2011. Sistematicamente, após os dados coletados durante as sessões com os alunos e professores, fez-se a análise e avaliação dos mesmos, e foram propostos fluxogramas para orientar na experimentação e implementação dos recursos de acesso ao computador. Finalmente, a construção de fluxogramas que orientam o processo de avaliação resultou em uma ferramenta útil de apoio aos professores e demais profissionais de equipes interdisciplinares. Assim, estas equipes formadas por educadores, profissionais da saúde, designers, engenheiros, e tendo os usuários como protagonistas, poderão realizar um processo de avaliação eficaz para seleção da tecnologia assistiva para o acesso ao computador e à comunicação alternativa, bem como o desenvolvimento de novos produtos e recursos inclusivos. / The access to information and communication technology has impacted the way people relate to the world. These changes affect the accomplishment of daily routine activities, human relationships, work and learning. For the people with physical disabilities, the development of technology resources has enabled them to interact, to communicate and to participate in different contexts overcoming the barriers set by the limitations and the environment. The present policies and actions towards inclusion consider the human diversity and the rights to access technology for communication, learning and work, by the citizens with disabilities. For the effectiveness of participation and learning approaches of students with disabilities in the Brazilian public schools, there are specialized educational services available. One of the objectives of these services is to eliminate the barriers for knowledge access. Providing the appropriate assistive technology, these students can develop their competences enabling them to achieve a greater autonomy and independence in social life according to their needs and interests. The main focus of this research is to propose a methodology for the assessment of computer and alternative communication access for students with physical disabilities. To do so, the design of resources and strategies in assistive technology was considered involving a collection of resources for the accessibility to the computer and communication. In the research scenario, an action-research was developed, which involved the participation of the specialized educational service teachers and four students with physical disabilities (cerebral palsy) from the municipal education system of Florianópolis –SC. The students were previously selected as they needed alternatives in resources and strategies for computer and communication access. The field studies were conducted in the school year of 2010 and complemented in the beginning of 2011. Systematically, after the data collected during the assessment sessions with the students and teachers, the analyses and evaluation of the data were done and flowcharts were proposed as a guide to consider the trials and implementation of computer access resources. Finally, the flowcharts proposed resulted in a useful tool to support teachers and members of interdisciplinary teams in the assessment processes. This way, teachers, health care providers, designers, engineers, together with the users as protagonists, can go through an efficient assessment process in assistive technology for the computer and alternative communication access as well as the development of new products and inclusive resources.