Social Assistive Robots for Children with Complex Disabilities
Pedro Encarnação, Albert M. Cook in Robotic Assistive Technologies, 2017
The Adaptive Systems Research Group at the University of Hertfordshire has developed a humanoid robot named KASPAR. The SAR was developed using an open source platform to enable engineers to continuously create new controllers and algorithms. However, there was recognition of the need to create a system that could be easily used by nontechnical personnel. To test this concept, they developed a pilot project using KASPAR in an early childhood center specializing in children between the ages of 2 and 6 with complex social and communication disorders. KASPAR has been used at the center with children in groups as large as eight. Although the study is ongoing, researchers have learned a great deal about important features of the SAR as well as motivating factors for the adults to implement the SAR in their day-to-day routines. In particular, ease of use (usability) is a key component for professionals. Suggestions, such as creating a troubleshooting manual for nontechnical users, were quickly adopted by the research team. Motivation to use the SAR transitioned from a theoretical perspective to recognition of enhanced child-robot and child-adult interactions that occurred in situ (Syrdal et al. 2014).
Role of Speech–Language Pathologists in Assistive Technology Assessments
Stefano Federici, Marcia J. Scherer in Assistive Technology Assessment Handbook, 2017
For individuals with communication disorders, therapy or treatment will include goals and objectives to support gains in speech, the subsystems of language and literacy that are tied to an authentic and dynamic assessment. These would be the evidence-based treatments if AT had not been recommended. Evidence-based intervention methods are used with children for language acquisition goals. Evidence-based strategies are used in therapy to support regaining language for adults with aphasia. Evidence-based strategies are used in treatment for individuals with degenerative neurological disorders. In addition, AT may frequently support targeting deficits in speech–language comprehension and/or expression and cognitive functioning by the use of voice output, written modes of communications, and other educational and clinical software features.
Application of errorless learning in the treatment of acquired communication disorders
Catherine Haslam, Roy P.C. Kessels in Errorless Learning in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 2018
The Lambon Ralph and Fillingham (2007) model and the Middleton–Schwartz hypothesis are not, however, mutually exclusive. When one considers their respective starting points (evidence from amnesia and previous EL studies for the former and education theory for the latter), it is clear that together they represent a continuum of learning, from cognitively impaired in the clinical rehabilitation context to the cognitively intact in the classroom teaching context. It follows, then, that the extent to which errors should be minimized or even maximized in learning will vary according to where a given learner may be on this continuum. This suggests error reduction should be prioritized in clinical domains, and particularly in the presence of relatively severe cognitive impairment, while error generation in cognitively unimpaired individuals may confer a benefit if produced in the context of desirable difficulty. More moderate clinical presentations may display no difference with regard to EL versus EF protocols, which has been a broadly consistent finding with participants with stroke aphasia who are able to repeat single words aloud. Despite the neatness of this theoretical speculation, unfortunately, the empirical evidence from treatment studies of acquired communication disorders thus far does not support such clear implications (see Conroy & Lambon Ralph, 2012, for further discussion).
The human right to communicate and our need to listen: Learning from people with a history of childhood communication disorder
Published in International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2018
Jane McCormack, Elise Baker, Kathryn Crowe
Yet 70 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written, the right to freedom of opinion and expression is not available to all. Challenges to Article 19 are most often recognised when the right to communicate is stifled through inequalities related to race, sex, religion, or status. That is, when the right of individuals to voice opinions is challenged due to discrimination. However, challenges to Article 19 are relevant to another group, those whose right to communicate is stifled due to communication disorder. Communication disorder refers to difficulties with producing or comprehending messages in oral and/or written form. Individuals (children and adults) with communication disorder are doubly disadvantaged; their lack of voice (i.e. an effective mode of communication), means their voice (i.e. what they want to communicate) goes unheard. Their right to communicate is challenged by their impaired ability to communicate, and the impact can be broad and long-lasting.
Communication disability in Bangladesh: issues and solutions
Published in Speech, Language and Hearing, 2023
Md Jahangir Alam, Linda Hand, Elaine Ballard
Communication disorders in children are developmental disorders. They can occur by themselves (now in the Minority World termed ‘Developmental Language Disorders’; Bishop, Snowling, Thompson, Greenhalgh, & Consortium, 2017), or they can have co-morbid conditions such as hearing loss or physical disability. In the Minority World, the education system (including early education or pre-school) is seen as an appropriate site for SLTs to work with children who have developmental disorders but no other acute health condition (e.g., they may have a condition such as cerebral palsy, but they are not ill). This is especially true in countries where integration is an educational principle (i.e., that children with disabilities should be mainstreamed and schooled with their non-disabled peers) (Paul, Norbury, & Gosse, 2018).
How does feedback from patients impact upon healthcare student clinical skill development and learning? A systematic review
Published in Medical Teacher, 2018
Emma Finch, Jennifer Lethlean, Tanya Rose, Jennifer Fleming, Deborah Theodoros, Ashley Cameron, Adele Coleman, David Copland, Steven M. McPhail
Jha et al. (2009) found that being articulate and possessing good communication skills were two key attributes that patients needed to possess to be involved effectively in healthcare student education. The studies included in the present review did not focus on patients with communication disorders. Only one study, Anderson et al. (2011) included patients who had experienced a laryngectomy and their spouses, and eight adults with a variety of chronic health conditions, including Parkinson’s disease (which frequently has associated communication impairments). No other studies mentioned including patients with communication disorders. Interestingly, a key criterion for recruiting eligible patient participants in Gall et al. (1984) was that the patient had above-average intelligence and verbal ability. Communication disorders are prevalent in many health conditions, such as following an acquired brain injury, and are encountered frequently in clinical settings. The current review suggests that there is a lack of knowledge about the effectiveness of patient feedback to students when the patient has a communication disorder.
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