Might 17, 2023
FEATURE
AssistiveWare ushers in subsequent technology of augmentative and different communication expertise
How app growth firm AssistiveWare is innovating augmentative and different communication software program
Each afternoon, 9-year-old Jay accompanies his mom Meghan Ashburn and his twin brother Nick to Virginia Seashore, the place they unwind from the day’s stimulation at college, of their residence, and out in the remainder of the world.
When Ashburn asks Jay why he loves the seashore, he picks the “sundown” button, then says, “No college. Sure seashore.”
In 2015, Jay was recognized with autism. By the age of 4, he began utilizing Proloquo2Go, an augmentative and different communication (AAC) app created by growth firm AssistiveWare, obtainable for iPhone and iPad.
“The seashore has all the time been a spot the place Jay can discover and calm down on his phrases,” Ashburn explains. “As a household, we go to as usually because the climate permits. He loves the sand, the waves, and the attractive sunsets.”
Proloquo2Go embodies AssistiveWare’s mission: to make AAC an efficient and accepted technique of communication. A wide range of individuals undertake these instruments once they’re unable to provide oral speech, together with these with ALS, cerebral palsy, autism, and extra.
Bringing this expertise to Apple gadgets represented a substantial shift for AAC customers and David Niemeijer, AssistiveWare’s founder and CEO. With AAC obtainable on shopper gadgets, the quantity of people that might afford and use the expertise ballooned. This additionally enabled AssistiveWare’s fast progress.
“One of many coolest issues in regards to the iPad and the iPhone is that they’re not separate gadgets,” says Niemeijer. “They’re cool gadgets that everybody else makes use of, too, and that has already made a significant distinction in its acceptability. However we nonetheless have extra work to do.”
AssistiveWare’s subsequent technology of AAC apps, Proloquo and Proloquo Coach, turned obtainable in 2022. Past producing speech, Proloquo helps customers construct phrases or sentences, be taught associated phrases, and increase their language and grammar. Proloquo Coach supplies households and educators with the instruments to help youngsters and college students of their studying.
Proloquo options 49 real youngsters and grownup’s text-to-speech voices and 12,000 phrases — about 3 times greater than different AAC apps. AssistiveWare apps additionally help VoiceOver and Swap Management for customers who’re blind or low imaginative and prescient, or have restricted mobility.
For AAC customers, Niemeijer believes discovering a customizable expertise is a crucial step. Apple’s new accessibility options — previewed this week — embrace Assistive Entry for individuals with cognitive disabilities, and Private Voice for these liable to shedding their capacity to talk, giving customers extra choices to tailor their experiences to their wants.
“We’re actually excited to combine these new options into AssistiveWare’s apps,” Niemeijer says. “We lately launched help for iOS’s built-in voices in Proloquo, so customers have entry to a good wider vary of voices to select from. The introduction of Private Voice has the potential to offer our customers with much more choices to personalize how they convey. This, mixed with options like Assistive Entry, will enrich the alternatives obtainable to us to customise the person expertise and permit customers to tailor our apps to their persona and wishes.”
At this time, Jay makes use of Proloquo and different modes of communication to talk to his household, academics, and mates. Kids make up 80 p.c of Proloquo customers: Jay is without doubt one of the app’s 100,000 every day customers and 300,000 total customers world wide.
“The notice of AAC among the many public will improve within the subsequent 5 years,” says Ashburn, who beforehand taught elementary college. Jay learns in a normal third grade class. “It’s a giant deal, as a result of he’s nonspeaking and so they are likely to get separated.” Jay’s third grade classmates additionally use Proloquo as a method of interacting with him.
“Proloquo’s limitless sharing functionality might be my favourite function. I can construct an AAC workforce for Jay. His academics, prolonged household, and even classmates have entry to Proloquo on their private gadgets free of charge,” Ashburn continues. “I can’t even describe how helpful that’s. It’s such a sport changer when it comes to leveraging AAC.”
Jay is presently experiencing enchancment in his speech, and makes use of Proloquo to follow talking. To be taught new phrases, he presses the button repeatedly, till he can begin talking the phrase or phrase himself. “Shut the door” is a phrase Ashburn says she ceaselessly hears, as Jay enters his preteen years.
“Many AAC choices restrict the phrases a baby can select from,” says Ashburn. “Proloquo has such a big vocabulary that Jay can select virtually any phrase he desires. The built-in keyboard makes his choices limitless.”
Again in Amsterdam, AssistiveWare’s workforce of researchers, AAC consultants, designers, builders, and high quality assurance engineers — together with 27 native workers and an extra 35 world wide — innovate the expertise behind the merchandise and push ahead analysis and advocacy work round AAC. “Most analysis on this subject appears on the change that occurs upon an intervention for a single particular person,” Niemeijer explains. “We as an alternative have consent-based nameless information on tens of 1000’s of AAC customers. That’s not frequent. We deliver insights from a bigger scale to the desk, which ends up in fascinating conversations.”
Apple’s Guided Entry, an accessibility setting launched a decade in the past to limit gadgets to a single app, radically improved the app’s potential. “Earlier than that, one of many challenges households and colleges had was that the kid would begin in a communication app, however then soar out and go to a different app,” says Niemeijer. “With Guided Entry, it was doable to maintain the give attention to studying and speaking.”
Creating for the Apple ecosystem holds one other key benefit: Apple maintains software program help for years, making it a sound funding for households and colleges.
“It provides us the time and area to give attention to innovation,” Niemeijer says. “That manner, AssistiveWare doesn’t get caught prior to now.”
For the subsequent technology of AAC customers, Niemeijer hopes this type of communication turns into as extensively accepted as texting. Greater than growing the expertise, the stigma round AAC represents the most important hurdle for its customers.
“I nonetheless assume we’ve got an extended method to go,” says Niemeijer. “For those who can’t communicate, the idea continues to be that you just most likely don’t have a lot to say. That assumption is the most important drawback. I hope to see a shift towards respecting this expertise so it might probably have the most important impression.”
Press Contacts
D’Nara Cush
Apple
Apple Media Helpline