TalkRocket Go

Autism researchers at the University of Kansas received a $1.2 million grant from National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Communication Intervention for Preschoolers Learning to use AAC (CI-PAAC) to test iPad app to help children with social communication.

Many young children with autism have communication barriers, and while alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) provides these kids with the ability to communicate independently with adults, studies show it helps less so with the kids' peers, according to University of Kansas assistant research professor Kathy Thiemann-Bourque.

Her work at the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, which aims to address concerns about child development in a low-income community in Kansas City, on a related study on the topic produced successful results for peer to peer interaction using AAC.

With this grant, researchers will train 48 preschoolers with autism and 114 peers without disabilities to use an iPad voice output app. The study also involves 48 early education school staff. These interactions will help researchers determine whether the technology can improve the deficits in communication, social reciprocity and play skills typical of children on the autism spectrum. Each child with autism will have three peer partners from greater Kansas City area and Lawrence school districts for the study, which began July 1.

The study will offer researchers the substance they need to develop a manual for treatment implementation, as will a compilation of videos for parent and teacher training.

In 2009, MobiHealthNews wrote about an iPhone app, Proloquo2Go, which offers autistic children a form of communication which cost significantly less than the $8,000 to $10,000 legacy text-to-speech machines. Two years later, the app made it onto the Apple Store's list of top apps for healthcare professionals.

A similar app, TalkRocket Go received attention last month when the Ontario Ministry of Health’s Assistive Devices Program subsidized iPads to run the app. After families visit one of the 26 Assistive Devices Program clinics in Ontario to take an assessment, the clinic recommends using TalkRocket Go as the right communication aid, and a professional can help complete paperwork to purchase the app and device at a 75 percent discount.