Technology Aids In Communication With Disabled Kids Decades-Old Assistive Technology Adapted For Use With Children

03-14-2006

Three million Americans have disabilites so severe that they can't even say "Hello" or express simple concepts like "I need help." NBC's Tracie Potts reports on groundbreaking research that uses specially adapted computers to help young children, even infants, communicate.

Doctors describe children with severe disabilities as genies trapped in a bottle -- cognitively they are quite intelligent and able to learn like many other children their age, but their bodies won't let them communicate.

Four-year-old Augie Webster has cerebral palsy and cannot speak with his mouth.

"Like sometimes if we go to the mall, Augie will see something, and he'll make sounds, so I know he's seeing something, and I try to figure it out, and it'll be a kid from the school," said mother Kathy Webster.

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But, Augie can speak with the aid of computer. By selecting pictures and words, Augie can make sentences, answer questions and even tell a story.

"He can make selections about what toys he wants to play with," said Heather Hernandez, special education teacher. "Oftentimes they [other children] want to come around and see what he wants to press next, or they'll yell at circle time 'Pick me, pick me.'"

The ability to communicate allows Augie to build social skills and make friends with children his age. The assistive technology that makes it all possible has been around for two decades, but just within the past two years has been adapated for use by young children.

"We're able to capture them at that early stage and to provide them with a way to develop language as typically developing kids do," said professor Janice Light with Pennsylvania State University. "They're actually learning words faster than we would see with typical kids."

Light is a pioneer in the field and has found success with many of her patients.

While working with 15-month-old Jackson, who has Down syndrome, Light said he responded immediately the first time he saw the computer. Within eight months, Jackson was repeating sounds and only a year later he was choosing his own games.

Another patient, 2-year-old Gareth, who has cerebral palsy, is able to make sentences and even play a game of "Go Fish" with the computer.

"These kids now have the opportunity to communicate, to learn language, and to learn the kinds of concepts that other children are learning," said Light.

The decades-old assistive technology now being adapted for use in children is finally allowing that tiny voice trapped inside to come out and be heard.

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