A Culturally Inclusive AAC App for Autistic Children in China

“Verbal language is significant in communicating our thoughts for daily living. However, children with autism often have problems with verbal communication. Early intervention is extremely significant to autistic children because it can encourage their verbal language, self-care and social skills. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) tools based on pictures can benefit autistic children by compensating for writing and speech. In Canada, there are diverse AAC apps available for autistic children while in China, they do not have them. This project will develop a prototype for a Chinese AAC app using a popular AAC app in English. The app will be evaluated in China with parents and caregivers through community training workshops. Lessons learned from this cultural examination of use of technology in autism intervention between the two countries will be shared with community organizations in both countries.”

Faculty Supervisor:

Sambhavi Chandrashekar

Student:

Yu Zhang

Partner:

Discipline:

Design

Sector:

University:

OCAD University

Program:

Globalink Research Award