Three Indian Institute of Technology-Patna students have launched an app for children with autism called Shabd – Voice of the Extraordinary. The students say their app will offer features that are not found in other commonly available apps for children on the autism spectrum.
Inspired by the Avaz App for Communication, Anmol Chaddha, Aman Jee and Amish Mittal, students of the Indian Institute of Technology-Patna (IIT-P), have developed Shabd-Voice of the Extraordinary, an app for children on the autism spectrum.
The third year students, who are part of IIT-P’s incubation centre, are motivated by a desire to help people with disabilities. “During research we came across Avaz”, says Anmol, who developed Shabd with Aman. Amish designed the logo.
Shabd suitable for kids with & without disabilities
Avaz is an augmentative and alternative communication app that empowers children and adults with speech disabilities with a voice of their own. But it is available for free and that led the students to work on developing a free platform.
Shabd app will help children with autism below the age of 13 by improving data and communication talent, says Dr Meghna Dutta, Professor in-charge of Public Relations, IIT-P..
Shabd is available on Android as an open source platform.
Children without disabilities under the age of 13 can also use this app to increase their knowledge of communication. Students can use the images on the app to interact with near and dear ones. Just tapping on the image leads to the speaking up of a relevant sentence. One can also create his/her own messages easily. – Anmol Chaddha, Developer, Shabd-Voice of the Extraordinary
Some of the other features offered by Shabd are quick actions, interactive games, educational videos, drawing canvas, dictionary, and daily tasks. There are plans to add more in the months to come.
What Shabd promises
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- Vocabulary laid out in a consistent pattern to ensure quick access.
- Takes seconds to add new words.
- Add and personalise multiple words and folders.
- Visualise the metrics that show how the child is developing.
Learn words and sentences from images. Understand meanings through the dictionary.
- Pronounce the word and check whether it is correct using Google Text to Speech.
- Interactive games like Quick Colour Tap and quiz to help in brain games.
- Educational videos from YouTube are available.
“Only resources available for free have been used for Shabd’s development”, adds Anmol.
You can download Shabd – Voice of the Extraordinary here.
Source: Newsclick
This app has been reviewed by a Sangati member.
This App is good. Before, we used to do this type of activity using physical cards. In my opinion, the system of physical cards is better. However, it is easier to work with the children using App as compared to cards. But while working with app we should keep in mind that children with autism exhibit repetitive behavior, and hence,this App may increase their repetitions and and may cause fixation in them.
By Seema, parent and primary care giver to person with autism.