Children's Hospital Boston  300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 355-6000
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Clinical Services (Autism Language Program):
Research and Development Timeline
screenshot 2006
Introduce Learning Together with Music, a software program with music, games and visual supports to help acquire and improve language for children with language/learning difficulties.
Puddingstone Place screenshot 2006
Introduce Puddingstone Place, an interactive virtual environment for teaching vocabulary and language skills to children with a variety of developmental disabilities.
computer screen 2005
Introduce Two-way Observational Learning as a clinical tool for persons with autism.
  2003
Remotely deliver AAC over the Internet to modify software at an off-site location.
symbol set 2002
Develop the Children's Hospital Boston Medical Symbol Set.
  2002
Develop visual-based curriculum in a collaborative affiliation with Monarch School for Children with Autism.
  2002
Develop first clinical application using scene and element cues for persons with autism.
Kara Johansen, family, and Alan Alda 1997
Develop EyeWare, an eye gaze communication system for persons with severely limited motor control.
Companion screenshot 1996
Develop Companion, the first clinical application of graphical metaphor (currently known as a visual scene display) in AAC.
  1996
Establish the Children's Hospital Boston Model for AAC in the Intensive Care Unit featuring the first focused use of Voice and Message Banking for patients who will experience a short or long term loss of speech skill.
Freestyle 1995
Develop Freestyle, the first AAC device with a computer operating system.
Link 1995
Develop LINK, a portable alphanumeric device with speech output for persons with good access to the keyboard, but poor speech output.
  1994
Develop MultiPhone, an AAC-based telephone for the world market.
  1993
Conduct double-blind studies and create clinical protocols for establishing the actual author during facilitated communication (FC). Research contributes to the debunking of the FC phenomenon.
  1991
After a partnership with Digital Equipment Corporation, develop MultiVoice, the first voice synthesizer developed expressly for persons with disabilities. The MultiVoice uses high quality dec-talk speech.
  1991
Develop WriteAway, the first word prediction, word processing software program for persons with language learning disabilities, after determining a clinical need for a software program that would help author predict the spelling of words.
VoisShapes 1991
Develop VoisShapesŪ, an AAC software application that uses graphic elements of American Sign Language to create words and phrases.
van 1989
Mobile Outreach Program hits the road, the first mobile AAC clinic dedicated to providing service to less mobile persons and more rural communities.
  1988
Introduce voice banking in clinical practice at the Communication Enhancement Center and inpatient population at Children's Hospital Boston.
3 men looking at a computer 1985
Introduce the first clinical application of voice recognition for persons with spinal cord injuries.
  1985
Feature matching as a diagnostic tool is introduced in routine clinical practice at the Communication Enhancement Center.
  1985
Communication Enhancement Center, the first center in the United States dedicated to AAC, opens at Children's Hospital Boston.
application screenshot 1984
Develop Message Maker-Scanning software, allowing persons who were unable to use a keyboard to efficiently construct messages. As a cursor reached the desired letter, the user could activate a switch to bring up the list of possible word choices.
application screenshot 1983
Develop Message Maker-Keyboard software allowing persons with motor disabilities to efficiently construct messages using a computer keyboard. When a letter is selected, the list of words beginning with that letter become available for selection.
Tony 1983
Mount an Apple IIe on the wheelchair of 15-year-old Tony Bonfiglio, a child with cerebral palsy. This was the first general purpose computer ever mounted on a wheelchair used as a communication device.
  1981
Develop Target, the first general purpose computer software program that uses scanning for people with physical disabilities.
  1980
Develop the Election Decision Matrix, the first systematic approach for establishing candidacy for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).
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