Instructional Technology: A Picture-aided Communication Systems Manager (PACSMan)

描述（由申请人提供）：此快速通道申请要求支持开发和现场测试软件，用于自闭症和相关神经发育障碍儿童的功能沟通训练。该软件主要针对行为治疗师、特殊教育者和言语/语言专业人士，将支持使用图片辅助功能性沟通的辅助/替代沟通（AAC）方法的实施。图像辅助通信系统目前在功能通信训练中得到了广泛的应用，最显著的是广泛使用的PECS（图像交换通信系统）。提议的产品将解决这种功能交流训练的三个关键阶段：(1)建立图片和相应对象之间可靠区分的第一个实例，(2)加速扩展图片识别库，以及(3)建立和扩展图片序列以支持逐步更有能力的图片辅助交流。该产品暂定名为PACSMan （Picture-Aided Communication System Manager）。PACSMan的科学基础是广泛的，源自过去三十年来在专业期刊上发表的数十篇文章。该项目将在类似pecs的教学环境中管理治疗师与儿童的界面。该软件将(1)显示刺激项目序列及其要呈现的配置，(2)允许治疗师快速方便地输入与儿童行为相对应的数据，(3)对个人儿童数据库进行自动实时查询，以便决定教学序列的性质（即，何时添加新项目，何时加速教学，何时进行补救等）。并且总体上支持在图像辅助交流中优化个性化教学的持续过程。这个STTR项目在UMMS Shriver中心和Praxis公司之间建立了独特的合作伙伴关系，后者为该产品建立了证据基础，而Praxis公司则提供了知识产权，从而可以快速且经济地开发该产品。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This fast-track application requests support to develop and field test software for functional communication training for children with autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders. Aimed principally at behavior therapists, special educators, and speech/language professionals, the software will support implementation of augmentative/alternative communication (AAC) approaches that use pictures to aid functional communication. Picture-aided communication systems are now widely used in functional communication training, most notably in the widely used PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System). The proposed product will address three critical stages in such functional communication training: (1) establishing the first instances of reliable discrimination among pictures and corresponding objects, (2) accelerating expansion of the picture-discrimination repertoire, and (3) establishing and expanding pictures sequences to support progressively more capable picture-aided communication. The working title of the product is Picture-Aided Communication System Manager (PACSMan). The scientific foundation for PACSMan is extensive, deriving from dozens of publications in professional journals over the past three decades. The program will manage the therapist-child interface within a PECS-like teaching environment. The software will (1) display sequences of stimulus items and their configurations to be presented, (2) allow the therapist to quickly and conveniently enter data corresponding to the child's behavior, (3) make automated on-the-fly queries of an individual-child database in order make decisions concerning the nature of the teaching sequences (i.e., when to add new items, when to accelerate teaching, when to remediate, etc.), and generally support an ongoing process of optimizing individualized instruction in picture-aided communication. This STTR project features a unique partnership between the UMMS Shriver Center, which established the evidence basis for the product, and Praxis, Inc., which contributes intellectual property whereby the product can be rapidly and cost-effectively developed.