Development of mobile application for autistic children using augmentative and alternative communication technique

• Main Authors: Wan Ahmad, Wan Fatimah, Hashim, Ahmad Sobri, Mazlan, Aaina Nadia
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/22838/1/ICOCI%202017%20262-267.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/22838/; http://icoci.cms.net.my/PROCEEDINGS/2017/Pdf_Version_Chap05e/PID13-262-267e.pdf

Communication is essentially a perfect approach to start and end everyday life routines. It is exceedingly critical to maintain one’s life whether it is verbal or nonverbal communication. As the number of autistic children is increasing, the children experience in having problems in communication. Furthermore, there is a lack of mobile learning application in Malay on speech and language.The objective of this paper includes reporting on the development and evaluation of user acceptance of an Android based application using Augmentative and Alternative Communication technique.Suara Saya is a developed mobile application which will act as a learning-based and communication-based application.Rapid Application Development methodology has been applied in the development.The tools used include Android Studio, Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Adobe.User acceptance testing has been conducted to 13 participants which consist of speech therapists, teachers and parents.A survey has been conducted after they have gone through the application. Results have shown that the teachers and parents are willing to use the app for their children and they believed that the usage of mobile phones will benefit children with autism.