What We Do
Robust communication is essential to the human experience, enabling us to engage with and learn from the
world. Yet, communication difficulties are common for individuals with complex neurodevelopmental disorders
(NDDs). These challenges can affect an individual’s functional independence, health, safety, acceptance by society, and quality of life. This can also discourage individuals and families and may limit their desire to continue interventions or participate in research studies. Measures of communication that accurately capture the skills of individuals with NDDs are critical for advancing science and for developing therapies. However, research involving individuals with NDDs, especially those with rare genetic disorders, is lacking. In the AND Life Lab, we attempt to develop communication tools that capture broad expressive communication samples, including non-speech vocalizations, gestures, and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) usage. This research will help to bridge families, clinicians, and researchers, allowing families to celebrate their child’s singular communication strengths while also informing outcome measures for therapies and clinical trials.
Augmentative Communication Technology for Non and Minimally-Speaking Individuals
Human-Centric Signal Processing (Voice/Speech, Biopsychology, Neuroscience)
AI-Ready Personalized Real-World Health Data
Our Mission
To better understand how individuals with severe neurodevelopmental disorders communicate.
To determine feasibility of a remotely-administered natural communication sampling paradigm, ROSCO, for individuals with rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorders or profound autism.
To determine relationships between ROSCO-derived communication measures and survey-based communication measures for individuals with rare genetic neurodevelopment disorders or profound autism.
What we do is important
Right now, there is a major gap in knowledge on non- and minimally-speaking individuals regarding the development of communication in individuals with severe genetic neurodevelopment disorders. There is a critical need to develop accessible and reliable tools for assessing communication in individuals with these disorders, especially those with minimal speech. These tools must be designed to reach a diverse sample – not just participants near hospital and university centers – as well as adaptable and able to capture multimodal communication, including spoken words, gestures, and augmentative technology use.
