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MELBOURNE, Australia

Award-winning software development studio Revolutionary Concepts in collaboration with the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute announced today the creation of a world-first application that enables non-verbal and speech delayed children to communicate at or near the speed of most other children!

AACORN is the first example of artificial intelligence being used to assist children with autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, developmentally delayed speech, and language learning issues, and represents a quantum leap in the accuracy and speed with which children can express themselves.

On the challenges children experience using traditional assistive devices and software Professor Sheena Reilly, Associate Director of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute said, “For children with conditions that make speaking difficult, using todays assistive communications technology is often a time consuming, frustrating and sometimes discouraging experience for the child and their family.”

The organizations response was to create an entirely new class of assistive communications app that focuses on the cognitive abilities and needs of each child. Aacorn founder and creator Wayne Whatford describes the innovation, “Research shows that the decades-old system of presenting children with a grid of stick figure drawings, is actually a very inefficient means of communication. It relies on a child’s ability to memorize the location of word pictures, and this is a very narrow measure of ability that discriminates against those who are either still young or have serious developmental issues.”

The implication is that the very tools meant to help, often prevent children from being able respond at the level they are actually capable of.

“With Aacorn our researchers have created a solution that is designed for the next generation. It uses sophisticated Ai to learn about a child’s actual abilities, continually monitoring their communication patterns and learning to anticipate their needs and present words as they are needed, automatically!”

The early results show that this unique predictive capability eliminates the need for hunting and pecking, and empowers non-verbal and speech affected children to build and speak both simple and complex sentences with unparalleled ease, while also expanding their vocabulary! Something that should be viewed as a very exciting development by children, parents, educators and medical practitioners everywhere.

Aacorn is available for the iPad and iPad mini at www.appstore.com/aacorn