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Journal of Public Health Policy and Planning | Volume 3
April 08-09, 2019 | Zurich, Switzerland
Health Care and Neuroscience
International Conference on
Voice it out loud: Viewing the world through Autistic eyes using Assistive Technology
Tamara C McGill-Carter
Northwest Indiana Special Education Cooperative, USA
DeVillers and DeVillers (2014) and Iacoboni (2009)
discovered that the ability for one to find their voice
and actively engage in the world around them,
mirror neurons take part in speech production.
However, for several sets of children with verbal
delays and who are non-verbal who Speech
Generating Devices (SGD). The question posed is
whether the devices are more effective in school
settings considering the nature of communication
and interactions that occur in that setting than
other settings. Past researchers made convincing
cases regarding the role of language development
using SGD in several settings, but the one setting
that has limited literature is SPG device use in the
home (Thunberg, Ashlen, & Sandberg, 2011). More
specifically, a child with definite understanding of
their own feelings and desires, it is necessary to hear
language used by them to understand what they
most desire (DeVillers & DeVillers, 2014). We can
observe behavior in expressing wants and needs,
but the proper verbal expressions for that child’s
age range can indicate the maturity of the ToM and
development of the executive functioning for their
stage of life (DeVillers &DeVillers, 2014). That would
lead to the second case of how the child obtains
the information for a conversation. For example,
when we hear someone try to get things that they
want and driven by those wants, they voice and
go to the place to get those wants. This approach
to ToM development, therefore, focuses on the
importance of learning words as labels for mental
states (DeVillers & DeVillers, 2014).
What kind of language reflects or supports the
developments of ToMreasoning to give researchers
an understanding of the child’s maturity is what
several studies seeks to answer. Recent research
focused on the verbs that reflect the child's
mental state (Devillers & DeVillers, 2014). Rarely
do children express their own and/or another’s'
beliefs until around four year of age. This study
has been replicated with children who are slightly
and moderately language delayed, but has not
been studied with adults whom are non-verbal and
severely delayed in language (DeVillers & DeVillers,
2014). Therefore, to fill the research gap, examining
data provided by the population of non-verbal/
severely delayed individuals using Voice Output
Command Aides (VOCA’s) in either a school, home
or day program setting will hopefully answer the
researcher’s pressing research question.
Speaker Biography
Tamara McGill-Carter’s expertise is in Neuro-anatomy and Neuroscience
with a focus on the intricate workings of the Limbic andMemory systems.
Her master’s thesis surrounds Human Memory and Encoding, detailing
the fundamental changes that creates as well as destroy memories.
She also excels in psychological theories and is currently in her final
year of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology’s Educational
Psychology and Technology doctorate program, due to graduate by next
summer. Her dissertation’s focus centers on Autism, Theory of Mind, and
Executive Functioning. Her expertise in neuro-anatomy further expanded
while working with individuals with developmental disabilities/delays at
several Home Health Agencies, which created several projects centering
on how autism and developmental delays affect the brain. She currently
holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Psychology from Indiana University
Northwest in Gary and a Master of Arts degree from the Chicago School
of professional Psychology, the concentration focus being Trauma and
Crisis Intervention.
e:
ClinicalNeuroscientist21@gmail.com