The Future of Speech Generative Devices just [Cough] Dropped.

As an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) center that specializes in teaching communication to non-verbal children, training communication is the most important skill that has the greatest impact on our kids.

Speech Generating Devices were a game changer for non-verbal communication and one could say was one of the defining technology innovations that changed the game for the Autism Community. Many children would be non-verbal for most of their lives or be able to communicate via Picture Exchange communication systems that were hard to maintain due to the loss of materials. However, as children moved to Speech Generating Devices, issues began to crop up insidiously.

Since these devices are prohibitively expensive, parents are dependent on Medicaid or private insurance to get them. To attain these devices, our visiting Speech Language Pathologists ran evaluations, made requests to insurance and we would wait on trials to begin with our clients. What this would look like was that each device would be used by our kid at the center for a few weeks and would be returned for up to 4 different types of devices. Then it could take 1-2 weeks for each device to start a trial. As a result, the child was in a holding period without words for the months of trialing.

Another common issue was when Speech Generating Devices once procured were out of commission due to breakage. The device would need to be returned to the Production company which would lead to the loss of words until your device was returned.

Imagine: losing all your words and ability to communicate in one swift moment. When the loss of these devices occurred, our children began suffering and this led to escalation of maladaptive behaviors due to their inability to communicate. Our Clinical programs began to suffer as well as this would impact all clinical programs across the board. Our staff felt like their hands were tied, waiting for the nightmare to end.

This is when we discovered CoughDrop: A phenomenal online Speech Generative Device that the child can interact with off any tablet. CoughDrop shares the same functionality as the Speech Generative Devices we use. You can program items that the child can request and can share these with the parents so they can use this platform at the home, outside the center. We began using this for clients through the Speech Generative Devices evaluation and trial process and would create back ups that mimicked the Speech Generative Devices in the event of loss of device. 

In order to determine if CoughDrop is an effective tool for our kids at BehaviorSpan, we consult with the child’s Speech language Pathologist to determine array sizes and complexity of routes. As you can tell, we highly recommend using CoughDrop as an interim primary or backup for Speech Generating Devices. Best of all, because CoughDrop is so much cheaper than other devices, it is easily accessible for individuals with speech delays and their providers.