Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) reading system
An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system and methods therefore are provided for assisting in learning to read. The system stores book data capturing the sequence of a book and dictionary which is used by a display controller for displaying symbols on an AAC reading user interface. This enables set of symbols to be displayed for each word which include a symbols having a contextually appropriate meaning for the current word being read within a displayed group of symbols. A reader conveys their understanding of the word by selecting the correct symbol. Selecting a symbol triggers audio output of the word associated with the symbol.
1. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system comprising:
a user interface module configured to control rendering of visual data on a display, output of audio data and receiving user inputs;
a symbol display controller configured to control allocation of symbols to predefined symbol positions for rendering and displaying one or more individual symbols of a set of symbols in an AAC symbol grid layout by the user interface module for selection by a user, and access a symbol library storing data for a plurality of symbol records, each symbol record including a unique symbol identifier and being associated with a symbol graphic file for a symbol; and
memory storing dictionary data of a dictionary and book data for at least one book, the dictionary data storing:
a set of word records, each word record being associated with a word and comprising a word identifier unique within the dictionary, a word text, a symbol identifier for the word, and sound data to enable audible reproduction of the word via the user interface module, the set of word records including a record for each one of all words occurring in text of the at least one book;
one or more display data structures, each display data structure comprising a display data structure identifier, a data record defining a set of lexical elements and an order for display of the set of lexical elements in n display positions of the AAC symbol grid layout, each one of the n display positions being allocated to a respective one of the set of lexical elements, each lexical element comprises a set of up to m semantically related words,
where each of the up to m semantically related words is a word variant associated with a different one of m word categories, each word variant being associated with a symbol conveying meaning for the word variant, each word of a book occurring within a display data structure for the book, and, for each book, the book data comprises book text data encoded to reference word identifiers for each word of text of the book, sequence data for the book; and
identifiers of display data structures for all words in text of the book,
wherein the symbol display controller is configured to for each word, determine a display data structure including the word and identify symbols to populate the n display positions based on word category based on sequence data for the book and received user input, such that the symbols displayed will correspond to at least the symbol required for the user to select via the user interface module for audio output based on reading sequence of the book.
2. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the dictionary data includes for each word record phonetic data to enable reproduction of the whole word by the user interface module; and sounding out data to enable sounding out of components of the word.
3. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 wherein a plurality of display data structures are used, each data structure defining display order for a set of n lexical elements, such that all n symbol positions on a symbol display grid will be populated for display.
4. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 3 wherein for the set of n lexical elements in a data structure, each lexical element has a common number and type of semantically related words, such that for all word types all positions of the symbol display grid will be populated.
5. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 wherein a number of display positions n is a configurable system parameter value.
6. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the dictionary data stores a plurality of sets of display data structures, each set of display data structures corresponding to a different value of n.
7. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the symbol library is also stored in the memory.
8. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the symbol library is stored in external network accessible memory and is accessed by the AAC system via communication network.
9. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the user interface module is configured to suppress display of text in conjunction with symbols based on configurable system parameters or selected operating mode for the AAC system.
10. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the user interface module is configured to highlight sections of the displayed symbols based on configurable system parameters or selected operating mode for the AAC system.
11. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a vocabulary database storing dictionary data for a plurality of books.
12. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a book parsing system configured to facilitate generation of book data and word records for books.
13. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the symbol display controller is configured to trigger highlighting of one or more symbols for display based on any one or more of: symbol type, word being read, and operating mode.
14. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an assessment module configured to monitor user inputs and assess symbol selection, log errors, and generate feedback regarding errors.
15. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 14 wherein the assessment module is further configured to provide a teaching mode wherein a word in text and an associated symbol are concurrently displayed to the user, and user input monitored to determine whether or not the user inputs a correct symbol.
16. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a sounding module configured to sound out word components based on sound data for the word.
17. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the m word categories are based on Fitzgerald key categories.
18. An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system as claimed in claim 17 wherein the m word categories include: noun; verb; adjective/adverb; pronouns & people; and miscellaneous.
19. A method of displaying symbols in an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system for reading a book, the method comprising the steps of:
accessing book sequence data to determine a word identifier for a current word to be read and identifier for a display data structure including the current word;
selecting symbol identifiers from the display data structure for n symbols to display based on the word identifier;
accessing a symbol library using the selected symbol identifiers to retrieve symbol graphic file data for the n symbols, the symbol library storing data fora plurality of symbol records each symbol record including a unique symbol identifier and being associated with a symbol graphic file for a symbol; and
populating n symbols display positions of an AAC symbol grid for display using the retrieved symbol data, whereby the symbol representing a meaning of the current word is displayed within the n symbols in the AAC symbol grid for selection by a user to indicate the user's reading interpretation of the current word.
20. A method of parsing book data to build data structures to be used in an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) reading system for reading a book, the method comprising the steps of:
analysing book text data to identify individual sentences within the book text data; and
for each word in a sentence:
determining a word identifier for the word in accordance with meaning of the word in a context of the sentence; and
determining a display data structure incorporating the word, wherein the display data structure is an AAC symbol grid layout for presentation of symbols for selection by a user; and
storing the word identifier and display data structure identifier in sentence data for the sentence.