Facilitated communication (FC), or supported typing, is a scientifically discredited technique, which claims to allow non-verbal people, such as those with autism, to communicate. The technique involves a facilitator guiding the disabled person's arm or hand in an attempt to help them type on a keyboard or other such device which they are unable to properly use if unfacilitated.
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a technical institution can be traced back to the 1870s. UTS is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network (ATN), and is a member of Universities Australia (UA) and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN).
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) encompasses the communication methods used to supplement or replace speech or writing for those with impairments in the production or comprehension of spoken or written language. AAC is used by those with a wide range of speech and language impairments, including congenital impairments such as cerebral palsy, intellectual impairment and autism, and acquired conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. AAC can be a permanent addition to a person's communication or a temporary aid. Stephen Hawking, probably the best-known user of AAC, had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and communicated through a speech-generating device.
Speech–language pathology (a.k.a. speech and language pathology or logopedics) is a healthcare and academic discipline concerning the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of communication disorders, including expressive and mixed receptive-expressive language disorders, voice disorders, speech sound disorders, speech disfluency, pragmatic language impairments, and social communication difficulties, as well as swallowing disorders across the lifespan. It is an allied health profession regulated by professional bodies including the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and Speech Pathology Australia. The field of speech-language pathology is practiced by a clinician known as a speech-language pathologist (SLP) or a speech and language therapist (SLT). SLPs also play an important role in the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), often in collaboration with pediatricians and psychologists.
Catherine Brighid Livingstone is an Australian businesswoman who has held positions in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, CSIRO, Macquarie Bank, and Telstra.
Ingo R. Titze is a voice scientist and executive director of the National Center for Voice and Speech and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He also teaches at the Summer Vocology Institute, also housed at the University of Utah. He is a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Iowa and has written several books relating to the human voice.
Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) is the national peak body for the speech pathology profession in Australia.
Sebastian Möller is an expert for quality of experience and speech technology.
Janice Light is an American academic who holds the Hintz Family Endowed Chair in Children's Communicative Competence in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Pennsylvania State University. As a Distinguished Professor, she teaches graduate courses and seminars in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and has developed an internationally recognized research program in AAC.
Howard C. Shane is director of the Autism Language Program and Communication Enhancement Program at Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, former director of the Institute on Applied Technology, and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. He is internationally known for his research and development of augmented and alternative communication systems to support the communication needs of people with neuromuscular disorders, autism and other disabilities.
Shrikanth Narayanan is an Indian-American Professor at the University of Southern California. He is an interdisciplinary engineer–scientist with a focus on human-centered signal processing and machine intelligence with speech and spoken language processing at its core. A prolific award-winning researcher, educator, and inventor, with hundreds of publications and a number of acclaimed patents to his credit, he has pioneered several research areas including in computational speech science, speech and human language technologies, audio, music and multimedia engineering, human sensing and imaging technologies, emotions research and affective computing, behavioral signal processing, and computational media intelligence. His technical contributions cover a range of applications including in defense, security, health, education, media, and the arts. His contributions continue to impact numerous domains including in human health, national defense/intelligence, and the media arts including in using technologies that facilitate awareness and support of diversity and inclusion. His award-winning patents have contributed to the proliferation of speech technologies on the cloud and on mobile devices and in enabling novel emotion-aware artificial intelligence technologies.
Claire Penn (1951–2018) was a South African speech and language pathologist, and held the endowed chair of Speech Pathology and Audiology at the University of the Witwatersrand, and was a former senior research specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council. She received the Order of Mapungubwe (Silver) in 2007, South Africa's highest honor, for her work in linguistics, sign language, child language, aphasia, and head injury.
Karu P. Esselle is an Australian scholar, professor, engineer, scientist and inventor. He is the Distinguished Professor in Electromagnetic and Antenna Engineering at University of Technology Sydney, Australia. He is the leader of the MetaSteerers Team, which won Australia's national 2023 Department of Defence Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia. He was named Australia's Professional Engineer of the Year for 2022 by Engineers Australia - the national body that oversees engineering practice and profession in Australia. Eureka prizes are considered the Oscars of Australian Science. He is also a visiting professor of electronic engineering at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
Mary-Anne Williams FTSE is the Michael J Crouch Chair for Innovation at the University of New South Wales in Sydney Australia (UNSW) based in the UNSW Business School.
Pamela Mary Enderby, FRCSLT is a British Speech Therapist and Professor of Community Rehabilitation at the University of Sheffield.
Caroline Bowen is a speech pathologist who was born in New Zealand, and who has lived and worked in Australia most of her life. She specialises in children's speech sound disorders. Her clinical career as a speech-language pathologist spanned 42 years from 1970 to 2011.
Janice Murray is a Speech Therapist and Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University, specialising in Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
Cynthia B. Whitchurch is an Australian microbiologist. Whitchurch is a research group leader at the Quadram Institute on the Norwich Research Park in the United Kingdom and was previously the founding director of the Microbial Imaging Facility and a Research Group Leader in the Institute of Infection, Immunity and Innovation at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in New South Wales.
Jane Patricia Hall is an Australian academic, professor of Health Economics in the Business School and Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, NSW Australia. Hall is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
Michelle Lincoln is a Professor and the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic at the University of Canberra, Australia. Her research spans all areas of allied health service delivery and workforce, with a particular focus on rural, remote and Indigenous communities. She has published more than 130 peer reviewed journal papers, books and chapters and been funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council. As a senior university leader, she co-led the University of Canberra's Sports Strategy and Connected Decadal Strategy.
