iTherapy to develop an accurate virtual language assessment tool & autism screener

SAN FRANCISCO, April 27, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — iTherapy, LLC — Bay Area developers of immersive educational technology for those with communication challenges, such as autism — today announced findings from Phase I research, funded by the National Science Foundation. The team’s original goal was to create a cutting-edge language recommendation system, using artificial intelligence. They discovered during their research that to build the most effective virtual language coach possible, they will first need to create a sophisticated AI-powered tool that can accurately assess a child’s current level of communication skills.

• iTherapy, LLC have completed Phase I testing, funded by the National Science Foundation. They aimed to develop a virtual language coach for children with autism. This language coach would be AI-powered and provide cutting-edge language recommendations.
• Based on their Phase I research, the team have now pivoted to first creating a virtual tool that can accurately assess a child’s current level of communication skills.
• This tool will be beneficial for virtual speech and language assessments during the pandemic and for monitoring children’s progress. It can also be combined with a highly reliable autism screening test, to create an exciting virtual diagnostic tool.

Matthew Guggemos, speech-language pathologist and co-founder of iTherapy, explained, “As a result of our research in Phase I, we have pivoted our focus toward creating an accurate assessment module capable of taking conversational exchanges and extracting information for evaluation purposes, using our machine-learning system. This will provide invaluable data and address a major pain point for clinicians forced to conduct speech and language assessments online during the pandemic.”

Unlike most of the language assessment tools currently available, which can be complex to use, iTherapy will develop a virtual product that can be installed on any device and used from the comfort of the user’s own home. Excitingly, the company also have plans to combine the language assessment module with a virtual autism screening test that provides highly reliable results. This would add a multi-functional virtual autism screener to any diagnostician’s arsenal.

iTherapy, LLC is a San Francisco Bay Area company that develops engaging immersive technology which increases quality of life for individuals with communication challenges such as autism. Since 2011, iTherapy has provided thousands of individuals with evidence-based solutions to everyday communication challenges, both through its innovative software and its medical speech therapy clinic, where its speech-language pathologists provide services to a variety of clients. iTherapy’s InnerVoice app has won multiple awards, including the Mensa ERFIB to Society Award in 2013.

Media Contact

Lois Jean Brady, iTherapy, +1 (925) 812-0037, lois@itherapyllc.com

Matthew Guggemos, iTherapy, 707-656-3688, matthew@itherapyllc.com

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SOURCE iTherapy