ACAT Project

Autistic Conversation Analysis Toolkit (ACAT)

Achieving Common Ground in Autistic-Neurotypical Interactions with Innovations in Video Calling

Autistic adults often experience challenges in conversation that affect their social and professional success. This project aims to develop AI-powered tools and a framework for speech-language therapists to efficiently analyze recordings of their autistic clients’ conversations, and work together with the client to set goals for therapy. We will engage autistic adults and speech-language therapists in the design of the AI tools to ensure that they will be useful in clinical practice and avoid reinforcing bias against autistic traits. We hope that these tools will make communication support more accessible to autistic adults while transforming how speech-language therapists learn to provide that support. 

This research is supported by an AIM Seed Grant from the University of Maryland.

For more information, contact Shevaun Lewis at shevaun@umd.edu.

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