I’ve been making steady headway into my project development. This last week, I overcame some large hurdles which should mean smoother sailing this week. My favorite part? How iOS has speech synthesizing built right in.
Also- I realize the Japanese isn’t perfect! I promise, I’ll have a native speaker (or two) review my app before I show it off properly. 🙂
Here’s a short video of my design motivation and sketches of my communication app for Japanese children with autism. After consulting with my mentor at Hiroshima University, Dr. Norimune Kawai, I finished the basic sketches last week and have been hard at work coding a prototype for iPad. Coming up next: the development of the app. Stay tuned!
The initial EAPSI Orientation is a whirlwind 2 days of getting loads of information about what is going to happen over the next several months and meeting tons of new people. The first day started later in the afternoon with check in, an informational session with introductions to various people who work to make EAPSI happen, and then a dinner with the cohort. Dinner was a bit chaotic because we were just given vouchers for the hotel restaurant, which was completely unable to handle ~200 people attempting to get seated at once. My group gave up waiting for a table and eventually managed to get food at the bar.
Hotel for EAPSI
The second day was all day working. The morning session went over things that applied to the entire EAPSI fellowship group as a whole. We also got overviews and insights from past EAPSI fellows from each country.
EAPSI Pre-Departure Orientation
After a working lunch, we separated off to get specific information about the country we were going to. In my case this was Japan, the largest cohort of EAPSI with 66 members. We learned about the weeklong orientation we would have once we reach Tokyo in June. We also got a preliminary culture and language lesson. It was fun, but I hope they don’t expect to remember anything by the time I arrive in Tokyo! I was happy that they seated us at tables according to the university we would be staying at during the summer. I was able to meet the other fellows going to Hiroshima and exchange contact information.
At the final working dinner we exchanged abstracts and learned how to write for various audiences.
All in all, it was an extremely useful orientation. I met lots of cool researchers from all over the US and also got much needed information about what’s going to happen next.
Shortly after I returned from the orientation, my official acceptance letter from JSPS came first via email and then via snail mail. I was able to arrange my flights through JSPS’s travel agency. My host advisor has secured my housing and done the necessary paperwork for getting my money once I arrive in Hiroshima. I’m in the process of submitting revisions to my institution’s IRB and getting the various paperwork for NSF finished up. Soon, I will have to start thinking about packing and starting my amazing journey to Japan!
At the Hiroshima Flower Festival 2013. Photo Credit: Severn Ringland.
In the fall of 2013, I applied for the NSF’s East Asia Summer Institute Program and was accepted February 3, 2014. The abstract to my proposal:
While there are a variety of available Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices available for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the United States, these devices are infrequently found for users in Japan especially in their native language. A culturally appropriate AAC system for use with Japanese children will be designed using participatory design workshops with stakeholders from Hiroshima University. During this project she will come to better understand the process of designing assistive technology as it occurs between local stakeholders in Japan and American researchers and to create a framework to help facilitate this kind of work in the future.
Click here for a full version of my proposal.
Last Updated: April 3, 2014
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