An interdisciplinary team of therapists, graphic designers, software programmers and animators at the IDC School of Design in IIT Bombay have developed Jellow Communicator, a free app compatible with Android tablets and mobiles.
The App uses icons to aid communication in children and adults learning to speak or with difficulty in speech. This App can be used by children with Cerebral Palsy, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome and brain injury as well as adults who have lost their speech following a stroke.
The content of this app was developed following considerable user studies and research involving children, therapists, and parents. A novel Visual Emotional language Protocol (VElP) was conceived for Jellow.
The App has a visually appealing and easy-to-learn interface consisting of central category buttons and expressive side-buttons. Each category button includes an extensive library of options arranged hierarchically into sub-categories. The user can browse through the options by double-clicking on the category and sub-category buttons.
To speak using Jellow, the user can simply press a category/ sub-category button followed by an expressive side-button. Jellow has around 8,200 lines of pre-programmed vocabulary each in English and Hindi that enables users to communicate. In addition, using the keyboard feature, the user can make the App speak out custom-typed sentences.
In addition to being a communication aid, Jellow can also be used as a tool to aid learning in children.
Microsoft Design Expo and the E-kalpa project sponsored under NMEICT by MHRD supported the development of Jellow. Jellow Communicator is available free of cost and can be downloaded from Google Play store using the link https://play.google.com/store/apps/detailsIJid=com.dsource.idc.jellow