Talking point

Scientists in Scotland have developed a system that allows children with communication difficulties to take control of conversations.

How was school today? uses a combination of software and hardware to enable children with disabilities such as cerebral palsy and learning difficulties to have conversations in a faster, more interactive way.

The system is the result of a year-long collaborative project between computing scientists from Dundee and Aberdeen universities and Capability Scotland.

Dr Ehud Reiter, from Aberdeen University's School of Natural and Computing Sciences, said: 'How was school today? uses sensors, swipe cards and a recording device to gather information on what the child using the system has experienced at school that day. This can then be turned into a story by the computer - using natural language generation software - which the pupils can then share when they get home.

Rolf Black, from Dundee University's School of Computing, said: 'For a child with severe motor disabilities and limited or no speech, holding a conversation is often very difficult and limited to short one- to two-word answers. To tell a longer story a communication device is often needed to form sentences but this can be very time consuming, putting a lot of strain on holding and controlling the conversation.'