A software program for people
with Autism to simplify
documents and text
www.first-asd.eu
Contents
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Introduction
About Autism
Audience / market
How the program will work
Software development process
Involvement of people with Autism
The final product
Technical specifications
Availability
Training
More information & updates
Project partners
Acknowledgements
Introducing a new software program
• A tool for simplifying documents and text
• Primarily for people with Autism who have difficulty with
understanding regular text
• Converts written information into a simpler format
eg. English > simplified English
eg. Spanish > simplified Spanish
• Using computerised language technology, it removes the
need for a human editor, improving independence and
social inclusion of people with Autism
• Developed by 9 organisations under a European
Commission FP7 Programme funded 3-year cooperative
research project
• First version will be available in late 2014 (in English,
Spanish & Bulgarian)
About Autism
 Autism is a disability
 A ‘spectrum’ of disorders, with common characteristics:
 Impairments in communication
 Impairments in social interaction
 Impairments in understanding information
 The level of impairment ranges from mild to severe
 Impairments and symptoms vary between individuals, but
all have difficulties in the 3 areas above
 Current research estimates that around 1 in 100-150 people
fit the diagnostic criteria for an Autism Spectrum Disorder*
* Barthélémy et al, 2008, Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Identification, Understanding &
Intervention
About Autism (…continued)
• Intellectual abilities vary between individuals, from superior
intelligence in some areas to profound intellectual disability
• However, many individuals with Autism are within the normal
range of intelligence
• Asperger’s Syndrome is a type of Autism (these people usually
have normal or high level intellectual abilities)
• Language skills also vary between individuals (some people who
have Autism do not speak at all)
• Yet, all people with Autism experience some difficulties in:



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Comprehending speech and writing
Interpreting figurative/non-literal language
Understanding complex instructions
Deriving the meaning or gist of written documents
 More information about Autism: www.autismeurope.org
Audience / market
• Primarily for:
- People with Autism (approx 3.3 million across Europe)
• Also useful for:
- People who have learning difficulties
- People with other language-related disorders, such as
Aphasia (result of stroke or head injury, ranges from
difficulty remembering words to being unable to speak,
read or write)
- People who are learning a foreign language
- People with low level of literacy
- Elderly people with Dementia
- Teachers, parents and carers of these people
How the progam will work
• It converts electronic documents into a simplified
form that is easier for people with Autism to read
• Document types that can be converted include: web
pages, e-books, .pdf documents
• Simplified documents are output in xml format
• Simplified documents are personalised to users’
reading abilities and preferences
How the progam will work
• The simplification process includes:
– Reducing complexity
• Replacing some long / technical words* > short, simple words
• Replacing some highly technical words* > more common words
• Replacing long complex sentences > several short, simple sentences
– Removing ambiguity
• Replacing some non-literal language* > literal language
• Replacing pronouns > noun phrases
(eg. He threw it back to her > John threw the red ball back to Sally)
• Providing definitions for technical and ambiguous words and phrases
– Improving readability
• Adding pictures*
• Adding document navigation tools for long documents
• Providing concise summaries of long documents
* Pictures are added when replacing and removing operations are not possible
How the progam will work
Software development process
Year 1
(2011-2012)
Year 2
(2012-2013)
Year 3
(2013-2014)
Identifying user requirements
Processing structural complexity of languages
Processing ambiguity in meaning of words
Generating personalised documents
Designing system architecture & user interface
Testing & evaluation
Software development process
Identifying user requirements - General
• Research during early phase of software
development to define the needs of people with
Autism (in relation to accessing text documents)
more clearly than any previous studies
• Focus group discussions with sample group of people
with Autism
• Results to determine general user requirements & to
formulate questions for the software’s ‘user preference
survey’
Software development process
Identifying user requirements - Individual
• The software is programmed to identify each individual
user’s reading abilities
• The software prompts each new user to respond to a
series of questions in a ‘user preference survey’
• The answers given enable the software to determine
users’ reading abilities and complexity thresholds
• The software then simplifies documents according to the
level of complexity that the user can understand (Eg. at a
certain level of complexity, the software will be triggered
to remove words or sentences that will be difficult for the
user to understand)
Software development process
Processing structural complexity of languages
• Identifying:
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Long complex words
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Long complex sentences
• Replacing these elements with:
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Shorter, more commonly used words (using Lexical
Processor)
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Two or more sentences, and or bullet points (using Syntactic
Processor)
Software development process
Processing ambiguity in meaning of words
• Identifying:
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Words with multiple meanings
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Words / phrases that are rare, specialised/technical or have nonliteral meanings (eg. metaphors, idioms, etc)
• Providing:
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A definition of the word
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A set of images or pictograms to enhance understanding of the
concept
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Semantic class (eg. for ambiguous words, a category/context for the
word as it is used in the specific text)
Software development process
Generating personalised documents
• Before simplifying each document, the software
prompts users to answer a series of ‘pre-reading
questions’ that will help them to understand the
document
• For example, if the document to be simplified is
about cooking, the pre-reading questions might ask
the user to identify items found in a kitchen
• Based on previous research*, this can assist users
to put the information they are about to read into
perspective
* O'Connor & Klein, 2004, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,
34 (2).
Software development process
Generating personalised documents
• Personalised documents include:
- Interactive table of contents
- Heading
- Converted summarised text (with subheadings)
- Images
- Simple layout design that aids
understanding
Software development process
Designing system architecture & user interface
• Combining the parts to create a functioning software
system
• Designing a user interface for people with Autism
that contains minimal visual distractions
• Designing a user interface for intermediaries who will
help people with Autism to use the software
• User interface will be accessible on desktop, laptop &
tablet computers (if there is enough demand, also on
for hand-held devices)
Software development process
Testing & evaluation
• Testing technical functionality of software
- Tests for accuracy and readability of simplified
text
- Comparing simplified documents generated by
the software with manually written simplified
documents
Software development process
Testing & evaluation
• Testing with end users: People with Autism
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300 participants (both adults & children) with ‘high-functioning’
Autism
Adults - 100 in UK, Children (aged 12 & above) - 100 in Spain, 100 in
Bulgaria
Must have IQ of 70 or above
Tests to confirm participants’ diagnosis of high functioning Autism
Reading comprehension tests with documents on various topics
(under exam conditions)
Participants read documents in original and simplified formats
Participants answer multiple choice tests about their
understanding of the documents
Testing results will inform future development / versions of the
software
Software development process
Testing & evaluation
• Surveys for end users: Intermediaries
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18 participants (3 clinical centres x 6 participants)
Including carers, social workers & psychologists
Provided with training on how to use the software
Participants are asked to use the software to prepare
6 documents for people with Autism
Afterwards, participants complete a survey to assess
the useability of the software for people with Autism
Survey results inform development of final software
product
Involvement of people with Autism
• Involvement in all stages of software development
• Direct & indirect involvement (people with Autism, as well
as their teachers, parents, carers, and professionals)
• Planning – Information & advice from Autism organisations
• Testing – 300 people with Autism directly involved in
testing the software
• Evaluation – 18 intermediaries (carers, social workers,
psychologists & doctors) involved in evaluating the
usefulness of the software for people with Autism
• Perceptions of inclusion will be evaluated via qualitative
interviews and focus groups with a sample of the people
with Autism who participated in testing the software
The final product
 Images of user interface & simplified documents will
be available in 2014
Technical specifications
 Details of system requirements for the software will
be available soon
Availability
 Beta version is expected to be available for public use
and testing in 2014
 Final version is scheduled for release late 2014
 Product launch will be held in 2014
Training
 Training will be available for professionals in the field
of Autism in 2014
More information & updates
 Check website for updates: http://www.first-asd.eu
 Join our mailing list: news@first-asd.eu
 Contact us: contact@first-asd.eu
Project partners
• University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
• Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust,
United Kingdom
• Universidad de Alicante, Spain
• Autism-Europe a.i.s.b.l., Europe
• Universidad de Jaen, Spain
• Parallel World Sdruzhenie, Bulgaria
• Deletrea SL, Spain
• iWeb Technologies Ltd, United Kingdom
• Kodar OOD, Bulgaria
University of Wolverhampton,
United Kingdom
Research Group in Computational Linguistics
• Specialises in language technology
• Role:
- Project coordinator
- Leader in processing structural complexity of languages
- Substantially involved in all aspects of software
development
- Contributor to sustainability/commercialisation of the
software
- Contributor to all other aspects of project
Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust,
United Kingdom
• Major provider of health & social services for people with
mental health issues (including Autism) in the UK
• One of the leading research organisations for clinical
evaluations
• Role:
- Leader in testing & evaluation
- Substantially involved in design of system architecture
& user interface
- Contributor to dissemination of information about the
software
- Contributor to other aspects of project
Universidad de Alicante, Spain
Natural Language Processing & Information Systems Group
• Specialises in language translation software development
(in Spanish & English)
• Role:
- Leader in processing ambiguity in meaning of words
- Substantially involved in all aspects of software
development for Spanish & English
- Contributor to other aspects of project
Autism-Europe, Belgium
• Advocacy organisation representing the rights of people
with Autism across Europe
• Role:
- Leader in dissemination of information about the
software
- Contributor to other aspects of project
Universidad de Jaén, Spain
SINAI (Sistemas Inteligentes de Acceso a la Información) Intelligent System for Information Access Group
• Specialises in language technologies development (in
Spanish & English)
• Role:
- Leader in generation of personalised documents
- Substantially involved in all aspects of software
development for Spanish & English
- Contributor to other aspects of the project
Parallel World Sdruzhenie, Bulgaria
• Education and socialisation services for children and young
people with Autism and other intellectual disabilities
• Specialise in communication and learning difficulties
• Role:
- Substantial involvement in dissemination of information
about the software
- Contributor to testing & evaluation
- Contributor to system architecture & user interface
- Contributor to other aspects of project
Deletrea SL, Spain
• Multidisciplinary team of professionals in the diagnosis and
treatment of Autism and other speech/language disorders
• Role:
- Leader in identifying user requirements
- Contributor to testing & evaluation
- Contributor to design of system architecture & user
interface
- Contributor to other aspects of project
iWeb Technologies Ltd,
United Kingdom
• IT solutions company that works with clients to
improve competitiveness and operational efficiency
• Specialises in solutions for healthcare providers to
improve patient quality of life and care pathways
• Role:
- Leader in designing system architecture & user
interface
- Contributor to testing & evaluation
- Contributor to other aspects of project
Kodar OOD, Bulgaria
• Major Bulgarian software company
• Specialises in software systems for management & finance
for the public & private sectors
• Role:
- Leader in sustainability/commercialisation of the
software
- Substantially involved in testing & evaluation
- Contributor to all aspects of software development for
Bulgarian language
- Contributor to other aspects of project
Acknowledgements
The research leading to this software product has received funding from
the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7, 20072013), under grant agreement n° 287607.