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It is done with a computer, in this case it appears to be an iPad. The problem is you have a facilitator, "steadying" the hand of the person who is communicatin

It is done with a computer, in this case it appears to be an iPad. The problem is you have a facilitator, "steadying" the hand of the person who is communicating. In reality, the facilitator is actually guiding the person's hand, most likely without being aware of it themselves. It's easy to see why parents believe this method works. If you had a non-communicative child, and were suddenly told, just by pointing at this board, your child can talk to you, and his first words are, "I love you dad," you'd want to believe that more than anything else.

VLM 13y ago
"and his first words are" One of my kids had some pretty serious medical problems resulting in some speech delays. This is just barely before "all problems must be solved via a tablet" era. So the speech therapists were all into sign language and then pictograms and eventually he started talking when he got around to it. Other people are like "yeah my kid started talking just out of the blue one day" and I'm all feeling that's like throwing lego pieces in the air and they come down full assembled, although supposedly it happens. Anyway I'd be really suspicious of any first words other than "more" as in candy and treats and toys and stuff. Carb addiction sets in early I guess. Basic needs were discussed long before discussions of kissing up to mom and dad. Watching kids learn language makes me wonder about the standard sci-fi trope of humans and space aliens learning language via math or sharing physics constants. Probably adult human vs adult space alien will learn each others language via sharing pr0n pixs and pixs of junk food. Actually that kinda resembles what I've seen on 4chan. That would make a very interesting sci fi story if the concept were expanded on. For better or worse I think Hacker News is probably not a primary choice location for space alien first contact, compared to say facebook, youtube comments, or 4chan. Presumably space aliens would have their own little weird green space alien 4chan and would come to the same conclusion, thus a realistic tolerance and shared understanding would result. I suppose this will lead to the inevitable start up idea of creating a space alien attracting social network. Or just buy reddit rather than develop it as a startup.
- lotharbot 13y ago
  > "I'd be really suspicious of any first words other than "more" as in candy and treats and toys and stuff." It's pretty interesting to see what words people pick when their vocabulary is very limited (like, 5 or fewer words). When my son had severe speech delays, we focused on teaching him signs like "hungry", "more", "diaper", and "help". I was actually quite grateful to have played a game called "Og" where players take on the role of cavemen, typically with vocabularies of that size. We learned, through experience, that words like "I" and "mom" are nowhere near as important as "food". I, too, would be suspicious of first words (for someone with severe delays) that weren't addressing specific momentary needs. > "yeah my kid started talking just out of the blue one day" Mine had some very sudden increases in his speech. There was about a month-long period where my list of all of his spoken vocabulary ballooned from about a dozen words to well over a hundred. I wouldn't say it was "out of the blue", but instead the result of quite a bit of intensive therapy, focused communication from all of the adults in his life, and his own growth.
  - eitally 13y ago
    For breastfed babies, a very common first word is usually a variation of "ma". For my daughter, her first word after "mama" was her brother's name (Noah). Then they learned the bottom rung of Maslow's Hierarchy via sign language at school (more, please, thank you, milk, food, mom, dad, child). <edit> Both of my kids had sudden rapid improvements in speech at some point, too. I can't remember, when, and I know it happened earlier with my daughter than my son, but I still remember the day my son was answering a question and started with "Actually, ..." and then later on, "Even so, ...". He was two. Close together siblings are fantastic teachers!
    - DanBC 13y ago
      Children learn words, and say them, but then don't bother repeating those words until they've built up a vocabulary of about 200 words. So that's one reason for one of the language-jumps. But it is fascinating. My son has one phrase which he speaks with a local accent, but the rest of his language is different.

VLM 13y ago

"and his first words are" One of my kids had some pretty serious medical problems resulting in some speech delays. This is just barely before "all problems must be solved via a tablet" era. So the speech therapists were all into sign language and then pictograms and eventually he started talking when he got around to it. Other people are like "yeah my kid started talking just out of the blue one day" and I'm all feeling that's like throwing lego pieces in the air and they come down full assembled, although supposedly it happens. Anyway I'd be really suspicious of any first words other than "more" as in candy and treats and toys and stuff. Carb addiction sets in early I guess. Basic needs were discussed long before discussions of kissing up to mom and dad. Watching kids learn language makes me wonder about the standard sci-fi trope of humans and space aliens learning language via math or sharing physics constants. Probably adult human vs adult space alien will learn each others language via sharing pr0n pixs and pixs of junk food. Actually that kinda resembles what I've seen on 4chan. That would make a very interesting sci fi story if the concept were expanded on. For better or worse I think Hacker News is probably not a primary choice location for space alien first contact, compared to say facebook, youtube comments, or 4chan. Presumably space aliens would have their own little weird green space alien 4chan and would come to the same conclusion, thus a realistic tolerance and shared understanding would result. I suppose this will lead to the inevitable start up idea of creating a space alien attracting social network. Or just buy reddit rather than develop it as a startup.

lotharbot 13y ago
> "I'd be really suspicious of any first words other than "more" as in candy and treats and toys and stuff." It's pretty interesting to see what words people pick when their vocabulary is very limited (like, 5 or fewer words). When my son had severe speech delays, we focused on teaching him signs like "hungry", "more", "diaper", and "help". I was actually quite grateful to have played a game called "Og" where players take on the role of cavemen, typically with vocabularies of that size. We learned, through experience, that words like "I" and "mom" are nowhere near as important as "food". I, too, would be suspicious of first words (for someone with severe delays) that weren't addressing specific momentary needs. > "yeah my kid started talking just out of the blue one day" Mine had some very sudden increases in his speech. There was about a month-long period where my list of all of his spoken vocabulary ballooned from about a dozen words to well over a hundred. I wouldn't say it was "out of the blue", but instead the result of quite a bit of intensive therapy, focused communication from all of the adults in his life, and his own growth.
- eitally 13y ago
  For breastfed babies, a very common first word is usually a variation of "ma". For my daughter, her first word after "mama" was her brother's name (Noah). Then they learned the bottom rung of Maslow's Hierarchy via sign language at school (more, please, thank you, milk, food, mom, dad, child). <edit> Both of my kids had sudden rapid improvements in speech at some point, too. I can't remember, when, and I know it happened earlier with my daughter than my son, but I still remember the day my son was answering a question and started with "Actually, ..." and then later on, "Even so, ...". He was two. Close together siblings are fantastic teachers!
  - DanBC 13y ago
    Children learn words, and say them, but then don't bother repeating those words until they've built up a vocabulary of about 200 words. So that's one reason for one of the language-jumps. But it is fascinating. My son has one phrase which he speaks with a local accent, but the rest of his language is different.