Purdue speech-language pathology student Madison Logan (left) assists Victoria Casas and her mother, Elba Casas, with a language learning activity through the SPEAK MODalities app, SPEAKall!.

The award recognizes excellence in design engineering. Finalists are judged by peers in their respective industries to identify products that made the greatest impact in the last year.

Based on Purdue University innovation, the company’s digital applications are grounded in scientific research.

“We pursue an approach known as ‘participatory design’ in the design and development of our technology,” said Oliver Wendt, co-founder of SPEAK MODalities and chief science officer. “Parents, caretakers, clinicians, and teachers, all of the people involved in the life of the individual who is faced with communication challenges, were instrumental in helping us develop and commercialize the crucial elements of our technology.”

The company developed applications for iPad, Android and other digital tablets used in the Purdue Augmentative and Alternative Communication and Autism Research Lab. The first app, SPEAKall!, was the result of a collaboration between Wendt and students in Purdue’s Engineering Projects in Community Service in 2012. SPEAK MODalities was created in 2014 to expand the development and commercialization of the technology across the globe.

“To date, more than 40,000 people have downloaded our apps, and there is clearly a critical need among families, caregivers, children and adults for this type of assistive technology,” Wendt said.

The National Institutes of Health has recently called for new intervention technologies to help individuals on the autism spectrum and reduce the costs to schools, parents, and insurance, estimated at $268 billion annually in the U.S. alone. That figure is estimated to reach $461 billion in 2025.

SPEAK MODalities received guidance from the Purdue Foundry, an entrepreneurial hub in the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship in Purdue’s Discovery Park, the Entrepreneurial Leadership Academy and funding through the Purdue Innovation and Commercialization Center (ICC-IT) and the Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization Trask Innovation Award.

Source: Purdue Newsroom