AI Tool Helps Non-Verbal Children Communicate in Hospital
Translated & summarized from Alarab by baba
An AI-powered system developed by Schneider Children's Medical Center and Code for Israel enables non-verbal children to create personalized communication boards in under five minutes. This innovation helps children express pain, needs, and emotions, and participate more in their treatment. The technology aims to reduce frustration for children and families and allows medical staff to dedicate more time to patient care. The system streamlines a previously time-consuming manual process.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- An AI system helps non-verbal children create personalized communication boards in under five minutes.
- The tool allows hospitalized children to express pain, needs, and emotions more effectively.
- Developed by Schneider Children's Medical Center and Code for Israel, it speeds up a manual process.
- The system aims to reduce frustration and anxiety for children and their families.
- It enables medical staff to dedicate more time to direct patient care and family guidance.
Schneider Children's Medical Center, part of Clalit Health Services, in collaboration with the "Code for Israel" initiative, has launched an innovative AI-powered system designed to help non-verbal children communicate more effectively during their hospital stays. The system addresses a critical need identified by the hospital's speech and language therapy team, enabling the creation of personalized, printable communication boards in under five minutes. These boards are tailored to each child's age, language, gender, and background, allowing them to express pain, needs, and emotions, and to participate more actively in their treatment decisions.
Communication poses a significant challenge for many hospitalized children, particularly those in intensive care who may be on ventilators or have pre-existing speech and language difficulties. Previously, creating suitable communication boards was a manual process that could take over half an hour, sometimes extending to several hours, limiting the availability of personalized tools. The new system, developed by volunteers from the tech community associated with Code for Israel and Schneider's innovation center, utilizes artificial intelligence to streamline and accelerate this process.
Beyond rapid creation, the AI system allows for easy updates, sharing among specialists, and storage in a reusable library. This is expected to increase the number of children benefiting from personalized communication tools while freeing up speech therapists' time for direct patient care and family guidance. For children and their families, the technology offers a way to reduce frustration and anxiety, empowering children to maintain a greater sense of control and self-expression during their hospital stay.
Dr. Oshrat Sela Weiss, Director of Speech and Language Therapy Services at Schneider Children's Medical Center, stated that the technology's core purpose is to restore children's ability to communicate and participate in their care, enabling support for a much larger number of children. Idan Roll, General Director of Code for Israel, highlighted how technology can amplify public services by connecting real-world needs with the Israeli high-tech community's expertise, leading to solutions that better support professionals and patients.
Mentioned
The same event, reported separately by each outlet. Open a few to compare what different newsrooms emphasize — and what they leave out.
Only Alarab so far.
Not the same event — other stories that share this one’s people, places, or theme: background, reactions, and follow-ups.
