Discussions about key themes in speech and language therapy. We chat with speech and language therapists;  professionals from other backgrounds' and people who have lived experience of either speech, language and communication issues or eating and swallowing problems.

Exploring themes in speech therapy

A mini series of conversations looking at the use of AI in the world of speech and language therapy.

Exploring the application of artificial intelligence in speech and language therapy

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In this, the first of our conversations around AI in speech and language therapy, we chat with Rachel Barton, speech and language therapist about her journey from AI sceptic to AI advocate. 

Rachel shares what she has learned and offers ideas on how others might approach AI in their work. Rachel also advises on areas of caution and talks about her pledge for responsible generative AI use in speech and language therapy.


Interviewee:

Rachel Barton, independent speech and language therapist and Professional Supervisor, Chatterbox Sussex Speech and Language Therapy Ltd


Resources:


Henrik Kniberg “Generative AI in a Nutshell - how to survive and thrive in the age of AI”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IK3DFHRFfw

Ethan Mollick “Co-Intelligence – Living and Working with AI” (2024) Penguin https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/460207/co-intelligence-by-mollick-ethan/9780753560778
 
Jordan Wilson’s daily livestream, podcast and newsletter https://www.youreverydayai.com/about-everyday-ai-podcast/
 
https://www.chatterboxsussex.com/blog - this has a more in-depth blog on the SERVE prompt framework as well as other blogs on WordMango, Bias, how AI might help with waiting times and the responsible AI pledge.
 
https://www.chatterboxsussex.com/aiworkshops - more information about Rachel's AI journey and work, with a link to suggested further learning materials including podcasts, videos, websites and research articles
 

 

For RCSLT Members only: 

Artificial Intelligence resources: https://www.rcslt.org/members/delivering-quality-services/artificial-intelligence-resources/
Integrating Generative AI in speech and language therapy: a practical guide https://www.rcsltcpd.org.uk/lessons/ai-in-slt/
 

The interview is conducted by Jacques Strauss, freelance producer, on behalf of The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Using Generative AI in speech and language therapy: a journey from sceptic to advocate

What is the role of Artificial Intelligence in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)?

In this episode Professor Annalu Waller, Professor of Human Communication Technologies at the University of Dundee and Alan McGregor, ex UK team paralympic swimmer and honorary researcher at the University of Dundee take us through what it can do now and developments they'd like to see.

We cover:

What is AI's role in AAC?
How can we use generative AAC to expand on communication?
What are some of the ethical considerations?
What Annalu and Alan would like to see in the future.

Interviewees:

Professor Annalu Waller, Professor of Human Communication Technologies at the University of Dundee and lead for the Augmentative and Alternate Communication Research Group at the university.
 
Alan McGregor, ex UK team paralympic swimmer, part of the Straight Talking Group – and honorary researcher at the University of Dundee.

During the conversation Alan is supported by his assistant, Cindy Macfarlane.

Resources:

Here are some links which relate to AI and AAC:

https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/use-of-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-augmentative-and-alternative
https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/telling-tales-unlocking-the-potential-of-aac-technologies
https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/blending-human-and-artificial-intelligence-to-support-autistic-ch
https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/personal-storytelling-using-natural-language-generation-for-child
https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/evaluating-the-standup-pun-generating-software-with-children-with
Groups:

Dundee Accessibility and Assistive Technology Research Group: https://aac.dundee.ac.uk/
Straight Talking Group: https://aac.dundee.ac.uk/stg/ 


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Use of Artificial Intelligence in Augmentative and Alternative Communication

What is the role of Artificial Intelligence in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)?

In this, the third of our conversations around AI in speech and language therapy, we look at AI as a tool for people who have aphasia - a language disorder that affects a person's ability to speak and understand. Caitlin Longman, Accessibility Lead at the Stroke Association tells us about her work with people with aphasia and we hear from some of them about how they are using AI and also what are their concerns. Dr Abi Roper, an academic speech and language therapist and self-confessed 'techy' tells us about her research into AI to support aphasia. 


Interviewees:

Caitlin Longman, Accessibility Lead at the Stroke Association, guest lecturer at Strathclyde University.
Abi Roper, Speech and Language Therapy research fellow at City University and Joint chair of the Computers in Therapy Clinical Excellence Network. 

Resources:

For RCSLT Members only:

Artificial Intelligence resources: www.rcslt.org/members/delivering…ligence-resources/

Integrating Generative AI in speech and language therapy: a practical guide www.rcsltcpd.org.uk/lessons/ai-in-slt/

Open access:
Computers in Therapy CEN (‘CITCEN’) https://citcen.org/ 

Co-Pilot https://copilot.microsoft.com/ 

ChatGPT https://chatgpt.com/ 

Image gen Free AI Image Generator - Image Creator in Bing



Factsheets from AbilityNet about AI https://abilitynet.org.uk/factsheets/what-ai-and-how-do-i-use-it 

 Free webinar from AbilityNet about how AI can help disabled people https://abilitynet.org.uk/webinars/how-can-ai-help-disabled-people 

 Webinar series from the Health Foundation about AI and the NHS (exploring priorities and anticipating the future) https://www.health.org.uk/about-the-health-foundation/get-involved/events/ai-in-the-nhs-shaping-the-future-of-healthcare 

 A guide from the NHS Confederation on AI: "AI in healthcare: navigating the noise". https://www.nhsconfed.org/publications/ai-healthcare 

Blog from NHS England ‘How artificial intelligence is helping to speed up the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients’. https://www.england.nhs.uk/blog/how-artificial-intelligence-is-helping-to-speed-up-the-diagnosis-and-treatment-of-stroke-patients/

 


Research:


AI technologies in therapy - experiences and perceptions of SLPs
Suh, H., Dangol, A., Meadan, H., Miller, C. A., & Kientz, J. A. (2024, June). Opportunities and challenges for AI-based support for speech-language pathologists. In Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction for Work (pp. 1-14).



Please be aware that the views expressed are those of the guests and not the RCSLT.

Please do take a few moments to respond to our podcast survey: uk.surveymonkey.com/r/LG5HC3R

How AI is being used to support people living with aphasia

How Artifical Intelligence is being used to support people living with aphasia

Welcome to the fourth episode in our RCSLT AI series. In this episode we chat with Dr Richard Cave, Project Manager SLT at MND Association and Consultant Speech and Language Therapist, about his work in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Richard has backgrounds in both computing and speech and language therapy and he brings these together in his work with voice banking and AI, working with Google, MNDA and most recently in his PhD research at UCL.

We cover:

Richard's journey with AI and speech and language therapy.
What are the opportunities with AI?
What are the things to be cautious about? How can we ensure people are not left out.
Why speech and language therapists need to be in this space.

Interviewees:

Dr Richard Cave, Project Manager SLT at MND Association and Consultant Speech and Language Therapist.

Resources:
Centre for Digital Language Inclusion: https://www.cdl-inclusion.com/

RCSLT Artificial Intelligence resources: https://www.rcslt.org/members/delivering-quality-services/artificial-intelligence-resources/

What's happening at the juxtaposition of AI and speech & language therapy?

How can we best implement communication partner training with familiar partners of people with aphasia?

In this International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders paper the authors set out to:
(1) determine the perceived and/or observed barriers and facilitators to implementing CPT with familiar partners of adults with aphasia;
(2) to map extracted barriers and facilitators to a common theoretical framework; (3) to synthesise extracted barriers and facilitators; 
and (4) to identify potential implementation strategies to address the most frequently identified barriers and facilitators.
 

Authors Kirstine Shrubsole, Emma Power, Marie-Christine Hallé were awarded the IJLCD 2023 Editors' prize for this paper. 

The paper is:
Communication partner training with familiar partners of people with aphasia: A systematic review and synthesis of barriers and facilitators to implementation

Kirstine Shrubsole, Emma Power, Marie-Christine Hallé

Examples of free, brief online training programs (less than 2 hours):

 

Aphasia Institute Community Hub: Introduction to SCA™ eLearning Module, The Aphasia Institute, Canada

https://www.aphasia.ca/health-care-providers/education-training/self-directed-elearning/ 
An aphasia-focused, 40 minute module centred on Supported Communication principles.
 

interact-ABI-lity, University of Sydney and University of Technology, Australia

https://abi-communication-lab.sydney.edu.au/courses/interact-abi-lity/
An acquired brain injury focused module (Stroke, Traumatic brain injury and other neurological conditions) covering cognitive communication difficulties, aphasia, dysarthria and alternative and augmentative communication.
 

For the article referring to online vs face to face here is the IJLCD article reference:
Power, E., Falkenberg, K., Barnes, S., Elbourn, E., Attard, M., & Togher, L. (2020). A pilot randomized controlled trial comparing online versus face-to-face delivery of an aphasia communication partner training program for student healthcare professionals. International journal of language & communication disorders, 55(6), 852–866. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12556

First published: 
23 November 2022





Please be aware that the views expressed are those of the guests and not the RCSLT.

Please do take a few moments to respond to our podcast survey: uk.surveymonkey.com/r/LG5HC3R

IJLCD: barriers and facilitators to communication partner training

Claire Ewen is currently working on a PhD looking at what SLTs love in their jobs and what frustrates them and can be changed, or minimised.

Claire Ewen, discusses the findings from her PhD research on SLT views of their work

Podcasts from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists

Using Generative AI in speech and language therapy: a journey from sceptic to advocate

RCSLT Sound Waves