Deployment and Validation of a Smart System for Screening of Language Disorders in Primary Care

Abstract

Neuro-evolutive development from birth until the age of six years is a decisive factor in a child's quality of life. Early detection of development disorders in early childhood can facilitate necessary diagnosis and/or treatment. Primary-care pediatricians play a key role in its detection as they can undertake the preventive and therapeutic actions requested to promote a child's optimal development. However, the lack of time and little specific knowledge at primary-care avoid to applying continuous early-detection anomalies procedures. This research paper focuses on the deployment and evaluation of a smart system that enhances the screening of language disorders in primary care. Pediatricians get support to proceed with early referral of language disorders. The proposed model provides them with a decision-support tool for referral actions to trigger essential diagnostic and/or therapeutic actions for a comprehensive individual development. The research was conducted by starting from a sample of 60 cases of children with language disorders. Validation was carried out through two complementary steps: first, by including a team of seven experts from the fields of neonatology, pediatrics, neurology and language therapy, and, second, through the evaluation of 21 more previously diagnosed cases. The results obtained show that therapist positively accepted the system proposal in 18 cases (86%) and suggested system redesign for single referral to a speech therapist in three remaining cases.

Smart Toys Designed for Detecting Developmental Delays

“…Moreover, these toys might let us to automate some well-known tests like Denver or Merrill–Palmer, letting us to step forward what is described in [13], where a rule based system is used by paediatricians to detect developmental problems (in this case for the language field) in children.…”

Adaptive Software Architecture Based on Confident HCI for the Deployment of Sensitive Services in Smart Homes

“…In particular, this scenario is being studied as a new concept of development in the field of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) and homecare because it facilitates the care of patients in their usual environments [ 5 ]. It also provides socio-economic benefits that must be taken into account, such as the promotion of user autonomy, reduction of costs in the management of chronic patients and the possibility of establishing a more direct relationship between primary and specialized care [ 6 ].…”

“…The Smart Home is a particularly interesting case of assistive environment. Many studies have defined the home as the suitable place to perform certain clinical treatments and assistive therapies [ 5 , 6 ]. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can effectively facilitate and even enable novel applications.…”

Evaluating a Web-Based Clinical Decision Support System for Language Disorders Screening in a Nursery School

“…Furthermore, experience shows that language acquisition delays do influence social and behavioral attitudes, lack of school readiness [ 5 ], school exclusion [ 6 ], future academic problems [ 7 ], neuropsychiatric disorders [ 8 ], and poor employment [ 9 ]. Although diverse medical procedures aim to support the detection of neurological disorders in children [ 2 , 10 - 12 ], there is a lack of adoption at the primary pediatric care level, as it requires too much time and specialized knowledge [ 13 ].…”