Project AAClatan: A Tagalog-Focused AAC App

Hello, and Mabuhay! We are reaching out to you with a heartfelt plea to support our mission of improving the lives of individuals who rely on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), particularly those who are part of a Tagalog-speaking community.

If you haven’t heard of AAC yet then you can think of the late scientist Stephen Hawking who used a speech generating computer to communicate because he could no longer speak due to his ALS. AAC systems generally help facilitate or teach communication to those of us who are impaired in some way or form.

Although Stephen Hawking uses a high tech form of AAC, there are many other forms of AAC. AAC refers to any strategy that can be used to supplement or compensate for impairments in speech-language production and/or comprehension, including spoken and written modes of communication. AAC falls under the broader umbrella of assistive technology, just like how you have hearing aids for individuals who have hearing challenges and wheelchairs for those with mobility challenges.

AAC includes a variety of techniques and tools used to help the individual express thoughts, wants and needs, feelings, and ideas, including the following:

AAC is a lifeline for individuals who struggle with verbal communication due to various conditions such as autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, stroke, ALS, etc. By focusing on Tagalog, we are catering to the unique linguistic and cultural needs of Tagalog-speaking individuals who depend on AAC to express themselves.

In our case, we’re going to focus on modern high-tech AAC devices which come in the form of apps on an Android or IOS tablet.

The Need for Tagalog AAC

While there are numerous AAC systems available, the vast majority are designed for English speakers. This, on top of the High cost to purchase popularly used AAC apps (and the devices that they support), leaves Tagalog-speaking Individuals with limited options.

In fact, according to our Filipino Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP) consultants, clients who come from low to lower middle socioeconomic status households are often not able to purchase said expensive AAC apps and devices. They also typically speak Tagalog more often and more fluently than English, so apps designed for English speakers are ill-suited. Because of their socioeconomic and sociolinguistic background, a free Tagalog-focused AAC app is necessary to allow them to participate as active members of society.

Despite this urgent need, there are no AAC apps that address this, so they (and their SLPs) are forced to use English-focused AAC apps.

Our goal is to bridge this gap through AAClatan, a free and Tagalog-focused AAC app.

Our Mission: more than just Tagalog Text-to-Speech and machine translated English pagesets

More than just creating an AAC app that supports Tagalog by offering Tagalog Text-to-Speech (even if it in itself is already useful) and English pagesets machine-translated into Tagalog, our team is dedicated to developing a FREE and high quality Tagalog-focused AAC system that considers the unique lexical (vocabulary), grammatical, and sociocultural characteristics of the language.

Through this approach, we can also solve the biggest pain point of Filipino SLPs using English AAC apps for Tagalog-dominant clients, which is that it is extremely laborious and hard to manually adopt English AAC -templates and content for Tagalog speakers. We believe that it is important to help SLPs streamline their work and help them focus on teaching their clients to use their AAC systems rather than spending a lot of time developing or editing pagesets.

Why Your Support Matters

Your support is crucial in ensuring that individuals who rely on Tagalog-focused AAC have access to a tool that enables them to express themselves, connect with their loved ones, and actively participate in their communities.

How your Donations will be used

Research and Development: Your donation will help us continue our research and development for another 9 months to finally launch AAClatan our Tagalog-focused AAC app system that supports Tagalog Text-to-speech and also comes with:

User Testing: As part of our R&D, we will work closely with Filipino SLPs and other members of the AAC team.

Advocacy: Raising awareness in the Philippines about the importance of AAC and culturally appropriate speech-language intervention (e.g., considering the mother tongue, considering multilingualism), and communicating the progress of AAClatan development through social media and GoFundMe

Accessibility: We are committed to making AAClatan free forever and available to those who need it the most.

Our Team

Currently we are a passionate group of speech therapists, engineers, and artists who have come together to make a difference in the lives of Tagalog-speaking individuals who rely on AAC. At the helm of our ship we have Ellyn Chua, MSc, RSLP who is a staunch advocate for and figure in AAC in the Philippines and an assistant professor at UP Manila, Department of Speech and language Pathology. Working alongside her is our very own crowdfunding organizer, Anne Aubrey Dulay-Thao, M.S., CCC-SLP, a practicing SLP currently working in California.

What have we already done?

We have actually come pretty far with our development, first starting back in January 2023. We have managed to create a working prototype with the help of University of the Philippines Engineering Research and Development Foundation, Inc. With their funds, we were able to buy a workstation and tablet for development but all other expenses (e.g., our labor and transportation) have largely come from our pockets. We have recently validated our progress and trajectory by holding a focus group discussion with volunteer SLPs and have gotten their valuable feedback.

Now we are exploring and exhausting all other ways to make this project sustainable as we are dead set on getting this out into the world especially for those who need it.

Join Us

We invite you to become a part of this meaningful journey by making a donation. Whether you can contribute a little or a lot, every dollar counts and brings us one step closer to our goal.

Spread the Word

If you are unable to make a financial contribution at this time, you can still help by sharing our campaign with your network. Together, we can create a more inclusive and connected world.

Thank You

On behalf of the Filipino AAC community, we extend our deepest gratitude for your support. Your generosity will have a lasting impact on the lives of individuals who rely on AAC to communicate and connect.

Maraming Salamat Po at Padayon! (Thank you very much and onward!)

Link to Video: Project AAClatan