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PROCESS
First Project Review Stage: Project Proposal
Date:3-3-2009
School Name: TEAMS Academy
Team Members: Max Saccoccio (Andover High School), David Couto (Chelmsford High School), Venkata Satyam (Chelmsford High School)
Team Advisors: Janna Thomas, Don Rhine, Bill Harmon
Statement of Need: Our client needs to learn to communicate better
Background:
The client, which will be referred to as John, is 4.5 years old. He has a communication disability that prevents him from clearly articulating certain words and/or syllables. Mentally, John is normal; His vocabulary is normal for his age and he is quite coherent.
The main issue that John faces on a day to day basis is re-learning the syllables that he incorrectly developed before his ear tubes were installed. Before the installation of his hearing tubes, John was learning syllables very similar to the fashion in which he is learning now. However, during this time, he was learning syllables with distorted hearing and therefore has incorrectly remembered how to pronounce them after his hearing tubes were put into place. His family is looking for a device to help him relearn those syllables and help him learn newer syllables as well.
Our research yeilded many comercially available products that were based around the area of child speech development. Most of these products were in the price range of $20-$80 and were constructed in the form of games. Most of these toys incorporated the idea of speaking to the child using it and consisted of buttons or letter inserts and some form of tune or jingle. More advanced technology, in the thousands of dollars range, can actually speak words and sentences inputted by the user but may be too difficult for a four-year-old to use and for his family to purchase. None of the products we viewed incorporated speech recognition to keep track of speech develpment, though, an aspect we will keep in mind.
Design Requirements/Constraints:
- Safe (High voltages properly dealt with, Insulated properly)
- Construction time
- Small Size/Lightweight (Less than 7 pounds, Smaller than a desktop computer)
- Portability (Mobile power source, Low power consumption)
- Cost (Dictated by program budget -- $150)
- Robust (Droppable from a height of 6 feet with a very high probability of survival)
- Aesthetics (Clean, No sharp edges, Painted and/or Clean-looking)
- User Interface (Easy to use, Labeled buttons/lights/etc.)
- Durability (Will withstand normal use for an extended period of time....as long as 6 months)
- Adaptability (Can be modified by user's family/counselor to enable a large variety of syllables)
Project Proposal
Idea Finalization
Preliminary Design Review
Final Cost Summary
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