ABSTRACT

The barriers to communication by non-speaking or mute people are substantial due to the many blockages and difficulties. The consequences and limitations for the quality of life are thus very significant. The task for social educators working in the field of communication is therefore a challenging one. In response to the challenges, they have made steady efforts to find new ways to enable people who apparently have such blockages to communicate with others. The aim has been to use personal computers for this purpose and to develop suitable software and models. This task in this field is concerned with the boundaries, or rather with the extension of the term ‘communication’, which can be revolutionized by the technical possibilities of the computer. Talking computers can replace missing voices and picture tables (such as Bliss and Word Strategy) can be reproduced to enable nonverbal interaction.