Developing AI solutions to address learning challenges among children with disabilities.

Currently, nearly 3.4 million children in the US require speech and language (S&L) intervention services. These children face communication challenges that place them at risk for suboptimal social-emotional and academic outcomes. An alarming shortage of Speech and Language Pathologists (SLPs), combined with delays in identification of needs, has likely exacerbated the situation. The National AI Institute for Exceptional Education is the NSF/IES institute recently awarded to develop time-saving tools and insights, allowing SLPs to deliver tailored interventions to children during their fundamental period of growth. These AI technologies will complement the human expertise of teachers and SLPs. The desired outcomes will not only enable the scaling of the SLPs' expertise but also provide culturally sensitive universal screening and ability-based intervention.

The Institute, a partnership of nine higher education institutions and headed by the University at Buffalo, is engaged in AI scholarship that is cross-disciplinary, particularly computer science and learning science. Too, it is inspired by automation in the areas of specific learning disorders such as Dysgraphia and Dyslexia, Autism Spectrum Disorders and Speech and Language Impairment. We will present the vision of the AI Institute and preliminary results on some of the projects in dyslexic handwriting recognition, automated grading of complexity of language, novel metrics on speech fluency, and use of generative models for presenting contrastive flashcard pairs to help impaired speech.

We will conclude by presenting an array of broader successful engagements with, among others, Buffalo Public Schools - the second largest school district in New York State - and community "town hall" forums to raise the general "comfort level" with AI and help shape the view of this tool as a solution to any number of societal issues.

Bio:

Govindaraju is Vice President for Research and Economic Development at the University at Buffalo, a State University of New York (SUNY) Distinguished Professor in Computer Science and research scientist with notable expertise in Artificial Intelligence. He oversees the institution's research enterprise and ambitious plan to double research expenditures. Govindaraju has garnered nearly $100M in research funding as a PI - including $20M from the National Science Foundation to establish the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education. In the Western New York community, Govindaraju's leadership has helped leverage an upward economic trajectory - particularly by promoting a robust entrepreneur and industry partnership ecosystem.

Leaning into further outreach opportunities, he has been invited to present and join numerous roundtable and panel conversations around AI and related matters, including ethics, data privacy, responsibility, and transparency. Recently, Govindaraju participated in a roundtable on AI and STEM Education, co-hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, NSF and the Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences; the discussion informed development of the new 2023- 2028 Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Strategic Plan.

Govindaraju is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), National Academy of Inventors, International Association of Pattern Recognition, American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other prestigious professional societies. He is recipient of several awards including the ICDAR Outstanding Achievements Award for pioneering contributions to pattern recognition, and the IEEE Technical Achievement Award for pioneering contributions to handwriting recognition.

(Date Posted: 2023-10-06)