Israeli hospital launches AI tool to help nonverbal children communicate
Developed by Schneider Children’s Medical Center and Code for Israel, the new AI tool helps hospitalized children express their needs, emotions and pain through personalized communication boards
Clalit-Schneider Children’s Medical Center and Code for Israel on Sunday launched a new system to enable nonverbal children to communicate more easily with medical teams and family members.
The new system was developed in collaboration with the medical center's speech-language pathologists.
The system generates personalized, printable communication boards tailored to each child’s age, language, gender, and background, the boards help young patients express pain, communicate their needs and emotions, ask questions, and participate more actively in their treatment.
The system is aimed not just at children with speech-language difficulties but also at children who may find the hospital environment a frightening and upsetting place, or those simply too young to speak.
Previously, these communication boards had to be prepared and printed manually, a process that could take more than 30 minutes and, in some cases, hours. The new system reduces this time to five minutes.
The system is expected to significantly expand the benefits of personalized communication support to more children, while reducing the time speech-language pathologists spend preparing materials, allowing clinical teams to devote more time to direct patient care and family guidance.
The technology aims to reduce frustration and anxiety, and help children maintain a greater sense of control during hospitalization.
"When a child cannot speak, they don’t just lose their voice — they may also lose the ability to say that they are in pain, that they are afraid, or that they simply want their parents. For us, technology is not the story. The story is restoring children’s ability to communicate, express themselves and participate actively in their care. This new system allows us to create personalized communication boards within minutes, enabling us to provide this support to many more children," said Dr. Oshrat Sella Weiss, head of the Speech-Language Pathology Service at Schneider Children’s Medical Center.