Description

People with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or other conditions such as a pontine stroke may develop a condition called Locked In Syndrome (LIS) where they are unable to use alternative communication strategies such as eyegaze to allow for communication for social needs or instruction to caregivers. Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) devices have been shown in the laboratory to allow participants to effectively communicate needs and engage in social communication. However, translation of this research to the home environment has been limited. In order to be a functional option for people to utilize, BCI needs to be much easier to set up and operate.

This study is designed to determine if telehealth intervention is sufficient to allow an untrained caregiver to set up and maintain a BCI for a person with a long-term communication difficulty given LIS.

Participants will receive a computer and associated hardware to allow for set up of the BCI. Videoconference support will be provided by the research team to allow the client and caregiver to set up the device in their home. Participants will hopefully be able to use the device to generate novel communication related to their care and engage in social needs with caregivers and/or family members. Communication that is generated will be logged and times that the participant is engaged in use of the BCI when not under direct support by the researchers will also be monitored.

The hypothesis is that telehealth support will be sufficient to allow for setting up the computer. If this is true, this will make it much easier for a client to engage in use of a BCI to allow for that communication versus the current need of traveling to a clinic or other specialized setting.