A FATHER who developed a speaking device for his autistic son has had world-wide interest in his invention.
Stephen Lodge, 42, came up with the idea for his Speaks4Me system to help 11-year-old Callum communicate.
The device allows images to be dragged and dropped from one area of the screen to another to form sentences which are read out when the speech button is pressed.
The former computer programmer, who lives at Rother Croft, Hoyland, said there had been a lot of interest since it was shown at exhibitions including the NEC in Birmingham.
“I have been getting enquiries from around the UK and Europe and as far a field as Japan, Canada, South Africa and Vietnam,†he said.
Stephen hopes it will become a mainstream educational resource. “To see people out in the community using it blows me away. To think this geeky dad has managed to help enhance and improve the life of someone with special or complex needs is the most rewarding part.â€
