Web-Based Expert System for Educational Therapy Planning

• US 20080298549A1
• Filed: 11/30/2006
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: TBH Technology, LLC
• Original Assignee: Virtual Expert Clinics Inc. (Trumpet Behavioral Health LLC)
• Inventors: Quill, Kathleen Ann, Howroyd, Cynthia
• Application Number:
  US12/095,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20080298549A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 378/65
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/20 relating to practices or guidelines

Abstract

The invention consists of an expert system supporting non-experts in their capacity to develop, implement, monitor and evolve therapy plans. Therapy plans in this application are educational and non-medical. The purpose of the therapy plan is to guide the caregiver or therapist in what to do for a client and how to do it. The client is a person with a previously diagnosed condition (psychological, cognitive, or physical) which responds to a teaching process. The plans are developed based on expert system analysis of user input. This analysis is reflective of decision making processes in the fields of both special needs education and rehabilitative medicine, including speech language pathology, psychology, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy.

Claims

1. An automated expert system-based method for planning, tailoring and evolving therapy programs using a web or wireless delivery system, comprising:

a) collecting user input from one or more users concerning a client diagnosed with a medical or psychological condition amenable to an educational therapy program and concerning preferences and priorities of persons responsible for said client, said persons including;

parents, caregivers, therapists, educators;

b) analyzing said user input using an expert algorithm to create a client profile;

c) providing a treatment plan based on said client profile, said treatment plan consisting of treatment activities and a set of priority-ranked therapy goals, said priority ranking determined by said expert algorithm; and

d) repeating steps a) to c) on an ongoing basis to track client progress and provide updated treatment plans for said client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said treatment plan includes a combination of support plans for preparing and introducing activities and strategy plans for conducting and practicing activities.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said strategy plans further include multimedia demonstrations of activities.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said user is capable of overriding rankings determined by said expert algorithm.

5. The method of claim 1, further including a step e) of analyzing client progress, feedback, and treatment plans for multiple clients to develop improvements to said expert algorithm.

6. An automated expert system for planning, tailoring and evolving therapy programs, comprising:

a) a collection unit for collecting user input from one or more users concerning a client diagnosed with a medical or psychological condition amenable to an educational therapy program and concerning preferences and priorities of persons responsible for said client, said persons including;

parents, caregivers, therapists, educators;

b) an analysis unit for analyzing said user input using an expert algorithm to create a client profile and for providing a treatment plan based on said client profile, said treatment plan consisting of treatment activities and a set of priority-ranked developmental goals, said priority ranking determined by said expert algorithm; and

d) a tracking unit, operating on an ongoing basis to track client progress and provide updated treatment plans for said client.

7. The system of claim 6, further including a database unit for storing articles, media and other related information for access by users of the system.

8. The system of claim 6, further including a library of demonstration media, including audio and visual media, for demonstrating and assisting the user in conducting planned activities.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein said system is implementable as a web-based client-server system.

10. The system of claim 6, further including a data-mining unit for analyzing client progress, feedback, and treatment plans for multiple clients to develop improvements to said expert algorithm.