iOS devices for AAC

iPad, iPod and iPhone

What Can I Say?

Will Wade, Occupational Therapist, The ACE Centrehttp://appsforaac.net

http://speechbubble.org.uk

Firstly.. handheldsChat PC/Silk12.5 oz. HP iPAQ3 voice enginesPCS & Symbolstix SymbolsEdit on or off deviceStandard, Plus (word prediction)£1995

Possum Jive

Custom designed handheld

Acapela or recordedSwitch or touchscreenEnviro Control built in

excellent0.35kg£2395

Tellus Smart IIMindexpress CEPCS, Symbolstix, WLSHP iPAQNumber of common vocabsEdit on or off deviceAcapela or Realspeak£2500

Touchspeak HTC 7500

PCS, Widgit,HTC 7500 running Windows Mobile

CameraTypespeak - brilliant

predictionEdit on or off device

Switch or touch£600

Villiv S5 / X700.5kgGrid 2 / Speaks4MeSwitch, Joystick, touch, keyboardPCS, Symbolstix, Bliss,WidgitMini PC’s£1750/£1950

iPod, iPhone•4 Devices to choose from (5 incl iPad)

•£189 to £419 for device

•£10 - £60 case

•Software free to .59p to £110.

•65 Dedicated AAC apps

•Rough cost:

•£340 for full AAC device (£579 on iPad) £230 for additional user devices

Hold up a minute.. What is iOS

•It is not Windows, Windows Mobile

•It is not Mac

•It is dedicated touch only

•You don’t install software or fiddle with documents, usb sticks, cds or worry about wires

•You use the appstore for apps or the web

How do you operate ios?

Touch : Gestures

Touch : Gestures

•So its hard?

•Well not necessarily. Most AAC apps are just using the single touch. Some have touch features to deal with poor motor control

•Many children are enthused by using the device to work around issues more so than with other touch devices

Why has it all been so popular

•Appstore

•Marketing - Desirability

•Design

•Usable (and remember usable = accessible)

iPod Touch

8GB (£189) , 32GB (£249) or 64GB (£329)Camera, Will need mic to record audio

iPhone3GS8GB£419

416GB £49932GB £599MultitaskingBetter cameraRetina Display

Deals available on both, and the 3G phone on Orange, O2,

Vodafone, Three, T-Mobile and 3rd party Telcos (e.g. Tescos,

Virgin) from Free (£35-45/month) on 3G/S to PAYG

Insurance•Comes with 1 year warranty & 90 days

technical support (Apple Stores or Phone)

•Consider Applecare. £60. 2 years support

•Consider Insurance for Breakages! Note you will pay more through the phone company. Try third party insurance cost: £30-80/year (e.g. Protectyourbubble.com)

•Note replace broken screen on a 3G will cost approx £40.

Cases / Speakers

•12 hr battery life

•Lion rechargeable battery

•Can daisy chain for extra volume

•Can use headphones without removing from case

•£40-60

iMainGo 2 / X

Consider child and hand grip/function

Cases / Speakers

Xmini

Wired, Small, £13

Cyanics Portable Swing SpeakerPlastic Shell, Thin, Can be hard to source

Otterbox Case

Rugged, £20-30

Modify as necessary!

http://graceappforautismoniphone.blogspot.com/

Cases / SpeakersGear 4 Blackbox Mini

Bluetooth, Loud, Needs a bag!

Cyfi sportsSmallish, Wireless, Rugged, £49

6 hours battery life

Buying software•You can hand your cash over to third

party e.g. Therapy Box to do everything for you - added cost involved

•Gift cards if you are a LA / School

•NB: one user : many devices : no additional payment for the software. E.g. One user can have 5 iPods & not have to pay 5 times for the software. YOU CANNOT PASS ON A PURCHASE FROM ONE USER TO ANOTHER

How ownership of apps works

And before we talk about the software...

What about the iPad?

Its a big iPod touch!

•Wifi only:

•16 / 32 / 64 GB

•£439 / £510 / £612

•Wifi + 3G possibility:

•£541 / £612 / £714

The iPad Appstore confusion

•All iPod/iPhone apps WILL work on the iPad. BUT SCALED UP.

•Some apps have been especially designed to work on both platforms (+).

•Some apps are JUST designed to work with the iPad and NOT the iPod

Mounting Options• Smile Rehab (Monty /

Rehadapt System)

•Mounts & More (Daessy System)

•Dynamics

•DIY it with an Otterbox Defender case and a drill..

•Or...

http://www.apple.com/ipad/velcro/

AAC Software•Word predictors

•Symbol Grid systems

•PECS specific

•Eye pointing / Photo story systems

•Text to speech only / Phrase banks

•Misc: Screen readers / Language devpt

Word prediction Apps

•AssistiveChat, £14.99

•Predictable, £89

• iMean, iPad only, 3 prediction cells, £2.99

•Easy Speak, £1.19

•TouchChat, ?

•Proloquo2go (updates), £110

AssistiveChat• 6 Prediction cells.

• Does next word prediction but needs inital letter and adaptive learning of words

• Has recents and favorites

• 3 Voices only. Ryan Kenny & Heather.

• Both+ , £14.99

iMean

•Has a Tap & Hold feature

•Full Screen keyboard

•QWERTY or ABC

•3 Prediction cells

Predictable•Designed for

switch access

•Switch box £89

•Tap switch action

•Configurable design

•Use of icons to support categories

Predictable

Symbol/Grid Systems

NB: Note the charges to edit via subscription

Proloquo2go

•Proloquo = speak out

•Symbolstix

•VocaSpace

•Word prediction coming

•Both+, £110

Proloquo2go

Proloquo2goList or Grid Recents

Proloquo2goKeyboard view

Proloquo2go

•Verb conjugation

•Automatic pluralisation

•Border colouring of cells depending on type

•Cut/Copy/Paste edit

•Acapela voices with UK ones for download but note lacking decent child voice in acapela

Features

Proloquo2go

•Visit proloquo2go.com for lots of videos

•Use the support forums for help

•Note the 2 places for configuration settings. In the app and in the system settings.

•Backup/Restore your edited vocab

TouchChat

•Silver kite

•£100?

•5 voices

•Buttons can be programmed to do more than just speech e.g. volume

TouchChat• 4 Vocab packages included:

• VocabPC. Gail van Tattenhove designed package. 12 location. Adults & Adolescents.

• Multichat 15. School aged children with emerging language. Core and Activities

• Spelling. QWERTY keyboard with prediction

• Primary. Vocab for school, home & general communication

TouchChat

• iShare - server based subscription to store personal vocabs and allows a teacher to share vocab to other users. 6 months: $59 per device

• Wordpower - $149 (£100).

• iEssence - redesigned version of essence on Vantage & Vantage Lite - $99

In-App purchases available

TouchChat

•Windows Editor. Design on computer and transfer to device. Transfer from ChatPC or ALTChat to TouchChat on iPod. $59

•So lets imagine: iPod, MainGoX, TouchChat, WordPower, Windows editor est £490.

I Can Speak

•£17.99

•Static Area. 4x8 Core words & sentence starters. Holding down for alternatives. 240 words in total

I Can Speak•Configurable design options•Does lack vocab

“While it might be useful for some, food and beverage choices are more of a priority than art supplies!”

PECS - Grace

•Simple PECS inspired app

•£22.99

http://vimeo.com/8082216

Eye Pointing / Photo Stories

•Pictello

•My Pictures Talk

• iCommunicate

•TapSpeak

• iComm

Pictello

•£8.99

•Each page a photo, 5 lines of text, recorded sound or text to speech.

•Share stories with iTunes or using central server (free).

Pictello

iComm•Designed for

eye pointing

•But use how you see fit!

•Free to download. £4.99 to buy

•Will need mic if using with iPod

TTS only

Speak it!•Highlights words as spoken

•Copy and paste text in or write directly in

•20 voices to download, 2 British as standard

•Font size can be changed

•Phrase bank

•£1.19

Speak it!

iPhonic

•Bizarre UI

•£0.59

Auto Verbal Pro•£5.99

•“Soundboard”

•Swipe for options in each line

•Can TTS as well

•Non-specific Photos/Symbols used

•Male & female voices - premium available

•Both+

Auto Verbal Pro

Language development,

Screen readers etc

Alternative Access

•VoiceOver

•Zoom

•White on Black / Black on White

•Keyboard access

Accessibilty Options

Accessible = Usable for all

Bluetooth Keyboards•A number exist

•Fullsize or mini

•Rubber, Folding - a large range

•Apple Bluetooth keyboard £40-65

Using a keyboard•Software keyboard available

•Voiceover command: Control-Option (alt)

•See page 243 of iPhone User guide for full shortcuts

•VO-H : Home button, VO-Right arrow: Next item, VO-Space: Tap an item

•Can speed things up with Quick Nav

•Tip: Turn triple click home button into VO on/off

Restrictions

• iOS 4.2 brings restrictions to stop deletion of apps

•Also restrictions to disable web browsing, youtube, camera, installing apps. BUT NOT MUSIC!

Alternative access

•Facetime

•Switch access: Predictable, RJ Coopers Switch Box, ? Proloquo2go

•Joystick: iPortal and Dynamics REM550 Wheelchair controller

Switch boxes•RJ Coopers switch box. $99.

Works with a range of software. 2 switches.

•RJ Coopers super switch. 5” diameter. Chargeable via lion adaptor or USB. $149

•Tbox Switch Box. £89. May work with apps other than predictable?

•? Standard keys being sent?

Dynamics iPortal•Control an iPod or

iPad with your wheelchair joystick.

•Gestures been developed with joystick. Configurable.

•Compatible with Shark, DX & DX2.

Supporting Access

•Pogo Stylus £5-20

•Mobile Arm Supports

•Gloves £10-30

•Remember Maxess wedges and slanted writing boards!

Problems!• Loudness - you often need a speaker

• Documents - remember not a normal computer! Getting docs on/off it is “different”

• Keyguards. None available.

• Software - a lot of it, how do you find it

• Software - many have not taken into account many of the lessons learnt about AAC over the past 25 years. e.g. symbol systems

• Support

• Software - many have not stuck to Apple design guidelines (or any guidelines!) and thus created a confusing hard to use interface for some apps. Not clever. App developers: PLEASE DONT BE CLEVER! BE LAZY! STICK TO THE GUIDELINES!

My wishlist• AAC Developers use an iOS for a while before

delving in and have a good understanding of what makes a good app. Its not just features. Its design.

• Apple allow creation of customised keyboard layouts (Settings - General - Keyboard). Frequency/ABC would be useful

• App developers (particularly games) consider the accessibility API.

• Apple allow features of voiceover with normal touch or keyboard input

Sources of information

•Assistiveware forums & email news group

•ATMac.org

•SENIT email list

•CM email list

•OT Access Group & AAC SIG

•http://appsforaac.net

Thanks

•SpeechBubble: http://speechbubble.org.uk/

•The ACE Centre Oxford & North

•Apple!

•Will Wade, willwade@gmail.com or wade@ace-centre.org.uk