New FREE communication app

[saintlyjimjams]

This is a very lite version of ds1's communication aid (there's a paid for version at £90 ish as well - that's still a bit lite but has more words). itunes.apple.com/gb/app/unity-core-lite/id580724982?mt=8&dm_i=FVG,1246G,4OTR04,3DKNR,1 (free)

itunes.apple.com/gb/app/unity-core/id580721036?mt=8&dm_i=FVG,1246G,4OTR04,3DKNR,1 (£94)

I've only had a quick look but it looks as if the free version gives access to up to 60 words, with the £95 version giving access to 222 (ds1's device gives access to over 6000 words but it's also 6 grand!). In the states they have a version more similar to his talker, so that might follow. Although it also says it includes 3000 icons (or import your own pictures) so I'm not quite sure how that ties in.

I'll write something about it on my blog later, but for us this system has worked so well. It's not categorical, and we have found that while ds1 pretty much refused to use all other apps we tried (which do tend to be categorical), this one he has just flown with. We now get 4 & 5 word sentences produced spontaneously. He comments all the time, and well it's just fab. The system is called LAMP if you want to look it up.

I'm going to get this myself to use when we go to places like the beach I think, where I do get nervous about his talker being dropped in a rock pool.

ooh thanks so much for posting that, got to be worth a try for free! 60 words may be enough for a start? i've looked at these when people have mentioned it before on here, think i have seen posts from you about how good it is with your ds but cos they are sooo expensive not really wanted to pay out so much without knowing whether it will actually suit or work for ds or not
i hope it will be good

there are quite a few to try - which have more words in their free versions - see links here

www.netbuddy.org.uk/info-packs/apps-ipad/ scroll to communication apps.

we are big fan of gridplayer which is free and gridplayer gives you good iea of how it works (but you really need to buy the pc software at £360 to personalise)

LAMP is a different approach from the others. DS1 refused to use anything else we tried (proloquo2go etc) but since starting on LAMP his talker has rarely left his side. OK it's not always the most interesting of conversations (yesterday we had an evening of things like 'granny blue car hand brake tomorrow not' (just a leetle bit obsessed with handbrakes now) but obviously that is just leagues ahead of anything he could do with PECS.

It's definitely enough to get an idea of how LAMP will work for you. Once you have a better idea then you can always try for a proper trial and funding if you want. DS1's talker costs a bloody fortune but gives him access to over 6 thousand words.

It's worth checking out the support stuff on the link as well - they do run quite a lot of free LAMP training both in RL and online.

I suppose I'm just saying LAMP is different. I'd given up on communication devices as ds1 just wouldn't take to them and refused to use them, but with LAMP we now just have all this language being produced by him. It's changed everything really (day to day stuff, expectations, how others treat him).

Moondog is a bit of a LAMP expert these days. :)