AAC on the itouch and iphone

[saintlydamemrsturnip]

WOW!!

I am so tempted to try this (we have an itouch)

if you do please let me know , been weighing up buying iphone this could tip it strongly in favour

though lol sure be some eyebrows raised about very young children using mobile phones

I have been so tempted to get an iphone, just for this - would be so convenient to have handy at times...

I think I'm going to get it - will have a proper look as soon as kids are at school. Ds1 has taken so well to the boardmaker activity pad.and this looks a step up towards sentences ( he is starting to put together sentences using pictures so I think he's ready). I have some plug in speakers somewhere. My itouch is quite an old one but as far as I can see that's no problem.

we've just got it for dd as she is obsessed with my touch, and is doing well with pecs and board maker so hopefullyshe will take to it, nows a good time to buy as it is half price and is going to be £150 in a few weeks, also have bought her a second generation ipod with built in speaker for £150 from amazon which will make it truley portable, shes going to be blown away to get her very own ipod!!! All i have to do now is read the massive manual.

Well I downloaded it. First review here. It's really rather good. DS1 did 'get it' right away. I need to sort out his space so that all the symbols he uses a lot are readily available, but yes thumbs up from me. Easy to use, very portable. Excellent.

Excellent.
Althoguh no gadget geek I have long worked out (as a SALT) the enormous implications of this technology as AAC and have secured funding for cool mobile phones for people with communication impairments.

Will spread the word in my work and filed.

saintlydamemrsturnip I have a question about autism and wanted to CAT you but it said you're not set up to receive them. Would you by any chance be able to email me please waterchestnuts at googlemail dot com

im wondering if ds 4 might be bit young for this but am seriously tempted as he love his sister ds and anything computer related.

were of to try some communcation aids today think going to mention this , like the idea just hw small it is truely portable

how small are the buttons to press saintly?

Hi Phoenix, my dd is only 5 but seems to be able to use it on a basic level at the moment, its very exciting for her and is easier than pecs because everything is at her finger tips, there are no buttons its a touch screen, you just touch the icon on the screen and scroll by moving your finger up and down, you can also get ready made visual timetables or make your own with your own photos, if dd takes to it which i think she will it will really help because its so small and portable, if you don't want to fork out for an iphone then the ipod touch is a brilliant choice and they now have built in speakers

The buttons are OK to press - the main 'technique' that needs to be learned is to press and release, not press and hold. If you press and hold the screen doesn't respond. But that's easy to teach hand over hand. yesterday I was holding onto it and getting ds1 to press then pulling his hand off. I think he'll get the feel soon (his Boardmaker needs to be pressed and held down so it's a bit different). I'll add something about to the review, a migraine kicked in half way through writing, so I just sort of finished and staggered to bed.

There's a good email list on the proquo2go website.

I will almost certainly replace ours with a newer itouch soon for the built in speakers. Then ds1 could wear it in some way too.

Have emailed you nappyaddict

Thanks, have emailed back

ooh, great - a real live tester

I have a few questions, if you don't mind (no rush for answers, just things I'm curious about)

how easy are visual timetables to make/use?

also uploading own photos - presumeably easy to transfer across (I assume same as any iPod), but how easy to then find/use?

I am so tempted to get one for dd1, as then would have easy access to the above, which is what I/she needs most, really. she doesn't really take to AAC as such,and I think se would be freaked by the talking aspect, but she is very interested in the whole pictures/visual aspect of stuff, and if we can then use ti as a backup in times of stress then all the better.

I will have a go with photos tonight (need to label some pics of me etc).

If you have the iphone you can just take a photo and label it there and then. The iTouch doesn't have an inbuilt camera so may be more tricky- am about to find out......

Ditto visual timetables. Will have a bash now.

You can get another app called iprompts for £30 which contains ready made visual timetables, visual countdown timer, choice promps and an additional library, using your own photos stored in the photo secstion of you itouch, it looks really good for kids who can use boardmaker, am waiting for dh to get back from work to show me how to use is as i don;t do well with technology!!

It is very easy to add photos. It took me about 2 seconds. I can't see a dedicated way to make visual timetables, but you can create new categories so presumably could do something there. Although iprompts sounds really good as well.

you can also alter the size of the buttons.

wow iprompts looks good doesn't it. I've added it to my blog too. I love the first this then this thing- we do that all the time......

don't have an iPhone, sadly, would be looking at getting an itouch (any excuse )

thanks for testign - sounds like ipormpts might be the way to go for dd1. the whole first/then thing is exactly the type of thing I'm after, and a countdown timer would be a bonus too (am about to start work on that with dd1)

I was wondering the other day whether it was worht creating pictures for me to upload to my iPod, with now/next scenarios on, but decided the screen was too small, really (standard video iPod), so this app on an itouch sounds ideal.

thanks again

very interesting find. like silverfrog I'ld probably want to put photos on more than anything else.

Some of you might be interested in the link I've put on my blog today about Communication Matters roadshows. Most are free. I'm tempted to book the Bristol one. Anyone else interested in going?

Check this out: Voice4u. It looks pretty.

I'm thinking of buying it. Is there anyone who bought it already? Was it easy to use?

Just looking at Proloque2Go but wondering if its possible to have a trial? I suppose not. DH says it would be the most expensive App he's bought, but I said cheap compared to most AAC devices. I really don't know if DS could/would use it.... Saintlydame, read your review, any advice or opinion?
Also looked at Voice4U but don't like the pictures but its much cheaper.....

After talking with my husband, we gave Voice4u a try and let my son use it. Then, I loaded my husband's and my pictures. As soon as he was home, he tapped the "dad" icon. We were so glad to see that. At last, my son is expressing himself! We are going to be using this application for the rest of winter break. Actually, he really loves the pictures.

Check this out!
voice4uaac.com