- As much as I like speed, the rate of communication on our high tech devices can be overwhelming to some of our patients just beginning to communicate. It is ever so easy to tap away at a screen and change pages at a dizzying pace. It all works fine when there is a knowledgeable partner to facilitate but can be difficult for initial independence. The physical act of selecting and moving a symbol may decrease the rate of communication long enough to give our friends a chance to process the symbol and voice output.
- For our patients who are just beginning the process of sentence building, PECS can be helpful. The ProxTalker lets users experience the process of carefully combining words with a voice output. They can physically manipulate the words as they learn to put them together. I can see the possibility of this allowing people to begin sentence building earlier in their communication learning journey. We are considering that this may be a good option to serve as a teaching tool, even with our patients who have high tech communication devices (or iPads).
- For patients with visual impairment, we finally have a viable option for displaying tactile (and object) symbols. Pretty much you just have to attach the cards to the object and press the object on a button to have it magically speak aloud. (There are some engineering tricks here, I'm told, but it looked like magic to me.) If you have the ProxPAD you don't even have to touch a button, you just have to have the object come in proximity of the pad to start the speech. You can also hide the pad under a table, or lap tray, and move the object symbol over it. It sees through surfaces! Craziness!
- There is a "light touch" device which is identical to the ProxTalker but requires a very light touch to activate.
- The storage of symbols is easily managed by having color coded pages for different categories or locations. Glen showed us how the pages can use matching pictures to help users put symbols back where they belong, which lets our friends use motor memory to access their favorite messages.
- Color coded pages can help users begin to learn the organization of their symbols- a handy technique which transfers to dynamic display devices for later use.
- Insanely durable, again Glen gave us a great detailed explanation about how the doohickey suspends the whatchamacallit with supports on the whoozit to keep it durable and liquid resistant. Just watch the truck in the video drive over it. 'Nuff said!
Wish List: (What we would love to see)
- ummmmm...nothing really, I think they've figured this one out!
Here's a video where you can see the Proxtalker in action, hear Glen's explanation and watch them drive it over with a truck!