AAC Device News

I had a training with our sales rep/trainer from Dynavox today and I had an e-mail from DJ at Great Talking Box about the Touchspeak hand held. So I have lots to share.

First the Dynavox, we were training on the DV4, but also had a chance to take another look at the Dynavox V. I learned a couple tricks I didn't know, for example there is an assessment feature on the DV4 series (and the V series) that allows teachers and therapists to assess and train the access, language and cognition parts of using the device.

Also, I learned about the usage counter which will keep data on how many times a student accesses a particular button (a feature Speaking Dynamically Pro also has). Perhaps the next upgrade of the Dynavox products will be a data collection tool that creates a log of what pages were accessed, which buttons were pressed, dates and times of those items, averages of pages accessed and buttons pressed by time of day, etc. (Basically I want the Dynavox to keep data the way my Animas insulin pump keeps data. On my pump I can look at or download logs of insulin use and blood glucose by times of day, averages based on various criteria and any notes I entered into the system. Something along those lines would be great on the Dynavox.)

During the Dynavox training Lori (our rep) gave me a copy of some of the new Dynavox advertisement material. At first I couldn't figure out why she was giving it to me, then I realized that I am quoted (via this blog) on the flyer. Very cool. My colleagues think I should get kick-backs.

We also heard today about the new Dynavox Palm Top (photo above) due out in June. All I have to say about this is "Hallelujah!", the ChatPC 3 is a total pain in the rear end (on the software end, not the hardware end) and the ChatPC 2 is no longer being sold (it was pretty decent on the software side, but not the hardware side). If Dynavox has taken their skill and talent for creating innovative, consumer focused AAC software and applied it to the same hardware as the Chat PC 3 it should be an excellent device. I can't wait to see it in action. Now we have another reason to count down until June, besides summer vacation.

As I mentioned I also heard news about the TouchSpeak today. I had e-mailed DJ on behalf of a speech therapist friend looking for some ideas for a client. DJ let me know that the device will run on the HTC Dopod phone, which has a five inch screen and 5 1/8" wide by 3 3/4" high by 5/8" thick for dimensions. He will send me the weigh, the price, and the rental price tomorrow. It should be ready for rentals in June.

A few months ago, during a blog field trip to the Netherlands, I asked if anyone knew who the vendor for the TouchSpeak device was, well David from Great Talking Box answered my call. It turns out, in the U.S., the TouchSpeak will the sold by Great Talking Box.

Here is what David had to say:

Touchspeak is really neat stuff, At first sight, it is a software program operating efficiently on a small screen which, in itself, is not unusual. What is unusual is that operating on one of the new Windows CE PDA-style phones, it turns the phone into a very sophisticated communication aid and then enables the user to make telephone calls and use all the communication features to speak to the person receiving the call. It can be picture based or text based with a word prediction system with features that you do not find on many PC based systems. A user could even write on the screen with a stylus and have the written text spoken on the phone! A great feature is found in the programming of pages. It takes a little getting used to but instead of creating pages with links back and forth between the pages, you simply tell the system that you want a key contain a page under it and the page and all links are magically created. The Great Talking Box Company will be marketing a series of complete solutions featuring Touchspeak. You can watch them as they appear on my blog and get more technical information when it appears on the company website. Interesting times.

Thanks, David. I have also had an e-mail from Richard Hill, one of the original designers of the TouchSpeak in the U.K., so expect to hear more soon. I hope to review the device personally once it becomes available in the U.S., but here is the Ace Centre review to hold you over.