I have been gazing with longing at the V-Pen (from
Unlimiter) system for sometime now. Until recently it was not available in the United States, however PCI has begun to carry it. The V-Pen is an electronic talking pen which "reads" letters, words or symbols from a paper. It comes with two spelling boards and seven adhesive stickers. You can also purchase a V-Board of symbols and
VoiceInk software to make your own boards. VoiceInk boards can also be accessed using the free
VoiceInk app on an iPad. The integrated system is called Uni-Tech. Both the VoiceInk boards and the software use the
PingPong Boy Symbol Set (also from
Unlimiter). Check it out in the video:
Sadly it is possible that the V-Pen system has made it to the USA too late. The price point for the pen and boards is $1,499.95 and the software adds another $499.95 to that. For that price you can buy an iPad2 with
Proloquo2Go AND
TouchChat plus a stylus and portable speakers. The tablet movement may be out too far ahead for the V-Pen to take hold.
If you are tied to the idea of a board and pen system you can try using the
AnyBook Reader
plus stickers (with is about $55.00 with extra memory) on a communication board you make with Boardmaker or SymbolMate or even Microsoft Word and Google Images.
