Our friends at the ACE Centre in Oxford have now launched their SpeechBubble web site, providing a database of detailed information about almost all of the communication aids and software available in the UK. 

You can search for devices that fit into a number of categories, e.g. 'Simple Aids with one Message', or 'Computer-based Aids with Touchscreen', or try to find devices that have a particular feature, e.g. Visual Scanning or Recorded Speech. It is possible to combine search terms to find, for example, a device that can be accessed by using Morse Code, with synthetic speech that can be used for texting. (the DynaVox V and VMax fit the bill!).

This is NOT an assessment tool which parents will be able to use to buy their child a communication aid 'off the shelf', but it will be an invaluable tool for therapists looking for a suitable device for a client with specific requirements, offering suggestions that they might not be aware of.

This is a great resource that will save therapists a lot of time and effort and we would like to thank Mark Saville and colleagues at ACE for the huge amount of work that has gone into this exciting new facility.

Kids with physical disabilities often need to use 'scanning'  (and switching) to access their communication and/or writing programs. Scanning is a widely misunderstood word.  A good definition was coined by David Colven and Simon Judge in  'Switch Access to Technology'. They say: "It's a bit like a 'Yo Sushi' bar. You can't reach all the dishes from where you sit, and so you have to wait until the one you want turns up in front of you."

I like that!  I'd like to bring in a 'restaurant metaphor' of my own. With  children who use low tech communication, I often get faced with frustrated staff who say  'he can't even answer Yes or No or make choices'. Then I watch, and see them say things like 'Freddy - do you want mince for lunch? Yes or no?' .    At that point I reflect on how I would feel if I went into a restaurant and the waiter said "Do you want chicken balmoral?"  I'd say "well maybe - I don't know - what else do you have on the menu, please tell me ALL the options and THEN I'll choose."  (And I might think 'what a useless waiter!')

So  - except with those few pupils who are known to cope with only one or two alternatives - I often suggest that staff should limit the use of yes/no questions and forced alternative questions (choice from 2)  and try using oral/auditory scanning instead. I have seen pupils learn to make successful choices from 3, 4 and even 6 or more items using this method.  It's especially powerful for children with visual impairment and really poor pointing ability - no pictures needed, just consistent oral presentation by staff and listening and simple signalling by the child.

Of course, things can get much more sophisticated by introducing symbols and even eye-coding systems to create a full 'partner assisted scanning system'.  A comprehensive handout by Linda Burkhart and Gayle Porter is available. And check out this video by Gail van Tatenhove to see how far this can go

CALL has previously alerted folk to the cheap deal on Boardmaker software available through LTS, for Scotland. Since LTS revamped their web site, the page link we gave before has become defunct. Look here for current prices    It's rumoured that the deal may 'run out' once a ceiling number have been sold, so if you want it, perhaps best not to wait too long.

Anybody who is interested in augmentative communication for their pupils, clients or family member needs to be aware of the annual Communication Matters (CM) Symposium. This is a UK-wide conference - actually becoming increasingly international - held every September (26-28 September, this year, in Leicester). It may seem expensive but is actually excellent value considering that all accommodation and food are included.

The programme is relevant for both children and adult clients and always offers a great mix of practical, research, technical and AAC user-led presentations, for all levels of AAC experience. The conference is accompanied by a major exhibition of AAC equipment (free access). It's also a tremendous opportunity to network with AAC specialists. If you are interested, you can view or download this year's Programme.

This year's Augmentative Communication in Practice: Scotland study day, to be held in the Stirling Management Centre on Tuesday 9th November will focus on the use of Eye Gaze as an aid to communication.

Eye gaze has always been a useful technique for helping people with communication difficulties to express themselves, whether by eye pointing at objects, or at symbols on a communication board or book, or letters on an e-tran frame.

Recent years have seen exciting developments in technology allowing some people with severe and complex disabilities to control a computer or a communication aid by eye gaze. But the technology is complex and expensive and it is not suitable for everybody with a communication difficulty.

This Study Day will explore issues surrounding eye gaze within both low tech and high tech communication systems and will help to raise awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of such systems.Speakers will include:

• Dr Mick Donegan from the University of East London. Mick was Coordinator of the User Requirements element of the COGAIN project, which led research into the use of eye gaze technology by people with disabilities
• Janet Scott, SCTCI, will present a number of short case studies providing a glimpse of some of the people who have worked with SCTCI to use eye gaze as their means of access to communication.
• Claire Latham, formerly from the ACE Centre in Oxford will describe their Look2Talk project on learning to communicate by eye pointing to low tech systems.

There will also be opportunities to find out about the various eye gaze systems currently available in the UK during short supplier presentations.

Further information is available on the Augmentative Communication in Practice: Scotland web site.

Calling all Boardmaker users!

There's a new product about to be released by Mayer Johnson called Boardmaker Studio.

This promises to make creating resources even easier by providing studio starter templates and pre-programmed 'gadget' or function buttons which can be dragged onto a page in any activity. It also has more of a Microsoft Office look about it ( more user friendly?) and doesn't require a CD in the drive!

You can import activities from Boardmaker and Boardmaker Plus! v6 to edit and print out and also download activities directly from 'Boardmaker Share.'

The 'Boardmaker Share' activities and many of the Boardmaker Studio resources have a very American theme to them. When will we see some more UK themed resources available?

Boardmaker studio costs around £250, about the same as buying Boardmaker Plus! as a new product.

What we're now waiting to hear is whether there will be upgrade deals, will Studio be replacing Boardmaker Plus! and will this product make the whole 'Boardmaker Family' easier to get our heads around?

A 30 day trial version will be available from September 7th. We look forward to trying it out!

Is it worth it?

Watch this space.

Issue 3 of the 'ContAACt newsletter' is out now!

Follow the link ContAACt newsletter to find out what's happening with AAC users in Scotland (Spring 2010)

The 'AAC Project Awards' on page 1 may be of interest to people wanting to fund AAC events or active participation by a person who uses AAC.

Barry Smith received part of his funding to give a talk at ISAAC in Barcelona this Summer, using his Lightwriter SL40, from this scheme.

Find out more about Barry's story.

In 'Places We Like' on page 4 , you can find out about the best things to do in Perth from local AAC users, who know best!

We'd love to hear more from people who use AAC about what you have been doing in your local area or any other items you'd like to share in the next ContAACt newsletter, due out in Autumn 2010.

Please send your items to enquiries@acipscotland.org.uk We look forward to hearing your news and sharing it with AAC users across Scotland.

Amongst the new things seen at ICT and Inclusion last week were AbilityWorld's new  Uni-tech Voice Symbol and Voice Ink.  What’s innovative is that the special software prints sound as well as symbols and words on to paper (ordinary paper and normal colour printer cartridge). When the user touches the printed word or symbol on the paper with the special Voice Pen, it speaks (choice of synthetic voices). It can also play music/sound files or recorded voice.

With the Voice Ink software, when the user touches each word (or sentence, paragraph or whole page, depending on how the settings you choose) it speaks out, so you can use it just to check you've correctly read a few 'sticky' words, or to read whole work sheets, etc. A true 'talking book'.

The Voice Symbol communication software lets you make symbol boards or book pages, and record personalised messages, so it is a low-tech system that speaks as well! It also works through laminate.

The system is not exactly cheap, but comparable in price to some other recorded voice communication aids. Once you've got the software you can add more V-pens for more users at a reasonable price.

There is a link on the Ability World website to video clips on YouTube where you can see the Uni-tech system in use (albeit largely in Taiwanese...).

We are all wondering what the iPad is going to do for people who use AAC. Here is a useful early evaluation of Proloquo2Go on iPad, by a person with fine motor difficulties who herself uses a variety of different AAC and computer technology, in her daily life.

Many people have recently upgraded to v.6 Boardmaker Plus! Unlike the old Boardmaker, this version speaks and so can be used by pupils for both school work and as a personal expressive communication support (or even perhaps as a full scale AAC system). But some people have been experiencing problems getting the voice to work properly - it seems to 'skip' to the end of the message without speaking it out fully - with both SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 voices. Mayer Johnson's technical support team have released the following 'fix' to correct the problem (which apparently only affects PCs with Windows XP and earlier):

To correct the problem you need to reduce the hardware acceleration on the sound card:

1. Open the Control Panel and double-click Sounds.
2. Click on the Audio tab.
3. In the Sound Playback box, click on the Advanced button.
4. Click on the Performance tab (Win 2000/XP) and Troubleshoot tab (Win 98).
5. Move the Hardware acceleration slider to None. Click on the Apply button, then click on OK.
6. Restart BoardMaker and check the speech.

Not wanting to invoke any disasters! But during any emergency, communication is vitally important. The Institute on Disabilities, Temple University, Philadelphia, moved by the recent Haiti earthquake disaster, offers for free download a double sided sheet called Emergency Communication 4 ALL (picture symbol  and letter/word versions available). It's a very basic communication board and Passport in one. There is also a sheet of Tips for Communicating with Someone Who Needs Assistance. AAC services might use these for ideas to create their own version, or even just print it as is and perhaps provide to local community emergency responders such as firefighter services.

As expected, yet more apps are appearing for the iPhone. The latest one is called iComm, and it seems to have hit the media headlines, which is a good advert for AAC.

iComm is designed by a parent as are some of the others discussed in earlier blogs and in the CALL review paper.  It seems pretty similar in many ways to some of the others reviewed, such as iCommunicate. It comes with some photos in it and you can upload your own photos, and record yor own voice to make it fully personalised. Content is organised into categories (20). When you choose your category, it displays 4 items per page. When you make a selection it offers a confirmation Yes/No step (useful for users of eye pointing).  The points to note about iComm for now are:

• It is on SALE right now, at £1.79 (usually £15.99). You get the free version first (limited features), and then click to upgrade to the full version, which you pay for.
• it will ONLY run on an iPhone, not on an iPod Touch. The Daily Mail says it works on the iPad, but I would want to check this. It may only work on the WiFi + 3G version, and not the cheaper WiFi only version??

Interestingly, the little communication program Tap to Talk that was brought out originally for Nintendo DS and DS Lite, is now available also as an App for the iPhone, iPod Touch and/or iPad. This may get round some of the sound volume issues, and also as multiple Tap to Talk albums (ie vocabularies) can be stored and accessed online, it may prove to be useful for working with a number of different users at once (whereas other communication Apps are totally personal). The app is free via the App Store, but you need to be subscribed to the web-based Tap to Talk Designer.

Haven't tried it out yet - will keep you posted...!

Come along to the AAC SIG study afternoon on Wednesday 26th of May, at Braidburn School in Edinburgh, from 1.30pm to 4.30pm.

Our guest speaker will be Claire Murray, who will be presenting on ‘Emotional Understanding and Language’ in the context of the 'Growing Confidence Project'.

This should be a really interesting afternoon, with the opportunity to share experiences, thoughts and feedback on this subject with other professionals.

The session is FREE of charge. Please return the AAC SIG flier to the address given, in order to confirm your booking.

For more information, have a look at Claire's webpage

Hope to see you on the day!

This blog has mentioned before the growing range of communication Apps for iPhone and iPod Touch.

You can download an updated CALL Information Sheet reviewing different communication Apps, (and even a Nintendo DS app). Times are changing - many of these Apps are (much) cheaper than a roll of Velcro - makes you think!

The week of the US launch of the new Apple iPad seemed a good time to update that list, and some Apps have already been re-versioned to fit the iPad's larger screen. (iPad due to launch in the UK towards the end of April.) The first reviews of the iPad as a possible communication aid are looking pretty positive - apparently the sound output is not bad and might be enough without amplified speakers, and P2Go runs beautifully.