CALLTalk
Children with disabilities who cannot speak may require ‘high tech’ augmentative communication aid systems. CALLtalk was created by Sally Millar of the CALL Centre and Janet Larcher, Independent Consultant and co-author of the Ingfield Dynamic Vocabularies. It was designed particularly for use by Primary age children with severe communication difficulties but relatively good cognitive levels, who are expected to learn to construct sentences and, ultimately read and write (though they may not quite be there yet), in mainstream schools. It may be found useful by other types of users, (even, perhaps with some modifications, by adults), Use in the educational context and emerging literacy are emphasised within its structure.
A full scale communication aid package is composed of three essential elements: hardware, software, and vocabulary. CALLtalk is the last of these – ie. a vocabulary package only. It is valuable for teachers, therapists or parents to have access to a suitable pre-stored vocabulary that specialised and reputable professionals have created, as it demands too much time and effort for them to start from scratch with ‘a blank screen’ and themselves create a personalised vocabulary of thousands of words, on linked screen pages, for each child.
The CALLtalk vocabulary is essentially a carefully selected set of picture symbols and words structured and organised in a particular way into colour-coded pages and popups by topic, frequency of use and by grammatical category. It consists of over 100 pages, with 3,000+ words and phrases, so it is one of the most comprehensive language bases available, and it can be expanded and personalised as required. It has a highly consistent colour-coded structure, to make it as quick and easy as possible for teachers to teach and for the user to ‘find’ where particular messages are stored.
Features
Innovative and unique features of CALLtalk include:
- A communication section (joined up language, involving several linked pages) and a ‘School Stuff’ section organised into curriculum areas, with ‘all on one page’ worksheets for classroom/curriculum linked activities
- Inclusion of onscreen keyboard and a predictive typing facility (in some versions only) inside the dynamic symbol page structure
- In some versions (again depending on the software used) the capacity to launch other educational software from within CALLtalk (and to return to CALLtalk after use of the other software (e.g. a maths layout program, a worksheet, or a word processor).
The CALLtalk vocabulary on its own is not functional: it must be implemented within a dynamic screen communication aid software application, on a computer or dedicated portable computer-based device. It has been developed to run with a range of different software, on various computer platforms. There are very slight differences between the versions, as adaptations had to be made to reflect the different features of the different hardware and software. However, the overall structure and content of CALLtalk remains the same whichever version you use. CALLtalk is available from the commercial suppliers of these systems, who will supply a CD or install CALLtalk within a dedicated communication aid, provide a user manual, and provide ongoing technical and software support to end users.
If you want to talk about whether CALLtalk might be suitable for a user that you are working with, phone Sally Millar on the CALL Scotland Information and Advice line: 0131 651 6236. There is also a CALLtalk overview leaflet that you may wish to read over.
It is now a few years since the first version of CALLtalk appeared. Since then, a number of suppliers have revised and enhanced their software and/or their hardware. CALLtalk has been revised and reversioned in line with this. the CALLtalk: Options and Availability 2009 document has the current ‘state of play’ for each.
