New AAC device: Alt-Chat+ from Liberator

Posted by 14 on the 1st September, 2009

We have just had a chance to trial a new device called the Alt-Chat+ developed by the US company Saltillo and marketed in the UK by Liberator Ltd. It is an interesting mixture of two different devices - it has the hardware 'body' of the Springboard Lite (a very popular small lightweight device) and the software 'guts' of the Chat PC4  / Silk handheld device. Retailing around the £3,500 mark (ex VAT) it plops straight into an area where there was a gap before - ie devices that are relatively simple to use, do not have a load of unwanted fancy features, and that are not overwhelmingly expensive, but that  - unlike the digitised voice devices - do have a synthetic voice, text and prediction. This makes it of potential interest in the education / school market. Watch this space for more information as we explore the loan device, its prestored vocabularies, and find out how easy it is to adapt and programme. 

Update: 04.09.09

Don't want to sound too negative but in spite of some good points we were a wee bit disappointed overall when we checked out more of the inner workings of this device  - on the usability front, it may not be the miracle answer we were hoping for ....