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SPEAK all! app for PECS users

Posted by 14 on the 19th March, 2014

I've become interested in a communication app called SPEAK all! designed by researchers at Purdue University specifically for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder who use PECS.   SPEAK all! is still somewhat in development, so I don't want to mislead by over-lauding its praises at this stage, for there are still a few steps needed to make it really usable / useful. Meanwhile, you can get a free version, to have a look at it (can ugrade via in-app purchase to a version that supports more users/ activities) and the developers provide support and welcome feedback and suggestions from users. Hopefully, it will soon be improved, providing an app that fits neatly into a very significant niche slot that has been waiting for it for some time - a simple speaking PECS book.

There are student videos showing Phase 1 - Phase 5  training, using the app within the highly structured PECS training format. 

The app's user interface is nicely uncluttered, basically showing a 'bank' of picture options, and a sentence strip. 

Unlike some other apps that claim to be ideal for PECS users, SPEAK all! mirrors really closely the exact PECS Stage 2 process of discriminating and selecting a picture with intention, and transferring it to a sentence strip (settings to let user select either by touching each picture or by drag and drop). To speak it out, the user can either touch each picture in turn (preferable, in my view), or hit a 'Speak All'  button. Once spoken, the user hits 'Revert to Original' (this button needs an icon on it, methinks) and the sentence strip empties again and returns the pictures to the 'bank', waiting for construction of the next message. The picture banks (termed 'activities') are fully customisable.

The row of 'activity folders' at the top is equivalent to topic or context-linked pages in a PECS book, and can be hidden by a semi transparent cover that leaves them accessible but minimally distracting. Beginner users will be fine with the vocabulary set within a single context-linked activity. More advanced users can explore the different activity folders freely to find the picture they want.

The 'Done' button at the top (that takes you out of the communication screen) can be hidden by a 'Lock Screen' setting (beware - this is a bit TOO efficient for now - you can get locked out of your iPad completely!) or by - safer for now - using Guided Access (download CALL's fact sheet on how to do this)

Watch this blog for news of future developments of SPEAK all!. It is just about  'workable' now with recorded speech only, but I think that to be a really serious contender in the crowded AAC app market-place it may need:

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