Assessing Student's Needs for Assistive Technology (ASNAT)

Chapter 4 – Assistive Technology for Communication
Simple and/or Low Cost Voice Output Devices
♦ One set of messages (represented on one overlay) available to the user at a time.
♦ Pressing a key (or cell) produces one message.
♦ May have one, two, four, sixteen, forty, or more buttons with messages.
♦ Overlay must be physically changed, and device reprogrammed to change the messages.
Examples: BIGmack ® Communicator, Voice-in-a-Box, MicroVoice, Cheap Talk 4, Cheap
Talk 8, TalkTrac Plus, Tech Speak, Tech Talk, Tech Four, Superhawk Plus.
Backup: Use simple communication boards to take the place of the simple or low cost
voice output device if broken. Another type of backup would involve the use of a
switch with a tape recorder/loop tape.
Devices with Leveling or Layering
♦ Capable of storing several layers of messages.
♦ Allows uses for multiple situations or settings, for example, Level 1 can be programmed with
messages appropriate for circle time, Level 2 can hold messages for lunch or snack time, Level 3
could be vocabulary appropriate for social exchange about snack.
♦ Changing from level to level requires turning a button (or sliding a switch) and physically changing
the picture overlay.
Examples: Macaw, Turn n’ Talk, Lighthawk, Go Talk, TalkTrac Plus with Levels,
Backup: Design simple communication boards that have the same set-up as the layering or
leveling device and use in case of device breakdown.
Devices using Icon Sequencing or Semantic Compaction
♦ Icon Sequencing or Semantic Compaction is a way of organizing language, which uses an ordered
array of pictures to code vocabulary.
♦ Minspeak is the primary example of semantic compaction and is used by Prentke-Romich Company
in their devices.
♦ User presses two or three keys in sequence to produce one message.
♦ For example, using Minspeak, the user presses a button with a picture of a dog with a newspaper in
its mouth followed by pushing a button with a picture of a question mark. The device produces the
message, “What’s new with you?”. On the same device, pressing the picture of the clock followed
by the picture of the question mark produces, “What time is it?”.
♦ The user must be able to remember the message codes.
Examples: Vanguard II, Vantage, Pathfinder, Chatbox ® , SpringBoard
Backup: Design a simple communication board with the same picture icons as the display
used on the device with icon sequencing. The important thing to remember here is
that the communication partner will need to know the vocabulary programmed
behind each icon sequence, in order to interpret it correctly. To remedy this a
“cheat sheet” may be provided which pairs the icon sequence with the message it
represents.
Assessing Students’ Needs for Assistive Technology (2004) 100