I have been using proloquo2go as my primary communication device (on an iPod touch) since last Juneish. I got it after some terrifying experiences while being hospitalized for something that made me unable to use my Dynavox Vmax because I was lying on my side. Bad things happened as a result and I was scared out of my mind until I got this device.
It quickly replaced my old device. I rarely use my Dynavox anymore. I have used proloquo2go to do a large number of things. I use it for everyday communication, and can communicate much more frequently now because my most common position is on my side. I used it to officiate a wedding. I used it for giving speeches. It basically allows me to use it for just about everything.
My one regret is that nobody has helped me learn the picture part of it. I need to be drilled in such things until they become part of motor memory. Nobody has done that so I only use the pictures in a limited amount of situations (like giving speeches).
Owning an iPod touch is also good for other reasons. It allows me to get onto wireless networks and get on the Internet that way. Since I spend most of my time in bed, that's basically my connection to the outside world. I'm using it right now. I barely ever even use my desktop computer anymore. So in combination with being a communication device, this is possibly the most important electronic item I own.
The drawbacks though are that input methods are limited. You can't access this using switches, eye tracking, or head tracking. I am still working on a makeshift wheelchair mount for this thing since it doesn't come with one. But if a person is able to use the touchscreen this thing is wonderful.
I know at least three other autistic people who use it. One has no intelligible speech and the other two can only speak some of the time and always communicate better in writing. This is very well suited to people of the second sort because they have more trouble getting speech pathologists to take them seriously than fully nonspeaking people do, and this is affordable to most people (well, I had to save up a lot and use my stimulus package money to buy it, but for someone living at poverty level that's still good). I have seen way crappier devices sell for $2000ish and similar devices sell for $8000ish. So this is amazingly affordable in comparison. And you're not just getting a speech device, it's also a little portable computer in its own right. And they keep on developing the software to higher and higher levels of quality for free once you have bought it once.
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"In my world it's a place of patterns and feel. In my world it's a haven for what is real. It's my world, nobody can steal it, but people like me, we live in the shadows." -Donna Williams
29 May 2009, 9:29 pm
