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New ZaVox — Speech amplifier aid for weak or quiet voices
The ZaVox Speech Amplifier is a small portable aid that is worn on the body. It is useful for people who have quiet or weak voice — people with Parkinson's disease and Motor Neurone disease. Only outgoing breath, such as a whisper, is necessary to enable to ZaVox to provide amplification. The volume of speech is amplified through the ZaVox with no change to clarity. A Speech Pathologist should be consulted to determine suitability.

The ZaVox is also used by people who need to talk for long periods or raise their voices for specific activities. We know of classroom teachers who use the ZaVox to prevent vocal abuse caused by straining the voice.

New GEWA Access Computer Keyboards — Remote Computer Access!
Access Medi and Access Maxi are two enlarged remote infrared (IR) keyboards that control computers with the same IR that has made GEWA so world renowned.

The wireless systems are powerful infrared transmitters that communicate with computers through the ACCESS Keyboard/Mouse Interface that is supplied with each keyboard. The keyboards have two levels, one for the keyboard and one for environmental control. In addition to complete computer control, the keyboards can control everything in the GEWA "Smart House" product realm. Macros can be recorded with things like names, addresses, etc., and transmitted with a single keystroke. Multi-function environmental control commands can be transmitted in the same manner.

The smaller unit, Access Medi, is direct selection and scanning (12 different scanning methods), while the larger Access Maxi is direct selection only. Both units have integral keyguards. The ACCESS Medi's keys are 1/2"(12.7mm) in diameter and the ACCESS Maxi's keys are 3/4"(19mm)in diameter. Both of the ACCESS keyboards are available for rent or short-term loan.

New ACCESS GEWA PROG
ACCESS GEWA PROG is an enlarged-key version of the famous GEWA PROG. All of the functionality is there, including scanning. For those who need the enlarged keys (3/4" [19mm] diameter), this may be a viable option.

Utility software is provided that allows programming of the transmitter and creation of backup files (PC only). Overlays can be generated on the computer — a number of PCS* symbols are included in the program.

George is in fourth grade at school and has just recently got an Optimist II with Winspeak, which he uses with a single switch. He has quickly started using it both to chat and to participate more at school.

Before the Optimist II arrived, there was quite a bit of planning done. Staff at school, George's parents, his speech-language pathologist, some of his friends and, of course, George himself spent some time looking at the low-tech communication boards he was already using. The team decided that many of these boards could be re-created in Winspeak, but that links could be created between them so that George could move easily between all his different boards.

Once George's Optimist II arrived, his speech-language pathologist, teacher and parents started creating the pages in Winspeak. Initially they created about 20 pages. A main menu page was started with links to home, school, church and scouts. By clicking on the school button (for which they used a digital photo of his actual school) George was then taken to another menu page which had links to pages on math, reading, art, comments, questions, lunch time and playtime. On every page buttons linked him back to the previous page and to the main menu.

Very soon they all realised how much potential Optimist II has. Because George can easily move to a page of questions, they were able to remove some of the questions from the math page and replace them with more vocabulary specifically devoted to math - and then linked the math page to a page of numbers, and to a page of shapes. They linked the reading page to the alphabet page provided with Winspeak so that George could try to spell words. They were also able to link his school comments page to his home comments page, and to the page of comments for scouts - which means George has a range of socially appropriate comments for many different conversations. For some of the comments, such as "get real", they even recorded one of his peers saying the phrase. Now when George presses that button the voice output is a real (digitised) voice rather than the speech synthesiser - this particular feature is a huge hit with George.

Apart from setting up Winspeak so that George could use it, the Optimist II itself had to be setup so that George could access it. His Occupational Therapist was involved in this and found it to be very simple - she simply plugged his switch into the switch port on the unit, and attached the Optimist II to his wheelchair using the mounting system and mounting plate that they purchased at the same time as the Optimist II. The mounting system is designed to swing away when George is transferring in or out of his chair, and while he is in his chair it positions the Optimist II at an angle where George is able to clearly see the screen. George's Occupational Therapist's next job is to set up a page in Winspeak so that George will be able to control his TV and stereo at home using the built-in environmental control unit.

George and his team are delighted with the Optimist II - not only because it meets so many of George's current needs but also because of the room to grow. They are already planning to purchase HandsOFF! soon so that George can control the computer and software independently - this will take full advantage of the fact that the Optimist II is also a Pentium computer running Windows 98. And in the future, as George's spelling develops, they will be able to add Windbag. For the moment, though, they are all delighted with the huge interest George is showing in using his Optimist II and George is over the moon about the increased independence that he now has.

Chat is a generic small talk (Beukelman and Mirenda, 1998) overlay for the MACAW communication device.

It was designed for a teenager so that he has some options for chatting with his friends at school. The overlay helps him start and continue a conversation with his peers at school.

The phrases in this overlay can be used with lots of different communication partners in different conversations as they do not refer to a specific conversation. This makes it a very flexible
and useful overlay for a wide range of situations. For the teenager this overlay was designed for, it made a big difference to his daily communication patterns. He increased his use of his MACAW communication device dramatically — he now has something to contribute no matter what the topic is under discussion!

The other advantage of this overlay is that it provides the AAC user with vocabulary that is appropriate for "non-obligatory turns". In a normal conversation, two or more people take turns. Some of these turns are obligatory i.e. we are asked a question, such as "Would
you like a cup of coffee?" which we then have to answer. Other turns are called nonobligatory - the turns where we let our communication partner know that we are listening by saying "really" or "oh no!".

Light and Binger (1998) found that by simply increasing the number of non-obligatory turns an AAC user took during a conversation, there was a change in the way people saw her as a communication partner. His teacher commented on how much more he interacted and one peer also commented on this and also on how much more fun it was to play with him once he used more nonobligatory turns.

For more information about generic small talk you can visit http://www.aac.unl.edu — one of the 1998 presentations is an excellent description of pre-schooler's use of generic talk and how it differs from other age groups. For more information about nonobligatory turns you can consult the Light and Binger (1998) reference.

REFERENCES

Beukelman, D.R. & Mirenda, P. (1998). Augmentative and Alternative
Communication: Management of severe communication disorders in
children and adults.

Light, J. C. & Binger, C. (1998). Building communicative competence
with individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication.
Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Co.

Click here to view the chat's overlay. To use this overlay on a MACAW, you need to save this picture to your hard disk, or print it directly from your browser.

The Flexiboard's overlays are stored within itself and it does not require software to reside in the computer that it is to operate. Once the overlays are stored in the Flexiboard, it can be moved to ANY other PC (IBM type) and function as its keyboard. It works that way with LightWRITERs too!

Set up the Flexiboard on a computer to have the key configuration desired. Use pictures, if you like, to make large, graphic overlays. Program the Flexiboard to output strings of text instead of just individual characters. Then, through the Remote IBM-PC Keyboard to LightWRITER Adapter, connect the Flexiboard to the LightWRITER. Set the LightWRITER's port to keyboard. Selections on the Flexiboard will be sent to the LightWRITER and will be viewed in the unit's display.

Simple... but a very unique application of the versatility of the Flexiboard (and the LightWRITER).

Since the Flexiboard reads the overlay code from the top of the overlay, the user can change overlays independently and even stack them. Flexiboard always reads the top overlay.

CAMA Tours

The AAC sessions focus on latest products and services in the AAC area as well as new product announcements and demonstrations.

Question: Can a LightWRITER be used as an external keyboard for my computer?

Answer: No, it can only be used to transfer data such as backing up the libraries to your computer in a text file format. The LightWRITER keyboard doesn't have all the keys that your computer keybaord has and therefore it would not be viable.

Did you know?

This February has marked our first anniversary for ZYGO Chatter. We are very pleased that it has attracted so many subscribers. We would like to thank all of you for being a part of this newsletter. If you would like to share your application ideas or specific overlays, please email us. Thank you for your support.