By Jordan Barry
production assistant
She was finally able to tell her parents what she needed. Some of her frustration was alleviated thanks to an app on her iPad.
Caleigh Gray is 6-years-old. She has cerebral palsy, fine motor issue and cannot speak. Cathy Kingter, vice president of marketing and communications, said AssistiveWare developed their app Proloquo2go for people like Caleigh.
Dedicated Augmentative and Alternative Communication, or AAC, devices have been around for 11 years, but Kingeter said they have traditionally been very expensive. She said the $219 price tag on the Proloquo2go app is very cheap compared to $7,000 traditional devices, and it brought new innovation to the world of assisted communication.
"Proloquo2go certainly brought a lot of visibility, back in 2009, to the whole idea of providing assistive technologies on mobile devices," Kingeter said. "It has certainly brought a lot of innovativeness within the industry, which has benefited users around the world."
Holly Gray, Caleigh's mom, said she has tried several of the big name aac companies like Tonii and DynoVox, but they do not compare to Prolquo2go.
"I think the graphics are really user friendly and kid friendly," Gray said. "Some of the other devices had antiquated graphics that were old looking. Also, they've, I guess within the last year or two, come out with real voices. So, Caleigh uses a real little girl's voice instead of a computer tone voice, and I do believe all of the other devices, the dedicated ones, still have the computer type of tone voices."
Gray said she has seen positive changes in her daughter since introducing Caleigh to the app.
"I guess she was probably about 3-years-old then (when they got the app), so she was very frustrated," she said. "She had a lot of behavior issues. Basically she would just resort to crying when she couldn't get her point across, so when she wanted something or needed something and we didn't know what it was. Slowly, as she started using the Ipad, her frustration levels went down a lot. Her behavior has improved quite a bit because of that."
Gray also said she feels one of the biggest advantages of using an app on the iPad is that it is more accessible and more socially acceptable.
However, Kingeter said she does not think the app will ever completely replace traditional AACs because there are some users who need to access the device with eye-based movement or have the device mounted on their wheelchair.
"They need certain things that only that dedicated device can meet for them," she said. "I think there are certainly differences in people's communication needs and also their access needs that make having a variety of solutions available to best fit them is of great benefit to the users themselves."
Lisa Dixon, a customer service representative at DynoVox said she does not think traditional AACs are going anywhere either.
"I think there will mainly be a need for the dedicated devices for the simple fact that a lot of people are going through funding," she said.
Dixon recognizes the large difference in price, but she said she does not think it will matter.
"I understand the cost of the app and how that could be justified, but at the same time it's going to be difficult to justify buying someone on Medicaid or Medicare an iPad," Dixon said. "That's more or less seen as a computer or as something for entertainment and less for medical necessity."
Still, Proloquo2go definitely brought new ideas to the AAC industry. Gray said she has observed changes in traditional AAC companies like DynoVox.
"I see dedicated device companies struggling," she said. "A lot of them have downsized, a lot of them are going towards Window's based tablets. So, I don't know. It's kind of an unchartered, teetering territory right now."
jbarry3@gru.edu
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