Tuesday, March 13, 2012

March app of the month

proloquo2go
This month I reviewed an app that I only recently began using and I can not even begin to sing it's praises!!!  proloquo2go opens windows of communication for children that may not otherwise have the means to express themselves!!! In other words, it gives children with expressive language delays a voice!!!


Age Range:  There are no strings attached, proloquo2go is appropriate for children, teens and adults over the age of about three years.  Of course younger children will need to know how to utilize and manipulate the iPad, iPod or iPhone, however with adult supervision and prompting I would imagine that children over the age of three years would benefit from the program.


In a Nutshell: Where do I begin?  After years of watching my less verbal clients using Dynavox and other bulky, heavy and unattractive AAC devices, proloquo2go has all the style, sleekness and portability that Apple provides with their state of the art devices, iPod touch, iPad and iPhone, and who doesn't have at least one of those devices nowadays?  proloquo2go is easily personalized.  It provides the user with a very extensive vocabulary database that can be manipulated and arranged for ease of use and if a particular word or phrase is not available in the preset library, you can easily take a new photo or choose one from your camera and add it to the library.  


A fantastic example of this is a client of mine from India that does not eat a diet that consists of most of the foods found in the preset database.  In just a few short minutes, I was able to train the clients mother  on how to add pictures from the iPhoto program and by the next day, the clients mother was able to include a complete list with pictures of the foods that her child would choose from.  The ability to personalize the library makes this the most versatile and individualized AAC device on the market.  


Another feature of the proloquo2go that I find sets it apart from most other devices on the market today is the ability to change the voice with which the device speaks.  Users are given a choice that includes child voices (both boy and girl) adult voices (man and woman) and voices with various accents and dialects.  Although the voices do tend to have a robotic quality, I think that the creators of proloquo have made a good attempt at using a more natural sounding voice to express the users words.


Praise: 
1. Giving children that otherwise are unable to express themselves verbally, a voice.... Need I go on?
2. Great user support.  proloquo2go.com is chock full of great information and support for users.  There are informational videos to watch and a user manual that is easily downloaded and printed for full set up and support information for new users.  I have had to call the support line twice and both times have been 100% satisfied with the assistance that I was given over the phone (I find that good tech support is hard to come by these days)


Needs Improvement:
proloquo2go is costly.  Currently priced at $189.99 it is the most expensive app that I have used to date, however I think the cost is offset by the versatility and application of this fantastic program.  


Survey Says: TWO THUMBS UP!!!!