App a Day: Last Monday, my featured app was Proloquo2Go, which many parents have found to be a more affordable, less bulky, and much cooler alternative to dedicated augmentative communication devices. Today's pick is Voice4U, an app that was designed to be more affordable and easier to use than both those dedicated devices and Proloquo2Go. In an Enterprising Parents profile of her company, Spectrum Visions, founder Yumi Kubo explains what led her to create Voice4U:
Since my son needed support with speaking, I bought a communication device called DynaVox with insurance. But it took half a year to get to us after applying for insurance. During that time, the therapists' assessment was more than $1,000, and I needed another $1,000 for an attorney to negotiate with the insurance company. It was also very troublesome to learn the system, and his school teachers and therapists told me that the device was not fit for him and would never use it. Since DynaVox was heavy, large, and almost impossible to carry around with everything else my son needs, I decided to purchase Proloquo2Go on the iPhone. This cost much less than DynaVox at $190. This application had too many different functions, which made it very complicated to use for my son, causing him to not want to use it. (I lost $190 in a second.) His speech therapist, who had 25 years of experience, couldn't use it, and my engineers and my co-founder who has a PhD from Stanford weren't able to use it either. We decided to create something simpler.
If simpler sounds like a good choice for your child, Voice4U costs $29.99 and is available for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Android. You can find download information on all those platforms, as well as a flash demo and more information about the app, on the Voice4U website. If you've used this app, fill out a review form (Apple or Android) to add your own take -- or to share another app we should know about.
Screenshot courtesy of Spectrum Visions
I haven’t had a chance to look at this app yet. What I don’t get about proloquo2go is how someone could NOT understand it. It comes fully loaded for the most capable user, but you customize it how you want for the child. I quickly eliminated categories we don’t need, etc, then added REAL photos on the stuff we do need. I’ll have to make a video of us using it, because it really is very simple, but again, you need to customize it for your child first. The fact a stanford person couldn’t figure it out is a bit…umm..interesting. It took me MINUTES to figure out, and I’m just an average person. LOL That said, I’m interested in taking a look at Voice4U to see how it compares.
I agree with comment above from Leah. Proloquo2go is a phenomenal app. Being able to customize and use real pictures is a plus, unlike the above “Voice4U” which uses an alien like creature and a very monotonous voice! Not very appropriate in my opinion.
In their research Ms. Kubo said the therapists advised them to make the characters not have hair or wear clothes because it was too distracting. Also, a more monotone type voice is calming to a person with autism, who can become upset at voices with too much vocal inflection.