Proloquo2Go iPad App vs. Decicated AAC (speech assistance) Devices

This is a guest post by Britney Baker

Proloquo2Go iPad App vs. Decicated AAC (speech assistance) Devices

In today's smartphone era, apps exist for almost every purpose imaginable. Today, I decided to explore how well apps stack up to dedicated devices that serve the same purpose.

AAC Devices- Proloquo2Go

AAC or Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices are devices that help people with communication or speech impediments effectively communicate with others. Most modern devices are tablet or PDA shaped, so wouldn't the iPhone or iPad be an effective alternative?
Proloquo2Go, an app designed for Apple's iDevices, appears to fill that niche. Proloquo2Go offers the same features of any AAC device, but on a platform people are more familiar with. For a self-conscious impaired teenager or young adult, the iPad or iPhone choice might be appealing in that it isn't anything an ordinary person wouldn't carry. One potential problem is the fact that Proloquo2Go is relatively new and not supported by any numbers or results. Despite lack of scientific results, professionals have pointed out that the organization of Proloquo2Go's extensive vocabulary (over 7000 words) is innovative and intuitive compared to other assistive communication vocabularies.

Windows 7 running smoothly on my OQO

Soon, no one will know about the OQO. Even now, only the "serious" technology fans know that the OQO was a mini computer that fit inside your pocket. I only know a handful of physicians who actually purchased an OQO, but when they found that the hardware couldn't adequately support speech recognition software like Dragon very well, they quickly moved on to faster machines.

As for me, I still have my OQO model 02. Windows 7 has been running impressively well on this slow machine that only has 1 GB of RAM. I'm impressed that Microsoft was able to streamline and optimize this new operating system so that it runs well on old (and slow) machines.