Clicker 5 - Many people see it as being just a software tool to help reading and writing. But there's so much more!

After Microsoft Office, Clicker 5 is probably one of the most purchased software programs bought by both mainstream and special needs school in the UK, though its full potential for people with special needs is rarely recognised or used.

At Aidis we often say that for special needs 'the application of Clicker 5 is only restricted by your imagination'. This can better explained by first describing what the program does and how it does it.

Clicker 5 works with groups of cells on the screen. The cells can be placed in a free-form manner, not needing to adhere to being placed to a strict grid layout. Each cell can contain text and/or pictures that can either be imported from the large picture bank that comes with the software, or from any picture that you have saved on your computer.

By clicking on a cell, the program will either play synthesised speech; a recording that you have made using a microphone; an mp3 file (such as a music track); video footage; or jump to another screen that contains more cells. Alternatively, text and/or pictures can be sent to a writing area that can be read out by the computer as a word or sentence.

If you do not want to use the mouse Clicker 5 also supports up to 4 switches! These allow a person with severe motor control and/or learning impairment to scan through the cells (either automatically or manually) and select a cell by pressing a switch.

That is Clicker 5 in a nutshell. Now let’s take a step back and put it in a special needs context as this will explain why Clicker 5 ‘is only restricted by your imagination’. Let’s use a couple of examples:

Example 1 – Communication difficulties

An option to aid people with communication difficulties with a computer device that talks has been around for years. Recently this has taken the form of a cased tablet PC running dedicated communication software, operated by either touch or switch access. The screen on these devices show grids of words and/or pictures that speak the selected word or phrase or use the writing area to help form a sentence to be spoken.

Hold on! Am I repeating myself? This is just like Clicker 5’s abilities.

Now, I’m not going to suggest that Clicker 5 is a direct alternative to a communication aid, well not quite. If you place Clicker 5 onto a desktop PC and set up grids of communication cells, the person still doesn’t have a portable, robust device. Even with a laptop, you don’t have the robustness and most laptops only run for 2-3 hours before they need recharging.

However Clicker 5 costs around £50 for a Home User license and a dedicated communication device cost in the region of £4,500 to £7,000. Count the noughts, it’s quite a difference. Many people will not have thousands of pounds in their back pockets to buy a communication device, especially if they aren’t sure if the person with the communication difficulty can use the device effectively. So think of Clicker 5 as a training aid. If a person can successfully communicate with Clicker 5, then there is no reason why they shouldn’t use a dedicated communication device. The devices are used in much the same way if you connect switches to the PC or use a touchscreen monitor.

This can demonstrate to yourselves and to any potential funder (if needed) that the person really can access a communication device and that money will be well spent!

Example 2 – Severe visual and mobility impairment. For this example, we could also throw in moderate to severe learning impairments as well.

Who doesn’t like to hear music? If you don’t have the ability to play a CD or select songs from an mp3 player such as an iPod then the music you hear is due to a request you make to others or worse, a guess by others that this is what you want to hear.

Now remember that I mentioned Clicker 5 cells can play mp3 files such as music files and that switches can be used to select cells. Throw into the mix something that I haven’t yet mentioned, audible scanning and we have our answer. Audible scanning means the ability of a device to make a sound when toggling through selections to indicate what may happen if a selection is chosen. Clear? Maybe not. Let me put this into context with an example.

If we had 8 cells on the screen, each one containing the title of a song, then we have the computer toggle through each cell in turn, speaking out the title of each cell. Add a switch and someone to press that switch. Then when they hear the title of the song they like, they need only press the switch and that song is played.

No reading is involved, just hearing. No fine motor skills involved, just pressing a switch!

Now we can get even more cocky! Instead of having the computer read out the song titles, we can have short snippets of the songs being played as Clicker 5 toggles through each cell, so that the person can recognise the song by the music instead of the title (Bohemian Rhapsody never has these words sung in the song).

We can go even further by adding another layer. Why not have a pop group grid that when a band is selected it jumps to song grid, or even an album grid and then a song grid. Maybe for some people, this maybe a step too far, but for some, this is an iPod by a different name, no?

These are just 2 examples. ‘Clicker 5 is only limited by your imagination’ Think of what the person would like to do, not what you think they are currently capable of doing. Then think of how Clicker 5 can be adapted to meet that need and see what’s possible.

Clicker 5 won’t save the world or give you next week's Lottery numbers, but it could give someone more independence and that’s a win!

If you want help with realising what applications like Clicker 5 can do for a disabled person, just give Aidis a call. Our clients tend to be glad they have.

Pros

• Hugely adaptable to so many uses
• Very good value for the relatively small price tag
• Accessible to many through its switch interface in addition to the usual mouse and touchsreen interface

Cons:

• Can be difficult to learn how to build the grids and the cells within them. Did I mention Aidis offers free training?
• No synthesised voice available, so all sound has to be recorded