Proloquo2Go

There are numerous communication apps (software titles) that provide communication grids - see our reviews of Sounding Board 2 and Predictable, but this review will concentrate on just one  – Proloquo2Go. I must say that the main, and possibly only downside of this app is the name. It hardly rolls off the tongue does it? I suppose another drawback is the price, that is currently set at £129.99, though in the grand scheme of things, this is a small price to pay when we look at the overall package.

The people at AssistiveWare, the makers of Proloquo2Go (P2G) seem to have done their homework. P2G mimics the way that most communication software works and that can be found on many devices such as SmartBox and Dynovox’s devices. I am not saying that P2G contains all the ‘bells and whistle’ that other companies have built into their software such as environmental control and music playing interfaces, though the basic way in which the cells look and work are roughly the same. AssistiveWare have obviously realised that if something ‘aint broke, don’t fix it’.

There is a large range of pre-written grids that are supplied with P2G, as well as a large library of symbols (SymbolStix symbols) to quickly incorporate into the cells that are placed into the grids. One of the strengths of P2G and the iPad is that you can also use saved photos or take a picture with the iPad's in-built camera (iPad 2 only) and assign the photo to the cell. Cells can link to other grids and there is an optional message area at the top of the screen so you can build up your sentences.

As people’s targeting skills and vocabulary can be varied, so can the size of the cells that make up grids, though the cell sizes are global to the user, so you can’t have some cells bigger than others at the same time.  The size of the cells and therefore how many you see on the screen at any one time is configured in the settings (found in the P2G settings, within the iPad’s settings control panel). This ranges from Ultra Small, giving you an 8 by 8 grid (64 cells) to Extreme where only 1 cell is displayed at a time. The complete range of grid sizes are 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49 and 64. In addition, the cell padding (amount of space between cells) can be increased to help prevent the accidental pressing of adjacent cells.

A key to success?

As an addition to P2G's grid navigation setup, there is the option to switch to 'keyboard' mode. This presents you with a qwerty style keyboard that has built in text prediction. The predictive text tries to predict what you wish to type by using initial letters typed as a guide. The predictions are displayed so that you can select them to complete the word. The reason for word prediction is to lessen the number of key selections to make up each word and thus speed up typing.

Within the speech options (see below) there are options to speak each letter, word or sentence typed, with the sentence being spoken after a full-stop being selected.

If this is your key interest (typing and talking), then you may wish to look at Grid Player, in its' 'out of the box' state, it also has a talking qwerty keyboard with predictive text. Though it will only predict up to 3 words at a time and won't talk each character, though I'm sure this is ample for some. Another alternative for a predictive keyboard App is Predictable, though there is no free option but it is slightly cheaper than P2G.

Extra support for those with limited fine motor skills

Repeat Delay - ignores repeated taps to None, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7.7, 10 and 15 seconds (helpful for those who may have tremors effecting multiple taps on the screen). There is also a function to turn off repeat presses all together.

Hold Duration - only accepts a press on a cell if held for None, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2.5, 3, 4 & 5 seconds (this can help prevent accidental presses of cells.

Show options button - Many options for P2G were found in the iPad's settings, with others found within the App itself. All settings have now been moved to the in-App options, with a new button at the bottom created. Disabling the 'Show options button' will prevent any of the options being made available to the user whilst within P2G.

When I mention ‘at a time’, P2Q allows for more cells to be contained in a grid than can be displayed. To get to cells that run off the bottom, the Apple finger swipe technique is used to access the rest of the cells. This would require a certain amount of dexterity and cognitive ability to achieve, alternatively, just don’t put more cells into a grid than can be displayed I suppose, though having a little symbol to indicate that there are more cells available within a grid would be a nice touch that is currently absent.

A drawback (and one that I’m sure will be rectified in later releases), is how you erase the words that you have selected. There is no cell type that can be allotted to rubbing out a mistake or clearing the screen of the words you have already communicated. This can only be done by pressing the delete icon to the right of the message area and it is small (about 1cm square)! The size of this button can now be enlarged but it would be nice to allow a cell to be added to a grid that could perform the task. 

One drawback, however, of having a program (or app) that tries to do everything can be the difficulty in setting up the communication grids and programming them. It’s a trade off I suppose. P2G is very simple to ‘jump into’ as long soon as you have understood how to setup the user’s profile.

Voices

Voices are very important; it’s part of who we are, so why should this be any different when using a communication device? There are 4 Acapela voices that are supplied with P2G, of course they are all American, 2 male and 2 female, however, there are 5 additional voices on offer for download, with 4 being British sounding (thank you). All of the voices are pretty high quality, and none are Microsoft Sam sound-a-likes. There is also an option to edit pronunciation that allows you to spell the word how you would say it and this will then override the pronunciation whenever the word is mentioned. There is an advanced phonetics coding pronunciation that is best left due to the complexity (meaning I haven’t been able to work this out yet).

So how hard can it be?

The full manual is available for free download and it lasts for 40 pages (including lots of pictures), plus 3 pages of frequently asked questions. In addition there is also a Quick Start guide and a map to the extensive communication grids.

The manual is rather good and leads you through all you need to know. If you are like me and have an allergy to manuals where turning to the manual is a last resort after using trial and error, you may be defeated by the odd task and open the pdf that contains the manual. This is partly down to certain setting being held in the Settings section of the iPad/iPhone with other settings found in the app itself.