Predictable 

Predictable could be described as a mixture of direct text input (similar to the LightWriter and DynaWrite) and symbol based communications (such as found on DynoVox’s Maestro and SmartBox’s PowerBox communication devices).

The home screen offers a keypad that can be displayed in qwerty, ABC and high frequency layouts (that can speed up typing when using a switch), with a message area and buttons to speak the message, clear the message, add the message to the phrase bank and to add the message as a FaceBook status update.

The keypad also has word prediction support that predicts words that it thinks you are trying to type, taken from the initial letters you have already selected. A nice addition is the next word prediction, where the app tries to predict the next word you may wish to type, taken from the previous word. The prediction options are there to help save time when inputting from either access method.

Version 2.0 has seen the addition of a handwriting recognition feature. This is pretty neat though it doesn't interact with the word prediction feature, so drawing the letter 'h' with your finger will not bring up predicted words beginning with the letter 'h' etc.

I must say, that although the accuracy is impressive (you don't have to have perfect handwriting), I would question the need. If you have the motor skills needed to draw letters, surely you'd have the motor skills to press the keys and this would be faster. There may be an exception out there though, there usually is.

When a word or phrase has been input into the message area via the onscreen keyboard, there is an option to add the text to the library of phrases. The phrases library (called Phrases) consists of 12 categories where you can save your phrases. When you edit a category, there is an option to ‘Add’ a category.

Since updating to version 2.0, the ability to add a catergory has now been fixed - thank you! However, if you have updated the App from an older version, through the App Store, it will still have issues, so to rectirfy this, delete the App and restore it by Sync'ing your iPad. It now works as it should.

Using pictures

Pictures are always a good idea for both those people who struggle to read as well as for those who can, but like to have an easily recognisable picture to hint at the contents of a cell (selectable area of the screen). Predictable supports using pictures from the iPad’s photo album which are pre-taken pictures either using the iPad’s camera or pictures that have been copied over from a computer or the Internet.

A nice touch would be the addition of interfacing the camera so that you can take a picture with the iPad’s camera and have it automatically inserted into a cell as you can with Proloquo2Go (another communication app that we have reviewed), though you can add an existing photo from the iPad's picture library.

For those people who are unable to read from the screen, the restrictions to add categories and to have categories linking to other categories could be a major drawback for someone with a large vocabulary and so I would suggest you consider looking at Proloquo2Go (P2G) for your app of choice, though at present P2G doesn’t support switch access, though they have hinted at rectifying this.

Access methods

As you would expect with any app, direct access (touch) is supported. However, there are two other options available, Switch Access and Touch Anywhere.

Switch access is supported with the addition of a Bluetooth switch interface and the user’s choice of switch (neither included). Both 1 and 2 switches are supported.

Touch Anywhere is a neat addition by the Therapy Box team. Touch Anywhere turns the whole screen into a single switch by accepting a touch anywhere on the screen as a switch press. For people that won’t be heavy-handed with pressing the screen and don’t need a switch locating out of eye-line or easy reach, this option can save the amount and cost of accessories.

For those new to the concept of using switches to select items on a screen, switches use a technique called ‘scanning’. Scanning is the term used to select an area of a screen that in turn produces an action such as printing a letter, phrase or word on the screen or speaking a phrase out loud. When the scanning process is initiated, each row of selectable items is highlighted in turn from top to bottom. On a press of the switch, each item in the selected row is highlighted in turn from left to right. A further press of the switch will select the highlighted area and activate the action associated with that area.

If just 1 switch is being used (or the Touch Anywhere option is selected) the app will automatically scan through at a rate that is set within the apps’ settings (there are 5 speeds in all). If 2 switches are being used (using the BlueTooth switch interface), then 1 switch will be used to toggle through the rows and columns with the second switch being used to select the row/column. The 2 switch option allows the user to work at their own pace instead of that set in the scanning rate, however, this does of course mean that the user must be able to access 2 switches.

Backing up

Once you’ve personalised to your own requirements, you really don’t want to lose all your work should the worst happen (losing your iPad, damaging it beyond repair or a system or app failure). Thankfully, there is an option to back up the work that you’ve done in Predictable to the computer.

The Verdict

If you are able to type words and phrases either directly onto the screen or using a switch to scan, or you are unable to target the screen with your finger but can use a switch to scan, then this is probably the app for you. However, if you can target the screen with your finger and you need pictorial support due to reduced literacy skills, then I would personally look at Proloquo2Go, it is a little more pricey at £129.99.