Over the last two years every last one of my Dynavox users have abandoned or rejected their Vs and Maestros for iPads. My boys all happen to have autism and use direct selection to access their devices (i.e., no scanning or eye gaze technology required) so that the transition in hardware was a no-brainer. Lighter, cooler, and more reliable - the iPads have been a huge hit with the guys.
This change in system required that the boys move from their Gateway vocabularies to our school's modified TouchChat WordPower 42 vocabulary. But NO MORE! TouchChat now has Gateway vocabularies for sale (an add on of $149.99) in their Upgrade Store to ease the path for any future converts. "Gateway is a developmentally based set of core word vocabularies enabling efficient message formation by children-adults." Below is a side-by-side of the two Home pages.
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| Dynavox Gateway 40 TouchChat Gateway Child 40 |
While a transition to a TouchChat Gateway will present the user with new symbols (TouchChat uses SymbolStix, Dynavox uses a combination of PCS symbols and Dynasyms) the layout and navigation paths remain relatively unchanged. My eyes are drawn to the TouchChat's distinct lack of a Talk pop-up (white) the My Tabs folder (red), "more" and the delete word button. That's no good?! Available vocabularies include:
- Child 12, 20, 40, 66
- Teen 20, 30, 40
- Adult 66
From the Vocabulary list page, the Menu button takes you to the Upgrade Store.
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