assistive and augmebtive communication - advice please

[Dankhl]

Hello

I’m new here and I’d really appreciate your experiences on how you are communicating as a caregiver with a patient who cannot speak. 

We were introduced to 3 forms - 1. basic printed flip sheets with phrases 2. Using a intermediary device - eg push that replicates a mouse to select and generate speech3. Tobii eye gaze

There are so many models out there as well as permutations in combining the software and hardware

It’s been exhausting just with the caregiving - and I’m not tech savvy but my husband likes to play simple games eg sudoko and I’m not sure which set up allows for communication and games

He can’t talk with and has very little movements that can be erratic If anyone can recommend what they’ve been using with some success - software and hardware - I’d be so ever grateful

 Many thanks in advance

[Kit10]

I spent some time in intensive care last year and for some time I physically couldn't speak though my brain was working - it was horrendous. For his sake, and yours, I hope you find a good solution.

I sometimes managed to spell out messages by someone running a finger along the alphabet written out, and nodding when they got to the right letter. It was extremely slow and frustrating and difficult to correct mistakes. I needed not just the letters but also space / end of word . / end of sentence and backspace / delete to correct errors. Predictive text would have been very helpful too - some of the people were better at predicting than others.

There were printed sheets with pictures to point to, but they were too simple and basic to be much use. I could signal yes/no, but it's not always that simple, I needed be an option for don't know/maybe/it's complicated.

Later an occupational therapist showed me an app for a tablet that comes with preset phrases for a number of topics, but also learns from what you most frequently type in, and generates speech so it can speak aloud what's been selected. I don't know what it was called, I'm afraid. It would have been really useful but by the time I saw it I didn't need it so I wasn't paying attention to its name.

You say he likes sudoku - sudokukingdom.com/ has sudoku puzzles that you can do using just a mouse - is there some way he could use that?

[Dankhl in reply to Kit10]

thank you for sharing your experiences

I will try sudoko kingdom - he can’t use a mouse but I’ll try and find a button or other devices

Really appreciate your note

[Kit10 in reply to Dankhl]

I've just done a bit of googling, the app I saw may have been this, it was certainly something very like it.

app2speak.com/

(I'm not on commission, I promise 😜)

[Dankhl in reply to Kit10]

Thanks so very much for the time with the google. It looks good - will research more on it.

My very best and appreciation

[Kit10 in reply to Dankhl]

You're welcome, it only took a minute or two. Let us know how you get on.

[Jesmcd2 CommunityAmbassador]

Hi Dankhl welcome! Im sure your both frustrated! I hope things get better for you soon!

I don't know if this could help in any way or not, but it might be something to look into... orcam.com/en/article/readin...

Hang in there!🤗💕🌠

[Dankhl in reply to Jesmcd2]

Really appreciate your welcome - many thanks

The device is quite remarkable- am so grateful for the leads you all have generously given

Best and take care