April is Autism Awareness Month, and we’re featuring an app a week that is loved by and influential in the Autism community. This week, we’re showing off Proloquo2Go, an award-winning speech assistance program.
For children and adults in need of symbol support, Proloquo2Go provides a series of image-based symbols that help users to speak. The app hosts a few vocabulary levels to help learners develop stronger communicative skills, and can be used with text-to-speech voices. It’s a simple-to-use app for iPads and iPhones that give incredible strength to the people who need it.
Proloquo2Go has been used not only with individuals on the Autism spectrum with speaking disabilities, but also those with cerebal palsy, Down syndrome, developmental disabilities and brain traumas. It’s a remarkable way to bring communication and speech back into someone’s life, and has won praise from the Webbys and Common Sense Media.
It works by tapping on different buttons that have symbolic images with words or phrases, which adjust grammatically and form sentences. These buttons can be customized depending on the user so that they have the most natural association with a word or action. For individuals with motor difficulty, the method of selecting and adjusting these buttons can also be adjusted to avoid frustrating mistakes.
Proloquo2Go is an awesome tool for kids, parents, and teachers to communicate. It gives a voice to a huge population of people who spend a majority of their time without one. The app is $219.99 on the iOS app store, and is available for iPhone and iPad. AssistiveWare, the app creators, offer other great products for use in education.
