"His vocabulary has grown tremendously...."

Hey Tek-ninjas! A while back, I posted how Kiyah uses her AAC device to effectively navigate her life. More recently, Tobii Dynavox posted a short clip of a boy named Brock and how he uses the TD i110. I've shared it below.

I'm sharing Brock's video, because I believe many folks don't understand the power of AAC, and it is simply a joyous clip!  Similar to the video of Kiyah, this video of Brock provides a terrific look into AAC. On the linked page, Brock's mother is quoted saying: "His vocabulary has grown tremendously, and we love seeing our lil’ man finally being able to speak his mind". Those are powerful words!

Check out the link to read more about Brock's success, what life with Assistive Technology can look like, and the benefits of having a solid team helping our AAC users. 

Happy therapy!

TD Snap Discount!

Hey Tek-ninjas! We are coming up on World Autism Day. For folks working with AAC, that often means deep discounts on pricey communication apps. Annual discounts are great, but I believe pricing should not be an obstacle to having a voice. 

I love that TD Snap is so affordable year round. Following the trend of discounting communication apps, April 2nd, TD Snap will be on sale in the Apple store at 15% off. It will be a one day, Apple Store only sale. 

APRIL 2nd, TD Snap will be 15% off.

April 2nd, the AAC app which is normally $49.99, will be approximately $42.50!

If you are in a school district, and leveraging the Volume Purchase Program even when NOT on sale, 20 copies of TD Snap costs equal to or less than the 2 copies of the competition's software. 

Also, I want to highlight, that if your AAC communicator is text-literate, and does NOT need symbol support, TD Talk remains free for your iOS users. That's year round. I blogged about TD Talk a few weeks back here. 

Do you know someone who needs a voice? One of these offerings may be just what they need. 

Let's talk about TD Talk

 Hey Tek-ninjas! It's been awhile. Hope everyone is having a good pandemic.  Lot's of busy-ness going on in my work life. All good stuff. Tobii Dynavox recently released an overhauled i110. The changes are subtle at first glance but significant! I'll write more about that later, but for now, let's just say "faster, tougher, and more responsive". 

Today I want to blog about TD Talk. 

TD Talk came out when the TD Pilot was launched a few months back. The Pilot came out to great fanfare. I blogged about it here. With the excitement of true eye-gaze integrated with Apple (actually MFi) folks may have not paid as close attention to TD Talk, which accompanied the Pilot along with TD Snap. 

If you are working with folks who need AAC, specifically folks who are text literate, you want to take a closer look at TD Talk. While it does come pre-loaded on the Pilot, did you know that if you don't have a Pilot, you can still access TD Talk on the iTunes App store? 

TD Talk is available for free! It's not a trial. It's not temporary. And yes, the voices work. 

A significant factor in this decision was the need to help ALS clients who need a voice today, but perhaps don't qualify for funding at this stage of their journey. If they have an iPad, they can have a voice. Later, if they need DME with eye gaze, they can get a TD Pilot funded, and transition straight to that mode of access, without having to learn new software. Ultimately, we've been finding that a number of folks are appreciating the software regardless of age or disability. 

TD Talk offers a large selection of languages and voices to express yourself as naturally as possible. Allowing for fast, predictive sentence construction, and easy in-sentence editing, this is a remarkably lean, fast, and efficient communication app. 

User's will also appreciate the simple keyboard, along with a few quick-fire phrases to balance speed with flexibility. 

Take a look at it, I suspect you too will be impressed. 

Happy therapy!

Accurate AND precise eye-gaze on an iPad!

 Hey Tek-ninjas! Today is a big day for Tobii Dynavox and AAC users. This morning, Tobii Dynavox introduces the TD Pilot.  TD Pilot provides native integration of eye tracking in iPadOS and has been certified to meet Apple performance standards. It enables communication and full use of iPad apps for people with disabilities, via eye control and other access methods. The TD Pilot offers what is currently the only MFi Certified Eye-tracker on the market. 

While there are a few other companies that had dipped there toes into the eye-tracker world with iPads already, none of them (that I know of) have an equivalent offering with Region Base Interaction (RBI), essentially pulling the user's eye to the chosen target with accuracy and precision - indoors OR outdoors. Additionally, TD Pilot uses Smart bright pupil and dark pupil tracking technology which means that the eye tracker is always adjusting to the light conditions and the user to ensure the optimal user experience.

Just like on the proven Windows-based iSeries, TD Pilot has the celebrated Partner Window, and the same powerful speakers. 

TD Pilot when funded, comes with TD Snap, TD Talk, and TD CoPilot. The first many AAC stakeholders are familiar with. TD Talk is a brand new efficient text-to-speech app, and TD CoPilot is the companion app which provides calibration, software updates, and battery status. 

Everyone I've spoken with who has had a chance to test drive the TD Pilot has been very impressed. If you are going to be at ASHA this week, come by, check one out, and say hi to me! If you can't make ASHA, but want to see one for a possible user, reach out to your friendly neighborhood Solutions Consultant. They will be able to help you determine if the TD Pilot is right for you or your client(s)!

Happy therapy!