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August 2001
The CALL Centre has received funding from the Scottish Executive Education Department for the purchase of some of the newest communication aids for loan and evaluation. These are all expensive and complex systems which need to be trialled before purchase could be recommended They are:
- Pathfinder (Minspeak device with small dynamic screen) with Unity or LLL vocabulary.
- DynaVox 3100 (dedicated dynamic screen communication aid) with Dynasyms and PCS symbols and sample vocabularies, Gateway or WordPower.
- Norand Penkey 6642 (mini Windows PC with touch screen) with Winspeak and IDV vocabularies.
- Arti (Windows CE portable with swivel touch screen and keyboard) with Winspeak and IDV vocabularies.
- DynaMo (small portable dynamic screen recorded speech device) with black and white PCS symbols and sample vocabulary.
- MultiLevel MessageMate 40 (robust portable 40 X 4 levels recorded speech device - see following article).
- Spokesman VocaFlex (small recorded speech output device with bar-coded magnetic overlays that children can change by themselves).
These are mainly personal communication aids, not ‘general classroom resources’. They are mostly powerful, complex systems - not simple ‘switch on and speak’ devices. For this reason, it is planned that most loans will be made following CALL assessments, or to school teams providing joint teacher/speech and language therapy assessment and ongoing collaborative working. Training to such teams may be provided by CALL if necessary/possible. Phone to discuss your needs.
Additionally, CALL has purchased TechTalk 8 and TechSpeak 32 (lightweight, simple devices with several levels). TechTalks are especially useful for group/class activities like participative story-telling sessions - see following article.
Related information:
The CALL Loan Bank on-line database is available for you to search for equipment of interest and to find out whether it’s available for you to borrow.
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