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August 2001
MessageMates are recorded speech output devices. In general, they are relatively low cost; highly robust (as in - can be thrown against a wall or dropped from a great height, and live to tell the tale); have excellent battery life (they almost never seem to need charging!); and have very good voice quality and a reasonable volume level - useful in noisy places like classrooms (and discos, and pubs, come to think of it...).
MessageMates are compact and their dark blue colour often appeals to older children and adults who prefer a more discreet looking communication aid. They are good for basic communication needs and very useful for assessment and as ‘trainer’ devices. They might be a ‘bridge’ between simple single or sequenced message devices such as BigMack or Step by Stepcommunicators - and more complex systems such as Minspeak or dynamic screen software.
The smaller MessageMates are very easy to program, but as the range of features and memory capacity increases, model by model, the programming complexity also increases a bit. The message squares are quite small and the keyboard is a membrane keyboard (no click or ‘feelie’ feedback when you press it) so they are not for all users.
CALL Centre has four MessageMates available for loan - all slightly different examples of the range.
Mini-MessageMate
 CALL has a Mini-MessageMate (MMM) which can store up to 8 messages only (60 seconds of recording time altogether). It can be accessed directly by pressing the squares on the top (membrane keyboard) or by switch. There are 8 switch sockets - one for each message - so that up to 8 students could participate in a classroom activity, such as a story telling,
The really great thing about the Mini-MessageMate is its small size - (180mm x 80 x 30) it is easily portable by someone who is mobile though perhaps a bit wobbly. We know a blind teenager who uses the MMM to ask for his shopping when he goes out, using it with small objects of reference on the overlay, so he can locate the message he wants in each shop, as he works through his shopping list.
Single and Multi-Level MessageMates
 The newer Multi-Level MessageMate 40/600 is the ‘top of the range’. It has up to 40 keys and 4 levels, storing up to 144 messages (600 seconds altogether, 2 - 8 secs per message, see below). You either have to keep swapping overlays, or the user has to be able to cope with the idea of 4 levels of stored messages, remembering where each message is stored, and pressing the appropriate one of the 4 ‘level’ keys, before pressing his/her chosen message key. With this latter mode, you either have to have text based overlays (due to lack of space - 4 messages per 2 x 2cm square) or symbols that are multi-meaning (which makes it a good assessment & trainer device for a more complex Minspeak device).
The MessageMate 40 is more for exclusive use as a communication aid by one person than for group use or play use in class.
A school user that we know has all her ‘chat to classmates’ vocabulary on Level 1, peoples names on Level 2, feelings and comments on Level 3, and all ‘school things’ on the fourth level. By showing that she can remember the abstract structure of the message storage, locate messages using multi-meaning icons on the overlay, and sequence keypresses and messages, she is showing that she is a likely candidate for transfer to a DeltaTalker, later.
The new MM 40 range have the ‘Message Builder’ feature, which means that you can put together a sentence or a sequence of messages, and then speak the whole thing out at the end as a connected sentence or story.
CALL also has an old single level MessageMate 20/20, with up to 20 messages and 20 seconds of recording time altogether and an old single level MessageMate 40/240. These may be useful to borrow for basic assessment and trial. With all of these, you can choose to set them up to have 1, 2, 4, 10, 20 or 40 keys.
Switch Access
The MessageMates 20 and 40 have switch and scanning access (linear or row/column), an adjustable scan speed (although even the slowest scan speed is a bit fast for some users...); auditory scanning; and an input acceptance time filter. The squares don’t light up, the user just sees a small moving red light across the top corner of each square, which may be a bit small for some users (but auditory scanning could be used as well to reinforce visual scanning).
Making Overlays for MessageMates
You will find blank templates for MessageMate overlays in the Words+folder in Pre-Made Grids, in BoardMaker. If you have an older copy of BoardMaker and the overlay version/layout you want is not there, you can download it from the Mayer-Johnson website (http://www.mayer-johnson.com). Paper overlays should be laminated, to make them easier to slide in and out of the top cover - but they may be a bit thick. A problem with MessageMates’ design is that the cover is a bit tight and is likely to start to rip sooner or later, as you slide overlays in and out from under it. If you have a switch and scan user, you are faced with working out how to make nice looking holes in the paper overlay for the scan light to show through. The answer to both of these problems is - print out your symbol overlay in colour on to a transparent acetate (make sure you have the right kind of acetates, first) instead of on paper.
Summary
If you want a ‘middle of the road’, versatile device that would be useful for demonstrations, assessment, and early AAC use - you could do a lot worse than a MessageMate! Use the CALL Loan Bank to check one out before you buy.
Price Guide (exclusive of VAT)
- Mini-MessageMate 8/60: £320
- MM 20/75: £500
- MM20/150: £685
- MM 40/150:£820
- MM40/300: £1,035
- MM 40/600: £1,185
MessageMates are available in the UK from Cambridge Adaptive Communication Tel: 01296 719 736 Fax: 01296 719 736
Web: www.cameleon-web.com
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