“It Really Has Become His Voice” A webinar on Max

Max is a 9 year old boy with cerebral policy who has a very limited ability to communicate verbally.  He is able to use the program “Proloquo2go” to communicate his wants and feelings.  With this program Max is now able to form full sentences and explain complicated events that have taken place or describe things like the costume he wore for Halloween.  Max can choose activities and take an active role in participating. Max has developed such a great understanding of proloquo2go that he has been programing the system himself.

The proloquo2go program is a very versatile app that is really only limited to our own ability to use it. To make the program as efficient as possible we have to have an in depth understanding of the student that will be using it. We have to design the app to compensate for their weaknesses and give them freedom to utilize their strengths. We had to design the proloquo2go system for a hypothetical class in which we had a student who was non verbal. We simply designed a button to request that people ask YES or NO questions. Then we just added buttons for YES and NO responses to questions. 

One limit of the app is that it is hard to design the buttons with all the responses that they might need. In the case of a student like Max and other students that are high functioning they can help design the program with you. For other students you need to really consider where the student will be using proloquo2go and try to predict as many plausible questions and responses that a student will need. While doing this we have to remember that the system has to remain accessible to the student. We have to keep the buttons large enough for students to utilize especially those who have difficulty with motor functions. The way we categorize the buttons so that a student can access a file with button options that pertain to particular places or situations will allow us to reduce the number of buttons. on a page and increase button size. I have student with whom I may only have two buttons on one page and others who can easily use 16 or more.

Finally we have to view any of these communication systems like a constant work in progress. No system we design is ever going to be perfect, we try our best and as our students use these systems we will have insights into how we can make them better.  I have continued to modify all the communication systems I have designed for students as I observe how they use the communication app.  Proloquo2go is one of the best communication systems I have worked with but depending on the level of our student s ability we need to keep in mind that there is a multitude of apps to help students communicate.