News about Proloquo2Go

This update brings new features as well as enhanced stability and performance. The key changes are:

• Added vocabulary backup with iTunes' File Sharing using the dock connector cable (available for iOS 3.2 and higher). - read the tutorial
• Added updated, higher quality voices.
• Optimized all artwork, including all 7000+ symbols, for the retina display of the iPhone 4 and new iPod touch, providing crisp, gorgeous graphics.
• Conversion of text to symbols several times faster.
• Uploading of a vocabulary from computer to Proloquo2Go over wifi significantly faster.
• Enhanced stability on iPad and iOS 4 devices.
• Over 30 other improvements, bug fixes and performance enhancements.

The update is free for existing Proloquo2Go users. If you are not familiar with the procedure of updating an App, please read these instructions.

Featured on CNET News home page, "Tapping this app gives special-needs users a voice" by Abbi Perets is about how "a new wave of App Store offerings, including Proloquo2Go, is gaining favor over clunky and uberexpensive devices for those with communication disorders—and making assistive technology cool." The article highlights how Proloquo2Go makes a difference for the 7 year old Max.

Check out the article "iHelp for Autism" by SFWeekly reporter Ashley Harrell. It’s about the transformative experience of the iPad and also mentions Proloquo2Go. Apple clearly liked the article too and made it part of it’s Hot News feed!

Proloquo2Go has been included in Apple’s brand new App Store Volume Purchase Program. This means that educational institutions in the US can get a 50% discount on Proloquo2Go purchases of 20 or more copies. For details see: http://www.apple.com/itunes/education/

Peninsula Rehab Center (PRC) at Florida Hospital Oceanside, one of our US resource centers is featured with Proloquo2Go on Fox 35 News. Watch the YouTube video here.

We have just uploaded a whole set of brand-new Proloquo2Go tutorials. These step-by-step tutorials of 1 to 3 pages each can help you get the most out of Proloquo2Go whether you are a Proloquo2Go user, caregiver of a Proloquo2Go user, teacher working with students that use Proloquo2Go, Speech Language Pathologist working with Proloquo2Go users, or provide trainings on Proloquo2Go. The tutorials can be downloaded here.

Therapy Box, our UK partner is presenting Proloquo2Go at Communication Matters Road show event on Tuesday, 29 June 2010. They are presenting 5 times that day. Location: Trinity Park Conference Centre, Felixstowe Road, Ipswich, IP3 8UH.

On June 13, 2010 Rick Foster from the The Sun Chronicle reported on how two local Lions Clubs help a teenager get an iPad with Proloquo2Go.

Dear Proloquo2Go user and community member,

On 3 June 2010, Samuel Sennott, co-creator of Proloquo2Go, sold his share in Proloquo2Go to AssistiveWare in order to focus his research and development efforts on his PhD at The Pennsylvania State University and on his new company, Sennott Technologies, LLC.

Proloquo2Go has made a large impact on the AAC world over the two years of the collaboration between AssistiveWare and Sennott Consulting. When they came together almost two years ago, they believed they could make a difference by creating a new AAC solution that was powerful, affordable, and cool. From the amazing user community, to a front-page feature in the NY Times, Proloquo2Go has had a profound impact.

While Sennott will not continue to be a part of Proloquo2Go, he will remain fully committed to the AAC community, serving through his research and future endeavors. He has full confidence that AssistiveWare will continue to provide great service as well as many further enhancements to Proloquo2Go that will benefit the Proloquo2Go community.

David and AssistiveWare would like to use this occasion to thank Sam for the important contributions he has made to Proloquo2Go and, not in the least, his success in drawing public attention to the needs of AAC users. With his ongoing research, he will be able to make even more contributions to the field of AAC in the future. Let us all give Sam a big thank you and wish him well in his further pursuits.

Samuel Sennott would like to specially thank David Niemeijer for the amazing work we did together. He would also like to thank his father, mother, family, Deirdre, Joseph Barnick, Pam H., Sue M., Mads, the Penn State community, The DC Crew, TLC, Origin Instruments, Apple Inc. and the whole Proloquo2Go community for their support.

Best wishes,

David and Sam

The Doctors is a popular daytime television show, which in a show focused on autism, featured Proloquo2Go. Click here to see the video.

Proloquo2Go, the augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system that has taken the world by storm, is now available on the iPad. Proloquo2Go is latin for speak out loud and that’s exactly what it helps people do! It is pronounced “Pro” as in professional, “lo” as in low, and “quo” as in quotation. The “2Go” means mobile.

Proloquo2Go version 1.3 has been optimized for the iPad and will be a free update for existing users. Check out the photos here.

New Features and Enhancements include:

• Universal App that will run optimally on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
• Added additional items sizes for iPad.
• Support for both landscape and portrait view plus device rotation.
• Redesigned toolbar for easier access to core functions.
• Additional Appearance Settings for a fine-tuned user experience.
• Rewritten core grid engine for higher performance.

Proloquo2Go has been helping individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), cerebral palsy, down syndrome, developmental disabilities, ALS, traumatic brain injury, aphasia, apraxia, and more.

Autism: there’s an app for help. Monday March 29, 2010 Fox News in Tampa reports on a young girl using Proloquo2Go at home and at school. Click here to read the story.

Click here to read the accompanying story.

iPod Touch helps autistic kids learn to speak, communicate Plymouth, IN

Children with autism and other verbal disabilities are getting the chance to speak with help from the iPod Touch. Click here to read more and watch the video at WNDU News Center 16.

Join us next month in San Diego for the 25th Annual CSUN: International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference on March 22-27, 2010. Origin Instruments, the distributor of the Proloquo2Go bundle pack will be hosting co-creators, David Niemeijer and Samuel Sennott in booth, San Diego - 219, San Diego - 318.

Also, check out and sign-up for the conference presentations (limited seating):

Lab session: AAC-1030 - Basics Proloquo2Go Lab. Wednesday, March 24 8:00 am - 9:00 am, Madeleine CD Mac Lab. Speakers: Samuel Sennott, David Niemeijer, Mark Coppin, Eric Sailers.

Regular session: AAC-1036 - AAC in your pocket: Introduction to Proloquo2Go for iPhone and iPod. Wednesday, March 24 9:20 am - 10:20 am, Edward AB. Speakers: Samuel Sennott, David Niemeijer.

Lab session: AAC-2029 - Advanced Proloquo2Go Vocabulary Lab. Wednesday, March 24 1:50 pm - 2:50 pm, Madeleine CD Mac Lab. Speakers: Samuel Sennott, David Niemeijer, Mark Coppin, Eric Sailers.

Lab session: K12-2010 - Using iPod Touch Applications as Assistive Technology for Students with Special Needs. Friday, March 26 3:10 pm - 4:10 pm, Mohsen AB. Speakers: Eric Sailers, Samuel Sennott, Mark Coppin, David Niemeijer.

Regular session: K12-2011 - Discovering iPod Touch Applications as Assistive Technology for Students with Special Needs. Saturday, March 27 9:20 - 10:20 AM, Emma AB. Speakers: Eric Sailers, Samuel Sennott, Mark Coppin.

On Saturday, February 27th, the California Speech-Hearing Association will host a half day Proloquo2Go workshop, taught by Betsy Caporale. The event will be in the San Francisco area, in Pleasanton, CA. Click here for more information.

As of Friday, 12 February 2010, Proloquo2Go version 1.2 is available in the App Store. This is a free update for all present Proloquo2Go users.

New Features and Enhancements

• Added support for wide items to fit more text. This doubles the number of available layouts, ranging from 1 item per screen to 36 items per screen.
• Optimized and increased font-size and legibility on many item sizes in grid view.
• Added a pronunciation editor allowing users to easily customize the pronunciation of any word.
• Added auto-recovery in case the vocabulary database becomes damaged.
• Items without an image now show more lines of text nicely centered.
• Over a dozen other interface and usability enhancements.
• Fixed several problems with manually re-ordering items.
• A dozen other bug fixes.

Note that the next free update will add support for landscape-mode for the typing view

How to update to version 1.2

To update Proloquo2Go, you have two options: update through iTunes or update on the device itself. Given the size of the application, downloading Proloquo2Go through iTunes is the recommended route to take. Below are instructions for both options:

— Updating Proloquo2Go from iTunes —

1. First, make sure that you are logged into the same iTunes account that you purchased Proloquo2Go from. Then, In iTunes’ left hand sidebar, click the item that says "Applications". Next, at the bottom right of the Applications screen, click the text that says, "X Updates Available". You can either update all of your apps by clicking, "Download all free updates" or do them one by one by navigating to the Proloquo2Go app and clicking "Get update".

2. Once downloaded, sync your iPhone/ iPod touch to install the update.

3. Confirm success by launching Proloquo2Go on your device, navigating to the Options View and scrolling down to "About". Tap "About" and you will see the version number listed under the product name.

— Updating Proloquo2Go from an iPhone/ iPod touch: —

1. On your iPhone/ iPod touch, tap the App Store application, and make sure that you are logged into the same iTunes account that you purchased Proloquo2Go from. Next, on the bottom toolbar, tap "Updates" and then scroll to Proloquo2Go and tap it. Finally, tap "Free" to update Proloquo2Go.

2. Confirm success by launching Proloquo2Go on your device, navigating to the Options View and scrolling down to "About". Tap "About" and you will see the version number listed under the product name.

ABC News: Feb. 9, 2010.

iPhone App Opens World to Boy with Rare Syndrome

MATTHEW NOJIRI writes about how Proloquo2go Allows 8-Year-Old Andrew Patitucci to Communicate with His Family.

Eight-year-old Andrew Patitucci now has an easier time communicating with his family because of Proloquo2Go, a new iPhone application he uses on his iPod. Click here to read the story and comment.

On Wednesday, January 27th, Apple announced the iPad, a device with a 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen multi-touch display. Proloquo2Go, the full featured augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) solution, along with most of the 140,000 iPhone apps will run on the iPad. Current Proloquo2Go users will be able to download Proloquo2Go to the iPad once the iPad ships at the end of March.

We are very excited about this important news.

Come see Proloquo2Go at the Origin Instruments booth (# 907) and meet Proloquo2Go co-creator Samuel Sennott this week at ATIA 2010 Orlando from Thursday, January 28 to Saturday, January 30.

Origin Instruments Booth number 907. Free Exhibit Hall Pass

Conference sessions:

Thursday, January 28 AAC on the iPhone and iPod touch: Proloquo2Go Innovations with Samuel Sennott 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM, Bonaire 7

Other Sessions with Samuel Sennott Thursday, January 28 Dan and Sam...Cool, Free or ...You’ve Gotta Have it Applications with Dan Herlihy and Samuel Sennott 2:45 to 3:45, Bonaire 1/2

Friday, January 29 Aided Language Stimulation: Research to Practice with Samuel Sennott, Linda Burkhart, Caroline Ramsey Musselwhite, & Joanne Cafiero 2:45 to 3:45, Caribbean VII

Published in the ASHA Division 12 Perspectives Journal, December 2009:

Autism, AAC, and Proloquo2Go by Samuel Sennott and Adam Bowker (The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA)

Abstract. People with ASD often need to access AAC in situations where a tabletop digital device is not practical. Recent advancements have made more powerful, portable, and affordable communication technologies available to these individuals. Proloquo2Go is a new portable augmentative and alternative communication system that runs on an iPhone or iPod touch and can be used to meet the diverse needs of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who are ambulatory and have difficulty using speech to meet their full daily communication needs. This article examines Proloquo2Go in light of the best practices in AAC for individuals with ASD such as symbols, visual supports, voice output, and inclusion.

AssistiveWare will preview the upcoming version of Proloquo2Go at the BETT educational trade show in London this week. The new version adds many enhancements and fixes, including enhanced support for people who prefer a text-based interfaced over symbols.

Come see us at stand SN60 at BETT.

Proloquo2Go is one of the ten iPhone apps that has been nominated for Best Educational App of 2009. Cast your vote today! Voting is open until the end of January 2010.

In the mean time we are already hard at work on the next version of Proloquo2Go...

On Wednesday 16 December at 1 pm, Proloquo2Go was featured on the BBC "See Hear" TV program.

In a section of this episode a deaf man uses Proloquo2Go and some other iPhone apps to navigate through London and then at his destination uses Proloquo2Go to order a croissant and coffee.

For residents of the UK it is possible to see the program in iPlayer until Wednesday 23 December 2009 (1:29 pm).

AssistiveWare will show all of its products, including Proloquo2Go in the Special Needs Section of BETT (London, 13 - 16 January, 2010).

Come meet Sam and David, the Proloquo2Go developers, at the AssistiveWare stand SN60.

With close to 30,000 visitors, BETT is one of the world’s largest educational trade shows attracting visitors from all over the world.

Fox 9 News, featured a story about a six-year-old Charlie McCants, who uses Proloquo2Go to communicate. In August, his Speech Pathologist from Gillette Children’s Hospital introduced Proloquo2Go to him and already he is able to blend in much more with the other kids at school.

Here is a link to the video on Fox News.

Meet the Proloquo2Go developers, Sam and David in person. Come and visit us at the AssistiveWare booth (#1514) at ASHA 2009 (19 - 21 November 2009, New Orleans, United States).

Come to a session by co-developer Samuel Sennott: AAC, Speech, the iPhone, iPod Touch, Your Students, & You on Friday, November 20, 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM. Session Number/Code: 1542. Room: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center – CC/245

IEEE.tv has a very nice video feature on Proloquo2Go with some great footage of a child with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome using Proloquo2Go as well as some interviews, including one with Proloquo2Go creators Sam and David. Watch it now.

IEEE.tv is an award winning, internet based television network. A non-profit organization, IEEE is the world’s leading professional association for the advancement of technology.

Version 1.1, a free update for existing users, brings lots of new features and enhancements:

• Items can now be fully re-ordered in both list and grid view.
• Easier to use for people with limited fine-motor control (no accidental scrolling in grid view if you hold down an item longer) and enhanced visual feedback when pressing items in grid view.
• Now supports connecting to a computer over WiFi to copy vocabulary backups to the computer and restore from such backups. Also allows transferring a complete vocabulary from one device to another.
• Added support for downloading additional voices over the internet, initially this includes an extra American female voice, two British male voices and two British female voices.
• Added voice personalization allowing the user to make a voice sound deeper or higher and even to make an adult voice sound like a child voice.
• Major performance improvement for category loading and scrolling.
• Major performance boost for the symbol chooser.
• More complete symbolization of text when saving from Typing View.
• Text spoken in Typing View is now added to Recents View.
• Several categories are now ordered more logically, including money, days of the week, months and numbers.
• Many other bug fixes and enhancements.

Therapy Box, our new UK partner, will present Proloquo2Go at the Communication Matters Symposium at Leicester University (Sep 20-22). This is will give AAC users, families and specialists a chance to get a hands-on look at Proloquo2Go. Rebecca Bright, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, will be on hand to show how easy it is to use Proloquo2Go at the Therapy Box stand at the exhibition. Visitors to the Symposium can also catch Rebecca’s presentation at 12.05pm Tuesday 22nd in Room 8 at the John Foster Building.

The New York Times featured Proloquo2Go user Kara Lynn and her young son Aiden, both Proloquo2Go users, in their article titled, For Speech-Impaired, Insurance Fights Remedy published in the online edition on September 14, 2009 and in the print edition on September 15, 2009.

At Closing The Gap we will present several sessions that will cover Proloquo2Go:

PC-13 Using the iPhone and iPod touch as Assistive Technology: From AAC to Planning Tool and Beyond. Preconference workshop by David Niemeijer, Samuel Sennott and Eric Sailers. Wednesday, Oct 14 8:00 am - 4:30 pm.

AAC in Your Pocket: Meet Proloquo2Go for iPhone and iPod. Presentation by David Niemeijer and Samuel Sennott. Thursday, Oct 15 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm.

Advanced Proloquo2Go Lab (Beginners Welcome). Lab presented by David Niemeijer and Samuel Sennott. Friday, Oct 16 9:30 am - 12:00 pm.

If you come to Closing The Gap, be sure to join one of the above sessions. We will also demo in the Origin Instruments booth.

WJLA-TV ABC7 News/News Channel 8 in Washington, DC, www.wjla.com, featured a story about a young woman who is a Proloquo2Go user on the 5:00 PM news this today, Thursday, July 16th. She was interviewed with her father, speech therapist and Samuel Sennott at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD.

Here is a link to the video on News Channel 8. For more info, be sure to also read the background story on the News Channel 8 site.

Apple has now approved Proloquo2Go version 1.0.3. Version 1.0.3 offers significantly enhanced performance, especially for recently visited categories. It also fixes a bug in the Add Item and Edit Item views that could in the past cause a crash.

— originally published in June, now updated with the new information that the price increase will be sometime in September, not in August as version 1.1 has taken us a bit more time than expected.

We have kept the introductory price (about 25% off) longer than the few weeks we originally announced after the April 2009 launch of Proloquo2Go. We have tried to keep the introductory price for as long as possible, as we wanted as many people as possible to benefit from the lower price. However, we also want to make sure that we create a sustainable solution where there are enough revenues to continue investing in new features and enhancements not to mention maintaining the service level of our support.

We cannot go into details yet, but there are specific things we are working on that can only be achieved at a higher price point. With the release of version 1.1 (free update), expected sometime in September 2009, the price will be increased to the originally announced US$199 / Euro 149.99 / GBP 114.99 / AUD 249.99 (exact price may vary from country to country). We are announcing this now as we want to give people plenty of time to get it for the introductory price if they wish to do so.

Note that if you already purchased Proloquo2Go the price change will not affect you in anyway. Also note that we have a lot of new and innovative things coming as part of free updates and whether you already have Proloquo2Go, get Proloquo2Go now for the introductory price or buy it later at the final price we believe you will discover a value for your money.

Last night Apple approved Proloquo2Go 1.0.2. This is what’s new and changed:

• Full compatibility with iPhone OS 3.0.
• Enhanced support for working with items with long texts.
• Added a demo mode that automatically resets Proloquo2Go to default vocabulary and settings after quitting or at the end of the day.
• Added a Reset to Factory Defaults feature.
• Added an automatic internal backup feature with the option to restore to an older vocabulary version.
• Added new Restriction options in Settings application to disable destructive actions.

We will add details about these new features to the manual soon.

Update: Based on our testing with the final iPhone OS 3 release, Proloquo2Go 1.0.1 appears to be compatible with iPhone OS 3.0. We do not currently expect any problems for Proloquo2Go users upgrading from iPhone OS 2.2 or iPhone OS 3.

We plan to adopt a lot of the new iPhone OS 3.0 features, but will not do so immediately as that would automatically mean that such updated versions of Proloquo2Go would no longer be installable on devices with iPhone OS 2.x installed. So we will first bring out one or more updates with important new features (such as backup/restore inside Proloquo2Go) before requiring iPhone OS 3.0. For iPhone users iPhone OS 3.0 is a free upgrade, but for iPod users Apple charges a $9.95 fee through iTunes.

Apple is now featuring Proloquo2Go on their accessibility front page.

Proloquo2Go is featured in USA TODAY, in the online-edition on 27 May 2009 and in the print-edition on 28 May 2009. See "iPhone applications can help the autistic" By Greg Toppo

Proloquo2Go has been featured by Apple on a number of European App Store’s and is currently featured on the US, UK, Canadian, Australian and possible other App Stores.

A voice in your pocket. Let’s talk about something cool...

Check out Proloquo2Go on the App Store

Proloquo2Go is now available for purchase on the App Store.

Introducing Proloquo2Go: Samuel Sennott, Interviewed by Chauncy Rucker for the ConnSENSE Bulletin at The 2009 CSUN Conference, March 17-21

Using the iPhone and iPod touch as Assistive Technology: From AAC to Planning Tool and Beyond, a full day preconference lab session, will be held Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at Closing the Gap in Minneapolis, MN.

Read up on the inside story of Proloquo2Go in Samuel Sennott’s article "The Making of Proloquo2Go: AAC in Your Pocket" in the April/May 2009 issue of Closing the Gap.

CSUN 2009, Los Angeles: AAC-1030 - AAC in Your Pocket: Meet Proloquo2Go for iPhone and iPod. Thursday, March 19 - 8:00 am - 9:00 am, Renaissance - International A.