Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

Motivational Speaker

The iPad as an Affordable Communicator: A Follow-up Review

Filed under: Living with a disability — by at 1:22 am on Sunday, July 4, 2010

While I was at the mall last Tuesday, I also made a hair appointment. In the old days I would have typed a note before leaving home. Or, I would have asked Darrell to call for an appointment.

Tuesday I pulled out my iPad, typed a message in the Proloquo2Go app and showed it to the receptionist. An appointment was made for the following day.

Screen shot of the typing mode in Proloque2Go on the iPad

Continuing with my day of playing hookey, I decided to treat myself to lunch at A&W. Once again I typed out my order before scooting up to the counter. However, in the process of placing my iPad on the counter to show the employee, I must have somehow hit the “clear” or something because my order had disappeared. It reminded me of my old Etch n Sketch: shake and everything erases.

I managed to blurt out “Mama Burger”, but “root beer” was lost.

A hair appointment and a Mama Burger – two out of three ain’t bad!

Obviously I need to learn where the “clear” button is to avoid accidentally hitting it or I need to find another app for this purpose – one that doesn’t erase when shaken.

The one thing I do like about Proloque2Go for this purpose is the font size, which is fairly large for when showing someone else. But, if the message disappears in the process of showing another person, then clearly Proloquo2Go is not the right app for this particular purpose.

The next option I’ll try is the app My Writing Nook, which I purchased for a whopping $4.99 for writing on my iPad. The font size can be increased to 36 point, which may be large enough for someone else to read from a comfortable distance. Documents can be saved and quickly brought back up if needed.

Thanks to a tip from Chris Brogan, I’ve also purchased the TextExpander app for another $4.99. This app automatically expands abbreviations; for example, when I type “;gh“ (without the quotation marks), it automatically expands to “Glenda Watson Hyatt”. This is similar to the abbreviations feature in my E Z Keys software, but for a fraction of the cost.

The TextExpander app on the iPad

TextExpander works with several iPad apps, including My Writing Nook. To have it also work with Proloquo2Go would be a cool addition to the communication app.

If you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a chai tea latte. Thanks kindly.

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13 Comments »

Comment by Todd Jordan

July 5, 2010 @ 5:04 am

Good share Glenda. I’m convinced the iPad, and future tablets, are going to revolutionize life for those with disabilities of all types.

I’m fund raising privately to get a local boy w/learning and vision challenges an iPad via my blog. Hoping to get the $500 over the next month.

Comment by Balal Naeem

July 5, 2010 @ 5:51 am

Nice post. Thanks for sharing.

Best 🙂

Comment by Shane

July 5, 2010 @ 8:33 am

Linda. I lovenyour take on this and I wanted to share a post with you for even more business value from the iPad. It’s my post on how to make the iPad the ultimate business tool!

http://www.ipaddaily.com/how-to-make-your-ipad-the-ultimate-business-tool/

Comment by John

July 7, 2010 @ 3:20 pm

Proloquo2Go has a “Recents” selection (the other options are “Grid” and “Typing”) – there, you can recover your message, under “Last 15 minutes”.

Comment by Glenda

July 7, 2010 @ 5:12 pm

Thanks John! I will try this BEFORE the next time I try ordering something.

Comment by Emily B. Hager

September 17, 2010 @ 10:54 am

Dear Glenda,

I am a journalist and would love to contact you via email for a story I am writing.

How can I do it?

Thank you,


Emily B. Hager
Video Journalist
The New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue, 4th Fl.
New York, NY 10018-1405

212-556-1708 (direct)
860-798-3274 (cell)
212-556-4275 (fax)

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