0:00:01.701,0:00:13.486 [Upbeat music] 0:00:26.765,0:00:32.869 Hi I'm Rebecca. I'm a speech and language therapist and now I'm an app developer as well. 0:00:32.869,0:00:40.264 Many of you think are going to think that the ipod is cool. It's mainstream. It's fun. It's relatively inexpensive compared to mainstream AAC devices. 0:00:40.264,0:00:43.603 And you're going to be thinking about how you're going to use it. 0:00:43.618,0:00:48.943 But recently I've seen the questions shift from 'What is an ipad?' to 'How am I going to make the best use of it?'. 0:00:48.943,0:00:55.502 So the app store is jam packed with apps that are there for fun, there're for travel, recipes, 0:00:55.502,0:00:57.943 and now you have apps for AAC. 0:00:57.943,0:01:01.918 When we first started to take notice of apps, this was way back in 2009, 0:01:01.918,0:01:06.421 and things have moved quickly especially with the release of the ipad 0:01:06.421,0:01:08.583 I'm going to tell you about the apps that I know 0:01:08.583,0:01:11.664 This is part of the Proloue2go design by AssistiveWare. 0:01:11.664,0:01:15.550 And it will not look dissimilar to a lot of the AAC programs that you've used before. 0:01:15.550,0:01:19.988 This is Predictable, a text to speech based app with sophisticated word prediction engine 0:01:19.988,0:01:24.223 which is designed to improve efficiency in getting your message across. 0:01:24.223,0:01:29.926 Plus it has the useful features of being able to SMS, Email, Facebook, and tweet. 0:01:29.943,0:01:33.904 This is Scene & Heard, it takes visual scene approach to augmented communication. 0:01:33.904,0:01:40.921 You take a photo on your ipad and then you edit it to make it an interactive page with hot spots to play your video and audio message. 0:01:40.921,0:01:45.502 For it to pop up symbols or to link to another page. 0:01:45.502,0:01:48.543 Now this all happens on a very common piece of equipment. 0:01:48.543,0:01:52.103 There have been over 30 million ipads sold in the last year. 0:01:52.103,0:01:55.780 How many iphones and ipods did you see on the tube on your way here today? 0:01:55.780,0:02:00.753 And these apps sit alongside all your other apps like email, music, or even angry birds. 0:02:00.753,0:02:02.760 [laughter] 0:02:02.760,0:02:08.064 Now the ipad and the iphone do have some inbuilt accessibility features 0:02:08.064,0:02:13.630 Like voice over which enables you to run your hand over the screen and it will speak aloud as you tap on it. 0:02:13.630,0:02:18.502 Plus they're devices that you can integrate, like the switch box, to make them accessibile. 0:02:18.502,0:02:23.549 But I think one of the biggest things going for the ipad or the iphone is the cool factor. 0:02:23.549,0:02:27.389 I've seen teenagers who've abandoned their previous AAC devices in the years before 0:02:27.389,0:02:34.263 Who are now independently programming their apps and showing their mates how to download songs. 0:02:34.263,0:02:38.542 But communication for people using AAC is not just being able to have face-to-face conversation. 0:02:38.542,0:02:43.581 They want to be able to use social media and exciting tools like skype, and facebook, and facetime 0:02:43.581,0:02:47.025 to chat to their friends and family 0:02:47.702,0:02:52.307 So how is using an ipad different to using a designated device? 0:02:52.307,0:02:55.170 Well some of the things going for an ipad are that it's easy to use 0:02:55.170,0:03:04.080 It loads up straight away, and the touch screen is responsive, and the operating system is intuitive both to the user and to the people programming it. 0:03:04.080,0:03:07.383 So many of the traditional AAC companies are now commissioning apps. 0:03:07.383,0:03:14.061 And certainly put a focus on the need for affordability and innovation across all platforms to meet the needs of a changing client 0:03:14.061,0:03:18.343 Who demands the latest in technology 0:03:18.343,0:03:20.823 Well of course the ipad is not the answer for everyone 0:03:20.823,0:03:28.241 And while there's plenty of hype, as clinicians we continue to ensure that we provide the most appropriate option based on our assessments 0:03:30.257,0:03:34.108 The paper I'm about to show you sets out a simple reasoning process 0:03:34.108,0:03:37.703 looking at how clinicians go about considering if an i device might be an option 0:03:37.703,0:03:40.783 and then how the i device might be then used 0:03:40.783,0:03:43.943 This has come out in response to what seems like a big shift in this area 0:03:43.943,0:03:46.667 and also the high profile media reports, especially in the US 0:03:46.667,0:03:50.921 which led to many families rushing to their speech therapist to demand an ipad 0:03:50.921,0:03:52.082 [laughter] 0:03:52.082,0:03:54.942 so the challenge is then that the clinicians need to be up to speed 0:03:54.942,0:03:58.745 on the range of apps currently available and then keep up with all the new ones 0:03:58.745,0:03:59.998 that keep coming out 0:03:59.998,0:04:01.619 some of these apps are complete rubbish 0:04:01.619,0:04:04.673 and others will be applicable to some of your clients needs 0:04:04.673,0:04:09.808 at last count there's a hundred and ten communication related apps on the app store 0:04:09.839,0:04:15.523 so it's important to sort them out and identify what might be useful in your assessment kit 0:04:17.210,0:04:21.505 clinicians also need to know the difference between an ipad and other tablets 0:04:21.505,0:04:23.263 what different operating systems are 0:04:23.263,0:04:27.720 how they're going to use it, and how they're going to manage them within their departments 0:04:28.551,0:04:31.229 We need to know about the features the apps have 0:04:31.229,0:04:34.747 look at how they're customisable and how they might work for our clients 0:04:34.747,0:04:38.515 Considering their needs now and in the future 0:04:40.023,0:04:43.503 we need to complete assessments that look at all of the operational aspects 0:04:43.503,0:04:47.085 like 'does the school have wifi?', 'how am I going to sync to itunes?', 0:04:47.085,0:04:54.464 and to see how the person is using the device in a rage of settings with a range of people 0:04:54.464,0:04:58.712 we need to assess in real world settings 0:05:01.097,0:05:02.753 I'm racing along 0:05:02.753,0:05:04.223 [laughter] 0:05:04.223,0:05:07.581 Sorry. Really our role hasn't changed. This is what we do anyway 0:05:07.581,0:05:10.909 We just need to make sure that we're keeping up to date with the latest technology 0:05:10.909,0:05:14.943 and that we know where to find out more about which apps or which device 0:05:14.943,0:05:18.391 might be suitable for our particular clients 0:05:19.068,0:05:23.509 If you'd like to contact us we can certainly come out and show you what we've found 0:05:24.263,0:05:26.908 [applause] 0:05:26.908,0:05:31.530 [upbeat music]