The ProSlate™ Series from Forbes AAC are iOS-based speech generating devices that can run almost any AAC app on the market using iOS-based software. This week’s blog post aims to highlight the many different features and strengths of the AAC app Proloquo2Go!
Proloquo2Go has a wide range of vocabulary levels and grid sizes which allows this system to meet the needs of AAC users from beginning communicators to advanced communicators.
Proloquo2Go offers two different vocabularies - Crescendo and Gateway
Crescendo™ Vocabulary: This AAC vocabulary was designed to address consistent core word placement while also providing fringe vocabulary opportunities to personalize and motivate users. Crescendo provides three vocabulary levels in 23 different grid sizes.
Gateway to Language & Learning©: Developed in 1997 by Joan Bruno, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is a research-based core word vocabulary that has five vocabulary levels. Each vocabulary level addresses different communicative functions and is appropriate for user's of varying abilities.
Features of Crescendo
Available in multiple languages including English for the US, UK, and Australia, Spanish, Dutch, and French.
The VocaPriority™ system offered through Crescendo allows clinicians and family members to organize an AAC user's pages based on their priority - vocabulary utilized more frequently can be prioritized in the primary level!
Core words maintain the same location throughout Crescendo allowing user's to formulate many different phrases and sentences while also having quick access to relevant fringe vocabulary.
Features of Gateway
Gateway series has five symbol- and text-based vocabularies (Child Functional, Teen/Adult Functional, Developing Language, Advanced Communicator, Text) in various grid sizes to meet a user's unique needs.
Promotes efficient communication as a user can access vocabulary in an average of <1.5 key selections per word.
Gateway has other features (Sentence Development Links, Semantic Power Strips and Dynamic Morphology) that were developed to maximize language development and strengthen an AAC user's communicative efficiency.
Crescendo supports bilingual communication!
You can add any language to the same user as a second language - this allows the AAC user to easily switch between languages through the Tools popup (located in the bottom left corner).
Personalization
This app has over 20,000 SymbolStix symbols and you can also add your own photos
Modify buttons (color, font, border) as needed
Expand the grid size as a user's language grows with confidence that the customizations you have done will be retained
You can also backup a user's profile - this can be done through iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive.
Word Search
It's easy to do a word search in Proloquo2Go! Just open the tools popup, tap search, and then the system keyboard will generate. Then just type a word you want to find!
This is a great tool for clinicians or caregivers new to the system who want to model a specific word. You can use this word search feature to find the target word, then model how to navigate to the word!
Access Methods
Within the app, you can modify the direct touch settings (e.g., hold duration, select on release) to maximize the system efficiency for the user
You can also program Proloquo2Go for switch access through the app's built-in scanning options that work with most switch interfaces
Want to trial Proloquo2Go? Forbes AAC offers our web-based Loan Library!
A successful AAC device trial can provide data-driven information for making clinical recommendations for an AAC system.
Forbes AAC offers a self-serve, fully automated, online loan library system which enables speech-language pathologists and end users the ability to request devices for trials and evaluations.
Learn more about the loan library here: Forbes AAC Loan Library
There are also many support articles located here: Proloquo2Go Support
References:
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (n.d.). Augmentative and Alternative Communication (Practice Portal). www.asha.org/Practice-Portal/Professional-Issues/Augmentative-and-Alternative-Communication/
Beukelman, D. R., & Light, J. C. (2020). Augmentative & alternative communication: Supporting children and adults with complex communication needs (5th ed.). Brookes.
Katie Threlkeld, M.S., CCC-SLP is a licensed, ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist and the Educational Program Developer at Forbes AAC. She has over eight years of experience in AT and AAC assessment and treatment with both the pediatric and adult populations. Katie has presented at the state and national level on AAC topics and she has University teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate level.