AlphaTopics - AAC

Name: AlphaTopics - AAC
Price: 4.99 USD
Rating: 4.3 (44 reviews)
Author: Tactus Therapy Solutions Ltd.

Letter, Topic, & Whiteboard

$4.99

44 Ratings
Ages

4+
Years
Category

Medical
Developer

Tactus Therapy Solutions Ltd.
Language

EN
English
Size

7.3
MB

Also Included In

Tactus Clinical Tools for SLP

Medical

Sometimes just giving a hint or context is all your listener needs to understand you. The first letter or two. The general topic. AlphaTopics is the perfect AAC app for people whose natural speech is not always clear. Stop wasting time navigating to the right word or typing it out. Get your point across faster by touching just the first few letters of the words you say. Give your listener context by starting the conversation with the topic. Write it out with your finger or draw a picture. Don’t let overly complicated apps slow you down. Tactus Therapy, a trusted name in speech therapy apps, brings you a new take on a classic communication tool. AlphaTopics includes 3 AAC communication boards loaded with features: 1) Letter Board - 26 letters in alphabetical order or 2 variations of frequency order - 10 single digits allow you to express any number - Vowels highlighted and aligned for faster navigation - Natural or automated speech reads out the name of each letter or number - Yes, no, question, smiley, space, and backspace buttons for prosody and function 2) Topic Board - Fully customizable text you can re-order - Voice output with adjustable speech rate - Two sizes of grid to display 12 or 24 topics - Pre-filled with functional topics for adults 3) Whiteboard - Write or draw on the screen - 6 colors and 4 widths - Export to Photos or e-mail When used together, alphabet and topic boards have been scientifically shown to make the speech of people with motor speech disorders far more understandable. Combined with the whiteboard, these tools help people with aphasia express themselves more clearly with self-cueing and strategy use. Stroke, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, and motor neuron disease are all conditions that can impair speech production. Pointing to the first letter in each word not only gives the listener more information about the word, it also encourages the speaker to slow down and separate words, actually making the words clearer! Using alphabet supplementation, studies show intelligibility of sentences improves 25% on average. Pointing to the topic before speaking narrows the range of possibilities for the listener, giving context. Studies show using a topic cue improves word understanding by an average of 28%. Topics can also be used by people with aphasia, a language disorder, to help pinpoint the intended message. Additional Features: *Adjustable settings for visual, physical, language, and cognitive impairments *Works with built-in scanning and guided access *4 color schemes *Pick which board comes up when you start the app *Export any board you've customized to print or share "People whose speech is hard to understand often just want to provide extra clues to their listener and don’t require all the features of a comprehensive AAC app. It’s terrific that we now have an app that provides this level of support on a mobile platform.” - Lois Turner, SLP & AAC specialist Visit tactustherapy.com for more information on how to use this app, the evidence to support this form of AAC, and a day-by-day account of how this app was made.

Ratings & Reviews

4.3

out of 5

44 Ratings

Automated speech stopped working.
07/08/2021

Pingie9
All of a sudden, not working. Anybody else run into this issue? How to fix, please.

Developer Response
I'm sorry, we somehow missed your comment. Did you get this resolved? If not, please let us know at support@tactustherapy.com and we'll be happy to help.
Automated speech stopped working.
07/08/2021

Pingie9

All of a sudden, not working. Anybody else run into this issue? How to fix, please.
Developer Response 01/28/2022
I'm sorry, we somehow missed your comment. Did you get this resolved? If not, please let us know at support@tactustherapy.com and we'll be happy to help.
Awesome! Must get!
02/17/2015

Temenuzkhova
I was following Tactus when they were making this app. I've also have apps from them and love it. This app is going to help me tremendously! Thank you! 👍❤️😊
Awesome! Must get!
02/17/2015

Temenuzkhova

I was following Tactus when they were making this app. I've also have apps from them and love it. This app is going to help me tremendously! Thank you! 👍❤️😊
Cannot control gender of voice output
05/27/2016

MyNickname37
This app would be so perfect...but why can't you change the voice output? For some bizarre reason they choose to make the letter board male and the topic board female. Really confused as to why anyone would think that is a good idea.

Developer Response
Thank you for your feedback! We're glad to hear you like the app. We have recently updated the app so you can use the automated voice for both boards so the voice will match. Before, the app used recorded speech for letters and automated speech for topics to allow you to customize the text. Now there is an option to use automated speech for both, so now you can set the voice of the iPad to either male or female according to your needs and hear it on both boards. Please email directly if you have further feedback, and please consider updating your review based on the new feature. Thanks!
Cannot control gender of voice output
05/27/2016

MyNickname37

This app would be so perfect...but why can't you change the voice output? For some bizarre reason they choose to make the letter board male and the topic board female. Really confused as to why anyone would think that is a good idea.
Developer Response 05/07/2017
Thank you for your feedback! We're glad to hear you like the app. We have recently updated the app so you can use the automated voice for both boards so the voice will match. Before, the app used recorded speech for letters and automated speech for topics to allow you to customize the text. Now there is an option to use automated speech for both, so now you can set the voice of the iPad to either male or female according to your needs and hear it on both boards. Please email directly if you have further feedback, and please consider updating your review based on the new feature. Thanks!
Two okay, one not
09/27/2019

HadaChicky
There are 3 ideas in this app. The Letters work out good, and the Whiteboard is okay. Unfortunately the Topics does not work well, it was bad language and does not say some words correctly.

Developer Response
Thank you for using our AlphaTopics app. Not every part will be used by every person. The topics board helps people establish what they're talking about. This can be used for dysarthria or aphasia. The default topics are based on research and can be customized. The app uses the built-in text-to-speech generator to pronounce them. If you put in an unfamiliar word, it may not be said as you want. Please email us with any questions or specific concerns, or request a refund from Apple if you are not satisfied.
Two okay, one not
09/27/2019

HadaChicky

There are 3 ideas in this app. The Letters work out good, and the Whiteboard is okay. Unfortunately the Topics does not work well, it was bad language and does not say some words correctly.
Developer Response 12/03/2019
Thank you for using our AlphaTopics app. Not every part will be used by every person. The topics board helps people establish what they're talking about. This can be used for dysarthria or aphasia. The default topics are based on research and can be customized. The app uses the built-in text-to-speech generator to pronounce them. If you put in an unfamiliar word, it may not be said as you want. Please email us with any questions or specific concerns, or request a refund from Apple if you are not satisfied.