First Assisted Communication Application for iPhone/iPod Touch
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
By: Carin Yavorcik

Enables nonverbal individuals to express basic needs

Xcellent Creations, Inc. and special education teacher Ian Walden have developed iConverse, an iPhone/iPod touch application that allows children or adults with special needs to use push-button images to convey their basic needs to those around them.

The application features six buttons representing basic needs: eating, drinking, restroom, sickness, resting and help. When pressed, the need is displayed as a visual text and spoken as a verbal sentence by either a male or female voice.

Children and adults who communicate with a speech-generating device are able to converse with others at a comfortable distance and will not need an interpreter to explain their wants and needs. It allows these individuals to be independent in their surroundings, and it successfully contributes to increasing an individual’s receptive and expressive communication.

The application currently uses only images for basic needs so as not to overwhelm a child/adult with options in a situation that may already be overwhelming to them.

Learn more at http://www.iconverseapp.com/. The iConverse product is available now in the Apple App Store.