Adjustable grids

The problem

Room to grow

An AAC system should always have more vocabulary than the individual is currently using or understands in order to provide room to grow. This “extra” vocabulary is also essential for Aided Language Input, a simple teaching strategy where you use the individual’s device yourself while talking with him or her. Also, the more vocabulary on a single page, the less navigation to other pages will be required to find the words you need.

Every user is different

An ideal grid layout should provide the user access to as much language as possible on a single screen. At the same time, the buttons should not be so small or the visual design of the screen so complex that the user cannot find and touch the words he or she needs. The optimal balance will vary from user to user, and will change over time as the skills of the user grow.

Stuck in the wrong vocabulary

Traditionally, comprehensive AAC vocabularies include separate versions optimized for different language and motor skills. To support effective communication, it is important that the user moves to a higher vocabulary level with more buttons per page as their cognitive, language and fine-motor skills develop. However, because the vocabulary for each version is completely separate in these traditional systems, customizations made for one level need to be redone in the next level. As this "reprogramming" is time consuming, it often doesn’t happen, leaving AAC communicators “stuck” at a language level that doesn’t allow them to reach their full communicative potential.

Adjustable grid sizes

The challenge

To have a vocabulary that could easily grow with the user, we wanted to develop a system for Proloquo2Go that would be easily adjustable for the widely varying needs of our individual users. We also wanted a system where the grid size could be easily changed as the user's needs and abilities changed, without losing any customizations. The solution we found was adjustable grid sizes.

Optimized for multiple grid sizes

Proloquo2Go's Crescendo™ vocabulary has been optimized for 23 different grid sizes, ranging from 9 to 144 buttons. Any of these grid sizes can be selected. Many buttons on the screen means smaller buttons that may be harder to use for people with vision impairments or fine motor-challenges. Fewer buttons mean more navigation which might be cognitively more challenging.

Adjustable grids

As the user becomes ready for more vocabulary per page, or develops improved fine motor skills, the grid size can be increased without the need to re-program: just adjust the grid size in Proloquo2Go's Options. Changes that you have made to the fringe folders in the original grid size are automatically carried over to the new grid size without needing to redo the work. At the same time the number of core words available to the user increases so that more can be said on the same page without the need to navigate. Proloquo2Go achieves this seamless migration between grid sizes through a templating system. For each grid size Crescendo contains optimized templates for each type of fringe folder: food, people, places, things, time, leisure, phrases, religion, school, sports, adjectives and verbs. Only for the Home, Actions and Describe folders you may need to do some re-customization. However, any missing buttons will be available in Storage from where they can easily be moved to the right place (learn more about Storage and VocaPriority™).