New to Proloquo2Go 6: Symbols and expanded search

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An app like Proloquo2Go depends on symbols that are clear, identifiable, and relevant. This is important in getting an AAC learner engaged and interested in the system. It’s also necessary to provide all of our users with vocabulary that recognizes their daily life.

Symbols

The problem

When you create a new button, Proloquo2Go uses the text you enter to suggest symbols. In most cases, this is pretty straightforward. But in some cases, you might need to choose a different symbol than what is automatically suggested. Maybe you’ve written a long sentence. Maybe you’ve already used the suggested symbols for other buttons, and need something unique.

But there were also a few topics without the right symbols for all situations. Choices were too limited for gender identification and relationships, as well as medical terms related to injury, abuse, and neglect. Some of our Australian users also contacted us to add symbols related to Australian football.

The solution

We’ve added a button which takes you directly to the symbol list, and we’ve made the Search bar for this section more easily visible.

More Symbols option in button edit mode

We also responded to user requests for new symbols in a wide variety of categories.

Here’s a few examples.

New symbols: Scratch, Guernsey, AFL logo, Transgender symbol, Abuse, Verbal abuse, Canker, Beard, Sore, Goal, Female relationship

These symbols won't be automatically added as buttons to your vocabulary, but you'll see them if you're creating a new button or searching through the symbol library.

Thanks to SymbolStix for helping us fill this need in Proloquo2Go!

Expanded search

Of all the features we’ve added to Proloquo2Go, the Search function has been one of the most popular. But we’d gotten word that Search didn’t always work as you expected.

The problem

For example, users often search for past tenses of a verb, like “came”, and weren’t able to see any matches. The search function also didn’t pick up on folder names. Finally, in languages like Dutch, where compound nouns without spaces between words are common, Search wasn’t able to pick up on words with other letters before them.

The solution

Proloquo2Go 6 includes fixes to these Search issues. Now, you can search through all of the different forms of a word. We now also include folder names which match your search. And finally, it will be a lot easier to search for all instances of words, even when they are in compound nouns.

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