Now and Next vs Echo

Now and Next cards, sometimes referred to as “First - Then”, are a visual communication tool that allow you to articulate a current activity - “now” and the one following it - “next”. This enables and supports communication at a variety of ages and learning development stages. The Now and Next app has been specially designed to enable communication in an engaging and visual way.   Featuring over 60 activities ranging from daily home life to school, and the ability to create your own custom activities featuring your own images, a vocabulary of activities can quickly be built and re-used. The unique Time Line feature enables you to take existing cards and create a time line of activities with cards moving on automatically after an adjustable amount of time - perfect for providing a structured set of activities. Disabled by default, a friendly sound can be enabled to notify you that an activity has changed. Help with Early Years Development: Use Now and Next cards to visually indicate activities to young children, building their cognitive skills and understanding. Speech and language development is further encouraged by the use of colourful pictures combined with verbal communication of the activity to the child. Help for Special Education Needs (SEND): For those whose language skills are less developed or have trouble communicating verbally Now and Next cards provide a useful and convenient way to articulate and structure upcoming activities. Continued use of Now and Next cards is encouraged for children whose speech or language development is delayed.

Echo is an AAC app designed for those with a visual difficulty and physical difficulty to access communication. Echo is based around the concept of auditory scanning. Auditory scanning is a communication method using sound cues or auditory feedback rather than visual cues. This method is especially valuable for those with a visual impairment who cant access visual based AAC. Echo provides you with two different voices, one for your auditory cues and the another to represent your voice. You can access Echo using the following methods. - Any external switch (or combination of switches) - Swipe Gestures - Arrow Keys We have plans to extend this in the future to allow for more access methods.