AlphaTopics vs Speech Assistant AAC

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.

Speech Assistant AAC is a text-to-speech app designed for people who are speech impaired, for example due to Aphasia, MND/ALS, Autism, Stroke, Cerebral Palsy or other speech problems. With the app you can create categories and save phrases on buttons for quick access and easy communication. You can also type messages using the iOS keyboard. The app is affordable with a one-time payment and no subscription. Key features • Easy to use and fully customizable to your needs and preferences. • Categories and subcategories to organize your phrases. • History feature to quickly access previously entered phrases. • Option to add symbols, emoji or photos to the buttons. • Full screen mode to display your messages in large font. • Autocomplete feature to display phrase suggestions in a drop-down list. • Tabs for multiple conversations. • Designed for iPhone and iPad, supports both portrait and landscape orientation. • Supports Apple Watch. • Backup to iCloud, Mail or AirDrop. Voices • You can choose a voice from any of the iOS system voices. • Supports ElevenLabs voices, giving you the option to use highly realistic AI professional voice clones. • Supports Apple's Personal Voice. • Option to create voice recordings for the buttons and to import voice recordings. Phone calls • The app can also be used while making Phone and FaceTime calls. • This works with iOS system voices and with iOS 18 also with ElevenLabs voices and regular recordings (app setting). Categories and phrases • Add, change or delete your own (sub)categories and phrases. • You can create an unlimited number of categories to organize your phrases for quick access. • Create user profiles with their own categories, phrases and settings for multi-language support or different individuals. • Easily edit category and phrase buttons with a long press. • With Backup to iCloud or AirDrop you can transfer your categories and phrases to another iPhone/iPad. Fully Customizable • The size of the buttons, the textbox and the text can be adjusted. • The app has various color schemes and you can also create a personal color scheme. • You can change the order of the buttons with drag and drop. Full screen • Show your message full screen with a very large font. • Useful for communicating in a noisy environment. • You can rotate the text to show your message to the person opposite of you. Speech • The rate and pitch of the speech can be adjusted. • Option to speak each Word or Character directly while typing. • Optional highlighting of the spoken words. • Pause and resume speaking by tapping the speak button (optional setting). Apple Watch • The Watch app can especially be useful for communicating short messages. • On the go, you don't have to pick up your phone and can quicky communicate with the app on your wrist. Other features • Button to share your message to mail, text and social media. • Connect a bluetooth keyboard and create shortcuts for actions. • A custom keyboard can be enabled in the settings with customizable size, color and layout. • Abbreviations expansion to reduce keystrokes. • Attention sound button on Main and Full screen. • Option to select symbols from the set of 3400 Mulberry Symbols (mulberrysymbols.org). About the app • This app is developed by ASoft. • The app does not collect any data, so all your conversations stay private. • One-time payment, there is no subscription fee. • The app has won an innovation award: The Vodafone Mobiles For Good Challenge. • The app does not require an internet connection. • For feedback or questions, please contact: speechassistant@asoft.nl. • On www.asoft.nl you can find more information such as a user manual.