How does the Go Talk increase functional capacity

Communication boards are a different way of communicating for those who cannot articulate their needs or desires verbally. The Go Talk has 9 buttons where pictures to represent the message can be inserted. Some children may not be able to read but a visual cue maybe understood. When the button is pressed the associated recorded message is read out. The individual can hear what they are trying to say. Messages can be recorded and re-recorded as many times as necessary, additionally different levels mean that the Go Talk has a capacity of 42 messages.

Communication boards can help children who can't verbalise to interact with others, to convey needs to others and even to support the home team at the football!! In addition, communication boards can be used to facilitate learning. The buttons can represent answers and this gives the student a method of verbally answering questions which may be important in a classroom situation.

Go Talk: Communication Board

The Go Talk communication board is a tablet with the following features:

• 9 message keys, each 1.75" x 2.25", record 8 seconds each.
• 5 recording levels.
• 3 core messages of 12 seconds each.
• 42 messages in addition to the core messages.
• 8.5 minutes of total recording time.

It is 9" x 12" x 7/8", (just larger than A4) and therefore very portable.

The Go Talk 9+ is $199 US dollars, which converts to $263 NZ dollars.

Definition of Assistive Technology

According to the public law 100-407 (2000, cited in Cook & Hussey, 2000), assistive technology is:

"Any item, piece of equipment or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customised that is used to increase or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities." (p5)

Reference
Cook, A. M. & Hussey, S. M. (2000). Assistive technologies: Principles and practice. USA: Mosby

You Tube

So to add You Tube footage:
1. Find You Tube tags - OT, participation, students, dunedin
2. Copy link
3. Go to blog
4. Add an element
5. Go to Video clip
6. Add title and paste code into description
7. Voila!

Flickr badge

So to add a Flickr badge:
1. Log on to your Flickr account
2. Upload photos
3. Help - Tools
4. Create a Flickr badge
5. Choose a layout
6. Choose colours of the background
7. Save changes and copy the code
8. Go to blog
9. Add an element
10. Go to Java html
11. Add title and paste code into description
12. Voila!

Our video footage

We were given 20 minutes to produce a short video clip about us. Therefore we needed to plan what we wanted to do before getting the equipment. The idea was to represent a typical day in our lives. This is idea was simple and easy for the viewer to understand. We decided to use 30 second clips of 6 different key ideas. Sleep, coffee, driving to college, lecture, student flat and exercise.

We used a storyboard to pre-visualize the video idea. The storyboard is a series of blank boxes where visual shot ideas can be drawn. Against each shot the equipment and location can be identified. Through using storyboards time 'on set' is not wasted. Ideally we would have thought about lighting, facial expressions, special effects and shot composition. The reality is that with 20 minutes to complete filming this is not really possible.

You Tube

You tube is a website which people can upload video footage of themselves. The idea behind You Tube is to broadcast yourself. It also offers a community page with groups and contests. Test tube is the ideas incubator and offers active sharing (a feature where you can share with other users the videos that you're watching), audioswap (a feature that allows you to attach licenced music to video clip) and streaming (a feature that connects you with others watching the same video).