hi! today i'll be reviewing Chatterboards AAC, a free app available in the app store (not for android.)
this app is pretty much what i'd expect from a free AAC app. it covers some of the basic functions, and it's possible to program any grid size, however, my biggest problem with this app is that it doesn't come pre-programmed with any fully functional communication boards - you have to manually configure every single individual button yourself. i started with trying to program an 8x16 board, but since you have to create every slot individually, i got bored about two rows in, and gave up before i even began trying to give the buttons actual words, let alone symbols. i think this app could be usable for someone with a lot of time and patience, but i know most advanced AAC users are forced to program their own devices, and i just don't think this is a good solution for that demographic.
moving onto the pre-programmed boards, i feel like they could be useful for very young users, as they do cover a small range of phrases (feelings, 'i want to', yes/no, and a larger board called "core vocab sample".) however, as soon as you need to move up to a larger board, you're forced to manually change everything again, and the placement of the buttons also moves as you add more. this makes the app practically useless for learning motor planning and progressive language.
the "core vocab" board is an 8×9 grid, and covers most basic core words - except it seems like they forgot about verb inflections entirely. it almost looks as though it was copied from a more robust AAC app such as proloquo2go or speak for yourself, but clearly missing the features in those apps that allow you to conjugate verbs correctly.
(what if i want to say "you are"..?)
what surprised me the most about this app is that there also isn't a simple keyboard text-to-speech feature, you're forced to stick to the boards within the app. i can't see this being very practical for frequent and fulltime AAC users, especially those who are older and/or more literate. the voices are also very robotic, and each button speaks as you press it - i can't find a way to disable this.
in all honesty, i wouldn't recommend this app to any long-term AAC users, although i feel as though it definitely has potential and i might just be missing something. it could be useful for young children whose parents aren't sure how they'd respond to simple AAC (eg. kids unfamiliar with the concept of a button that generates speech.) otherwise, i don't think this app is a long-term or robust AAC solution, although i'm sure there are people helped by it.
