Mind Express
Mind express is a communication assistant software, with many functionalities, for dumb people or people with serious writing difficulties. It allows to type text and make it read by a speech system or to communicate via symbols using a fully adjustable grid.
System requirement :
Operating system : Windows 95 to XP
Processor : 200 MHz or more
32 Mo RAM
50 Mo hard disk available
Sound card 16 bit for the speech system
Functions :
Cells content : a touch may contain a letter, a word, a picture, a sound (Wave file) or all of that. The pictures may have been scanned, imported from a digital camera or from the graphic library (however, the addition of a picture library is recommended)
Typing mode : click, self click (adjustable) or scan.
Scanning mode : it needs a link box between the computer and the switch (1 or 2 switches can be plugged). The scanning moves cell by cell or by row/column or column/row, group of cells by group of cells, … The scanning speed is also adjustable, as well as the action on the switch to select.
The scanning can be associated with an audio feed back : an audio message is allocated to each cell to supplement its graphic information.
Edition :
The grid creation is quite simple : choice of the number of column and of row, choice of the colour of the grid and the cells, … Then when you click on a cell you can write what you want on it and add a picture. A symbol library is provided with the software.
When a cell is selected (with the click, the self-click or the scanning mode), 3 kind of actions can be executed : a message can be written (and it can be read by the speech system), a sound (recorded or synthetic) can be produced or a command can be executed (it may be a command toward another communication grid (tree structure), or a grammatical command that allows to comply with grammatical rules (adjectives, verbs, …) or a command to open a file, run a application,… or a command for the environmental control (Gewa prog III))
Advantages :
You can use pictures, photos, movies.
Grid edition is quite simple. A training is not essential but may be recommended for those who have never used this kind of software.
There is an interesting function : it display a pictogram representing the typed text (for example : a mother pictogram or the picture of the mum appears in the text area when you type the word “mummy”)
Very interesting : after having saved a page, it is possible to edit it in the web pages, which allows to e-mail it.
May be used with educative (or reeducative) purpose.
It allows to create house automation grids (some are provided in the grid library). To make that function possible, you have to connect Gewa Prog to the computer.
Grammatical correction function.
Disadavantages :
You cannot create a grid to control the mouse.
It allows to type text but not really to make text processing (for example it cannot be used with Word).
Web site :
http://www.tni.be/
Supplier :
Vocalisis : http://www.vocalisis.com 750 €
Cimis : http://www.cimis.fr 960 €
Suppléance : http://www.suppleance.fr 750 €
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