Positive feed back from The British Dyslexia Association

We had some good news today!  What lies at the heart of what we do at Techcess is the determination to help our customers achieve whatever they want, using technology that is right for them.
Most people know Techcess to be a supplier of devices that help people to communication, but we are not just that!
Our partner, Jabbla, an assistive technology company in Ghent, Belgium, have also developed software tools for people that have challenges with their reading, writing and spelling.  Commonly this is considered to be a result of living with Dyslexia.

In the UK there are many software tools available that assist people with Dyslexia, and since February there is now one other called SprintPlus which we launched at The BETT Show.

Whilst we were at the show, running at the same time was a review of SprintPlus by The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) and in particular their New Technologies Committee.  We are pleased to announce that the review has been completed and whilst we are waiting for official word on their findings, it was really good to see that they are already posting information on SprintPlus on their website .

We would like to stress that the BDA do not endorse products, but have an open attitude to software and products that will help people with dyslexia. For all of us at Techcess we are grateful that the BDA clearly considers SprintPlus to be a valid software tool that will help people.

If you would like to try out SprintPlus on a free 60 day demo, please subscribe to our mailing list and we will send you a link for download. Thanks for taking a look!

Communication Aids - Your feedback on what you would like to see in a keyboard based AAC device.

Recently, the Team at Techcess sent out an email to many people, with an interest in keyboard based AAC devices, in order to ask them to give feedback on what they feel should be included in such a device.

It is a really interesting question as the selection of an AAC device is very much governed by a range of subjective needs.  It is difficult to have one device that meets all the needs of everyone.  However, companies such as Techcess strive to provide the best possible range that will meet as many communication needs as possible.

This blog  post intends to just summarise some of the feedback that we received to our email and we hope that you will find this interesting.

We received a number of emails to my mailing with some great ideas and also some very important reminders of what devices should always have too.

So here goes......

Reliability and durability.

The comments we received reminded us that no matter how many features could be available, a communication aid is a device that should always be reliable in it's use without software bugs or hangups so that the ability to communicate is always possible.  We were reminded that the device should be durable.  If switches or USB sticks get plugged in then the risk of damaging those sockets should be averted by great design.  Equally, a communication aid is with you most of the time, if by chance a drink is knocked over the keyboard then there needs to be confidence that after the cleanup, the device will work perfectly without the need to send off for repair.

Battery life

How many times have you been caught short by your mobile phone because the battery has been run down?  For someone using a communication aid, this is a disaster.  A user of a device should get into the regime of charging overnight, everynight, but manufacturers need to extend the battery life for as long as possible.  We were reminded that good battery life is essential and should at least last for a whole working day before the need to recharge.

SMS/Phone capabilities

This is a feature set that in recent years has become more favourable, particularly with sending SMS text messages that are not time dependent, thus not requiring an immediate response.  Being able to make calls is useful for some people using their device.  Some of the replies received mentioned that they would like to see more keyboard based AAC devices have this capability.

Access to words and phrases.

Typing can be slow enough, but for someone using a communication aid it is essential to be able to have words and phrases predicted in order to reduce key strokes and speed up communication.

Modern Design

If someone uses a communication device, this might be unusual enough for some people, so the device needs to look modern and not look like technology that has originated in the 1980's.

There were many other comments sent to us but these were the main highlights.  If you have any comments, please do send them to us as these will help us to inform our development partners at Jabbla.

Thanks to all those that took part and please keep in touch as we continue to provide products that change the lives of many people living with communication challenges.

All the best,

The Team at Techcess.

Dyslexic? One size doesn't fit all!

Last week the Team at Techcess were widely spread as they attended ATIA Orlando and The BETT Show in London.

The focus on The BETT Show, an education based exhibition, meant that we could really only show one product. SprintPlus.

Some of you will know that SprintPlus is a piece of software that enables people that find reading, writing and spelling challenging to be able to do those activities more accurately, saving time and often requiring less face to face support from a teacher or parents etc.
The software can be used by a wide variety of ages and can even record the text as MP3 so that you are able to listen to it should reading not be a strong point.

On our exhibition booth, we were amazed at how many people were looking for alternatives in technology to help either their pupils, their kids or adults and students.  It is clear that as more technology tools become available, the more people will have their needs met as often the use of a technology tool is very subjective.

So we were very happy to be able to introduce a new technology tool and for people to try it out.

In fact, we would love you to try it out and if you would then please do subscribe to our SprintPlus mailing list below and we will be happy to send you a link so that you can download SprintPlus.

Please subscribe to our mailing list and we will send you a link to the 30 Day Demo for SprintPlus