As people who had been programming VOCAs for several years we knew the last thing anybody wanted was new, even more complicated software ! We also knew that you needed software that could be programmed easily on one page with dead simple drop and drag menus without flicking though endless pages and menus to create a page. With Q-talk editing suite what you see is what you get (WYS/WYG), everything is right there on the page in front of you.
Our button wizard enables you to create symbol pages with the click of a button. The Q-talk comes with symbols as standard (although any symbol, or photograph, set can be used either we can install it for you before shipment for an extra cost or you can install it yourself). What is great in the editor is that you can simply drag the symbols from a directory at the side of the page and away you go. For really simple use - that’s it, the default commands will add the text or text and symbol to the message bar and say the words when touched. There are a range of options of course as you would expect! You can change practically anything from button size, colour; font, colour size; and where and how the voice is activated.
The machine comes with clear male or female Cepstral voices (specify which on ordering) although again you can have voices of your own choosing either ready installed (POA) or you can do it yourself. The good thing about the voices are the clarity you can alter the rate and if you want to we have included a fully functioning voice recorder to add your own sounds to any button.
We also wanted to produce software that could make it really easy to create your own Visual Scene Displays which gives you the advantage of easily being able to produce “talking photographic” pages for those students who’ve never got on with symbols. The Q1 Ultra also has it’s own camera (and video) to make life even easier and our software has incorporated photo editing software that enables you to easily manage your photo symbols and backgrounds. You don’t have to worry about the size of the photos you are importing to the editor and blocking up your memory as our photo suite automatically imports photos at the right size!
For the more able it couldn’t be easier to create easily customised keyboard pages with symbol or word predictive text. One click on a button gives you the opportunity to create a key board page and what is more you can put keyboards, message windows and predictive text boxes in any environment you want.
You can also use the Q-talk to access the web directly from your programme our unique browser lets you access just the page you select - ideal for contact with your school’s VLE.
Whilst talking to colleagues in Special Ed around the country we realised there was a demand for software that allowed communication aids to do far more than just talk! So in the Spring we’ll be launching our add-on software the Q-talk Dynamic Classroom that will enable you to produce worksheets on the Q-talk and even send differentiated worksheets out wirelessly from your PC to each individual Q-talk VOCA. We also anticipate being able to record pupil’s progress as they go. The Q-talk will already allow you to interact wirelessly with your school’s VLE but the Dynamic Classroom will let you go one step further! It looks like an exciting year ahead.