Any advice about text to speech telephone?

[Sunnyflmom]

My mom has completely lost her voice to ALS. She has an IPAD but has not used it for alternative communication yet. She's trying to make the most of her denial stage but its getting harder for her to do. One concern we have is if she needed to make an emergency phone call. Although it sure would be nice if she could talk to family on the phone too. I've done some preliminary research but didn't really get any good answers. Does anyone have any suggestions for telephones that can be used to easily convert text to speech? Mom is in her 70's. She's fairly ok on her laptop but would not be able to text from a cell phone so that's not the answer I'm looking for. Thanks for any info someone may have.

 

[vickim]

what about skype? My kids skype with their friends. Or a private chat line? Can she type?

 

[caldona]

She can text from her computer and it's free

 

[vickim]

my son did that so he could talk to his wife from the middle east. He said it was a free program he found on the internet.

 

[vickim]

It is called voxer or tango. Just google it

 

[caldona]

If you need help I will be happy to help you as I was helped just send me a pm with your e-mail address and I will email the information to you

 

[Barbie]

my husband uses msn messager with me all day, we can also video chat. he types using a smart nav to type. I know that he also has a telephone line set up thru yahoo voice. i would think you could set that up and a text to speech program to work together.

PS: I am a dreamer not a techie

 

[caldona]

Using your e-mail to text is very easy you just put the phone number on the TO line then each phone company has its own ID like if they have att you put in the phone number your texting then txt.att.net after the number. There is a list of companies if someone needs the list I have it

 

[Sunnyflmom]

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. Its just so frustrating that my mom so far is still refusing to use any alternative communication. She does not even want to write stuff down in person (she is still able to write with no problem). She doesn't want any part of the IPAD app I downloaded. And for speaking on the phone she has my dad always be her speaker. I was at their house yesterday when they had a call from my aunt go to voicemail because it takes a team approach for mom to converse. She can't have any private conversations while she is putting all calls on speaker phone and having dad do the talking. He can't even know what she would want to say anyway unless he asks her yes or no questions. She continues to try to say single words that are 99 % unintelligible or she attempts to "air write" which nobody is skilled at reading. Sorry if I'm ranting but this is so frustrating.

 

[vickim]

My dad lost his voice due to agent orange but he uses a viox. It is a hand held device that he holds to his throat and uses the vibration he makes when he moves his mouth. It sounds mechanical but he can communicate very well with it. Many throat cancer patients use it. They have adjustable tones and volume. She maybe reluctant to use if she doesn't like using technology. I just thought I put it out there.

 

[vickim]

I meant cervox not viox, sorry

 

[old dog]

I have a program called for the computer or I-Pad called "Next Up Talker." Just type in what you want to say and then click on a button that says, "speak input." The drawback is that it requires a speaker so, when using it with the phone, the phone must be on speaker.

I am 73 and my fine motor skills are impaired, so I don't like to text. Too many little buttons to push and too many spaces to deal with.

 

[ltbeauti]

I use ip relay sometimes to call the doctor and such. It uses a person to relay what you type. It tells them to be patient while the caller(me) types what they need to say.<p>

My mom is 88 and hard of hearing and I can't talk and be understood. My mom got a Telikin computer (designed for seniors)
It has very few buttons and is super easy for her to use. It comes with Skype on it. Now we can finally communicate again.
I video call her and listen to her talk. I use my Laptop to Skype while holding my iPad up to the camera when I want to say something. It works great.