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sallyb

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Hi there, looking for advice for tablet for my mom who has ALS. She has some use of both hands (more on the left) but can't seem to grade the force required to select something on the iPad screen (e.g. If a search throws up lots of items): she can move her hand slowly to where she wants but then finds it hard to lift her hand away again which causes her old iPad to zoom in and kind of freeze.
Her iPad is old so can't update the operating system and it weighs too much for her anyway. I was looking at the newer iPads (esp the small one) which have an accessibility setting where you can adjust some of the touch settings-has this worked for anyone or is there a better brand?
She is not tech savvy, isn't interested in new technology and although her speech is pretty terrible with her hand function speech apps just don't work. So a new tablet would be for limited internet browsing occasionally and will obviously only be for a window of time before this function is lost too.
Appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks
 
How is her head function, for a mouthstick were the iPad mounted on her chair or in a floor or table stand next to her? There are also many iOS virtual keyboards and they can be customized as to spaces between keys, key size, and swipeability, which could help. Also, you could probably remove the gesture from the settings that is making the iPad freeze or change the dwell interval.

She could potentially also use a virtual keyboard with head gestures but sounds like that might be a bridge too far for her, and I am guessing the same is true for a laptop/headmouse combination, but either of these may be worth trying. The first one she can try any time even with the old iOS by your setting the accessibility settings.

You could go down in size to an iPad mini but if using the head, a larger screen may actually help.

I don't have any devices with the newer iOS myself so hopefully someone will chime in as to whether the sensitivity can make a real difference, but I wouldn't buy a new device just for that, or would buy the newest that runs the latest OS.
 
I am having no success with the sensitivity settings on my new iphone and I am minimally impaired onone hand. Sorry.
 
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The " Gleason" foundation may be a resource that can help assess your moms situation and then make suggestions as to what would work for her.
 
Tobii EyeX requires USB 3.0. That (and a separate charging port) was my main criterion for choosing a tablet.
 
I recently purchased a Tobii Eyetracker 4C. With any computer running Windows 10 v1709 you can enable an app called eye control. It is still a beta version that Team Gleason is behind. This app has a keyboard, mouse and text to speech. I have been using it just to learn to work it smoothly when needed. The eye control app is free and the tobii hardware is $150. Some users prefer it to the tobii. Beats the hell out of $16000 for the Tobii machine.
Vincent
 
Microsoft's Eye Control is easier to use than the Tobii eye-gaze, but it's still lacking in needed functionality.
 
Tobii EyeX costs less than $100.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I found some more info on the accessibility settings on the iPad/iPhone https://www.abilitynet.org.uk/news-...e-can-help-people-tremors-and-other-dexterity
I’m going to try change the tap Assistance setting first on my newer iPad & see how that goes. Worth a bash. I didn’t realise ipads could be used with switch access either, the above webpage has a link to the Apple page with a video of a woman with spastic cerebral palsy editing a video via head switch access. She has loads of head movement but interesting. Ps I’m not promoting Apple It’s just what she is familiar with.
 
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