No limb involvement, lost speech help!

[hopealive]

Hello Everybody,

I knew that the best place to go with this question was all of you wonderful people. My mother has Bulbar onset, she is totally mobile, however her speech is now very hard to understand. Does anyone know of a device that she can carry with her that has a voice ouptut? A large computer that sits on a wheelchair just isn't what we need. Any ideas! Love to you all,
Holly

 

[nsmith555]

Hey Holly,
I just tried to send you a private message, but it said your box was full...

But, I wanted to tell you that a speech therapist is going to my mom's house tomorrow afternoon to talk to her about voice machine options. I'll let you know what she finds out!

Love,
Nicki

 

[hopealive]

Thanks Nicki! I just emptied my box. I did find a website www.gusinc.com and they have tons of cool pocket communicators with voice augmentation, looks like they are medicare covered as well.

 

[emjoi]

A simple small whiteboard, pen, and rag to wipe it clean often effective too.

 

[scuba114]

My wife has been working with a company www.prentrom.com. The machine that we have been using is a Vantage. The size of the machine is about 8" by 6".

 

[Rhonda]

Hey Holly, I just order a speech device with the help of my speech therapist. I'll give you a little background. I was advised from a friend to get the laptop so it could be used at the later stages of the disease, but when I went and met with the speech therapist she let me try different ones, I had to go with a light weight device because my arms are affected some and I went with the lightwriter (small version with pull out handle) weighing less than 2lbs. where as the lap top is over 7lbs. She said that when the time comes for something else I will be able to get a loaner. Medicare is paying 80% and a grant from MDA will pick up the 20%. Here in Georgia you can purchase a speech device every 3 or 5 years with the help of medicare. I can't remember exactly,
but you would want to check with medicare. My speech therapist handled everything for me. Matter of fact the company called today and confirmed the order. She said alot of people didn't like the voice on the lite writer, I am using one from the loan closet, I never use the voice it has a window on the back that people can read as you type, they can read it on the front or backside as you type. I hope this helps, sorry so long.
Rhonda

 

[emjoi]

We looked at laptops too.
The downsides are that they are too heavy to casually carry around, even the lighter ones.
And, especially the lighter ones, don't have a loud enough speaker.

The Lightwriter's voice is a bit robotic, but it's clear and in all honesty eventually you don't even notice. And yeah, the double LCD screen is very good. You often don't even have to hit the Speak button.

 

[georgia]

We are looking at possiblies. Our first support group meeting Wed the Director of Aug. com was there and we asked about recording his voice. He mentioned Etriloquist.com but their site is down till Sun so I don't know anything really. I listened to some of the "canned" voices Cepstral has and they don't sound too bad. My question is how do you use them? Other software needed - other devices?
The Lightwriter's demo looks lowtech enough not to be more trouble than usefull and better than paper. How is it in use?
His has bulbar symtoms so I figure we will need them sooner than later.
We have not been to clinic only diagnosed, here and one support group. Haven't seen any in use.

 

[emjoi]

Okay... Windows voices. There is sort of a standard, so you can buy voices from one company, and use them in any voice enabled program. There are plenty of reader software out there, which you'll find with a bit of googling. Try a few and see what works best.

The Lightwriter is primitive. But that can be seen as good. You type stuff. It appears on the screen. You hit the speak button and it speaks. It can store a small number of prewritten sentences. It has a "WHHHHEEEE!" button to frighten small children and pets.
That's about it, and for my dad that was enough.
It did work very well as part of our lives for 10 months there.

My dad also tried out a Dynawrite, which is a similar device, but a bit more advanced. It had more voices, and could do cool things like attach to the telephone. It had a multiline screen. It could store more and longer prewritten text.
It's alot more gadgety.
But it was larger, and only had the single LCD screen, which made it less convenient. You can't sit opposite the typer and watch what they are typing.

http://www.dynavoxtech.com/products/lightwritersl35sl38.aspx

http://www.dynavoxtech.com/products/dynawrite.aspx

(I thought I'd stick in pics to let folks see what these thing are)