The top 5 things about MyTalk, from our clients

What are the best things about MyTalk from our client's perspective? Below hear from an OT, SLP's from 3 practice environments, a mom and a dad.  I've combined their top five's into a list of 7, but below the recap find their words, and see how they fit into the MyTalk Community.

1. Remote & Local Programming (Collaboration, any time updates from anywhere, anyone without confiscating the device)

2. Shocking, Sensational Support (Support & Fast enhancements)

3. Flexibility

4. Easy to program / great straight forward for those that find the other programs too complex

5. Instant Success for students

6. Support for SLP's & other professionals

7. Community Support

• Great Tutorials

• Library Sharing

• Trial period for families

• Value for cost

8. Feature mentions

• Multimedia including video

• Resources- many choices

• Ability to fill the cell with an image / auto-sizing

• Board Printouts

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In their words

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Kari ~OT~ Assistive Technology Professional ~ Pediatric Private Practice, Business Owner ~

1.        Individualized.  I love that this program is a blank slate when you get it and that you can change/modify it to each individual child's needs.  Other programs that are available are "cookie-cutter" programs (they come already programmed).  Something that is pre-programmed is not functional in daily life and if one takes the time to individualize something that is pre-programmed then it basically becomes MyTalk.  So, in my opinion, it saves a lot of time and money to purchase MyTalk initially.

2.        Accessibility.  Being an OT, I look at functional use (ability to access cells, visual motor control, placement of pictures in visual field, fine motor abilities to control scrolling and hold/press).  I love with MyTalk that I can create pages, one at a time, with different features.  I love that each page can have a different size of cell and number of cells.  One size does not apply to all pages.  I love that I can have separator lines or not, that I can change the background color for children with visual issues.  I love that children with fine motor control problems do not have to be required to scroll to locate all choices.  I also love that the author of the boards in MyTalk can turn off/on sign in information.  I have numerous children that love to press every button on the page and can easily make changes to a page by just randomly pressing buttons.  This is a nice safeguard feature.

3.        Video in cells.  One very important feature for treatment is the ability now with the iPad 2 to embed video into a cell.  This is an excellent tool for my children on the Autism spectrum and various other children with social/emotional/behavioral concerns.  Video clips can be used for social stories and video modeling to encourage appropriate peer interaction and social skills.  I have one child that when introducing his mother, he presses her picture on the page and a video is played of her saying, "Jace, I love you the most!"

4.        Webspace.  Like others have mentioned.  The ability to create, edit, share, and collaborate with other professionals with the use of the webspace is amazing and not something that I have found with any other program available.  With children that I work with the parent give the school staff and private therapy staff the password so that modifications can be made by each individual working with the child. 

5.        Support.  Bick is prompt, dedicated, and amazing.  He is parent of a child with a disability and it shows.  Every suggestion that I have made to improve the program, he has corrected and improved upon.  You will not find technical and customer support like that from any program.

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Carol - SLP K12 - Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Expressive Communication Challenge

1. Flexibility

2. Resources: Web, camera, microphone, drawing,Symbolstix

3. Ability to program from computer or device and wifi merging

4. Use of multimedia, including videos 

5. Library sharing...

Had to add these two things:

- The printout of boards is very well conceived. Thanks.

- Responsiveness of tech support - both for constant improvements, correcting problems and for considering possible
enhancements.

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Joanne - SLP Support Agency - Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Cognitive Delay without specific diagnosis, Downs Syndrome

- easy to program on the go
- great straight-forward system for those who find P2Go too complex
- inexpensive
- free one-month trial for families
- ability to configure pictures to completely fill the cells
- very responsive online support
- great tutorials

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Kathy - SLP K12 & AT Depts - Autism,Cognitive Delay without specific diagnosis

1) The first time I had any "issue" to be resolved that (I couldn't figure out based on your online help), I had a personal response within minutes and problem was solved. I was actually shocked at how quickly you responded.

2) I love that you can sync from a distance. I honestly don't know if you can do that w the other apps available (as I am also a new iPad user), but it is so convenient. I can program on my computer from home or office and then sync my life skills class iPad to it when I arrive in the am.

3) Programming is quick and easy. It is also flexible with regard to grid size, types of images available, and digitized or synthesized speech.

4) I can easily adapt MyTalk for a variety of levels of users. From simple one button message that a support person navigates to, to a dynamic multilevel device.

5) As an SLP, I like that I have free access to really get to know and use it prior to recommending it to someone for a purchase.

6) My students have found instant success using MyTalk to greet peers (with real pictures of peers), to participate in group activities, and in individual interactions.

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Kristin - mother of a 12 yr old non verbal boy with autism

1. mytalktools allows me to not take my son's communication device from him to program it and syncs easily.
2. In the year we had this program, we've had two issues and Bick has responded to both within 48 hours or less.
3. I can share the username password with staff so that they can make changes. If I change staff or there is a problem, we can change the password.
4. yesterday there seemed to be a server down - 1st time since we've had it.
5 professionals have a fee subscription - as a parent I pay so that I have control
6. love this program - thank you Bick
7 mys son is in school m-f. Typically Fridays we have to retrain our son to use the mytalk, last night. he used it 3 hrs straight after he got home from school til bedtime - thank you Bick and thank you teachers. ________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Deanna - Private Practice SLP serving primarily 2-4 year olds - Apraxia/Dyspraxia

- I like My Talk the best for my younger students because they typically have several therapists, teachers, family members, etc... working with them.   .... there needs are best met when all of those people are adding to the vocabulary/needs. That's why I say the #1 feature in my book is being able to access and share it online. Also, being able to change it on the idevice then overwrite the workspace site and vice versa.

- I find it easy and straightforward. I rarely forget to hit a quick button and make sure the data is up to date at all sites.

- Additionally, I like the access of adding real pictures and drawings.  Sometimes I don't have time to take a real picture or a child prefers a drawing. It make life easier.

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 Mason - Dad - Son with Autism

- It's flexible and lets me tailor it to my son's specific needs.
- Easy to set up - Just drag and drop.
- Open to customer requests with nimble response.

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