This blog post contains extracts from a message that I posted to the CM-AAC-Forum in 2009, as one of many contributors to a lengthy discussion about “Icon vs Text Based Communication Systems”. This was was one of several branches of a thread that had originated with a discussion about word prediction software.
The question, “How long does it take to learn to use a MinSpeak-based system?”, is just as valid for any other AAC system, but there is a particular reason why I am concerned about the MinSpeak question. This is that I have been quoted as reporting in 1989 that it took 200 hours of direct therapy to teach a cognitively intact adult to use a MinSpeak system fully. I was a bit baffled by this as I did not recall ever have said any such thing and could not imagine where this “fact” had come from.
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