Cover fight words: Mutilation medicines are available

Published: Jun 17, 2010

Kara Lynn has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, which has attacked the
muscles around her mouth and throat, removing her ability to speak. A couple
of years ago, she spent more than $8,000 to buy a computer, approved by
Medicare, that turns typed words into speech that her family, friends and
doctors can hear.

Under government insurance requirements, the maker of the PC, which ran
ordinary Microsoft Windows software, had to block any non-speech functions,
like sending e-mail or browsing the Web.

Dismayed by the PC’s limitations and clunky design, Ms. Lynn turned to a $300
iPhone 3G from Apple running $150 text-to-speech software. Ms. Lynn, who is
48 and lives in Poughkeepsie, NY, said it worked better and let her “wear her
voice” around her neck while snuggling with her 5-year-old son, Aiden, who
has Down syndrome.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/technology/15speech.html?_r=1&hpw

Links:
Proloquo2Go
http://www.proloquo2go.com/

Accessibility Solutions for iPhone
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/resources/iphone.html

iTunes link
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=308368164&mt=8

Proloquo 2.0.2
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/home_learning/proloquo.html

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