Development and Evaluation of a Minspeak Application Using Blissymbols: Experiences from Two Case Studies
By Ferm, Ulrika; Amberntson, Britt; Thunberg, Gunilla; Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 233-244Publication Date: December 2001
Article describes the development and structure of two Minspeak applications based on Blissymbolics. Minspeak is a communicator training program, and Blissymbolics is an international communication system that originated in Sweden, and it is based on the use of symbols that represent words. Two participants were selected for the study. Both were competent users of Blissymbols, and both were in need of voice-output communication. The two phases of the test were: (1) a phrased-based phase, and (2) a word-based phase. In the phrase-based phase, basic characters were chosen and positioned on a TT overlay to resemble the Swedish standard Blissymbol board. The Blissymbols were assigned words based on their meanings. The word-based phase involved an overlay with words based on their grammatical functions rather than their meanings. The authors found that the participants’ communication was too advanced for the phrase-based application. The word-based phase was more effective in enhancing their voice-output communication aid use.
Assistive Products Discussed: BLISSYMBOL COMPONENT MINSPEAK WORDS STRATEGY (BMW)
MINSPEAK FIRMWARE TT-1M, LT-1M
Published by: International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) (Website:http://www.isaac-online.org)
