There was a demo of the tornado switch interface box from CSUN : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5XcBBy0I9g - looks nice but not sure when/if it will see the light of the day though.

RJ Cooper/Therapybox retail a switchbox: http://tboxapps.com/switch.html Retails for around £90 I believe. Note though: Not quite sure what it works with other than Predictable.

Have heard rumours of a couple of other manufacturers (Ablenet was one such rumor) but not sure how true these rumours are or when they will appear.

You could always make your own of course! Most of these (including the Dynamics iPortal system) are actually bluetooth keyboards using the voiceover system. For example to emulate the home button you will need to press control+option+h. For Next item (next page maybe - depending on the app and where you are in it) it would be control+option+right_arrow. In essence the switch boxes are using this last action and the action for selection (control+option+down_arrow) to do scan and select.   For full information read the iPod/iPhone documentation and find the chapter on Voiceover - for a briefer overview see this: http://www.hllf.net/70.

Getting the software to read books isn't perfect mind you. On iOS you have to activate the voiceover screenreader technology to read sentence by sentence rather than a whole page with one click. Can be a bit infuriating. Stick with it though - we had some success after some trial and error with iBooks (and the dynamics system). http://vimeo.com/21525764  Some I've spoken to think the difficulty with whole page TTS is due to Apple playing carefully with the book publishers - You may remember/be aware of the scuffle between the Authors guild and Amazon in 2009. In the kindle they have a "read-to-me" feature that they objected too. Amazon went back on it slightly by allowing authors to disallow tts: http://www.authorsguild.org/advocacy/articles/amazon-reversal-on-text-to-speech.html. Who knows if this is the real reason for some of the trickiness in using iBooks etc. Do be aware that there are other books apps - including the kindle reader app - and Other screen readers (search for screen reader in the appstore) - that may work better for you.


Hope that helps!

Will

Kent Communication & Assistive Technology Service

The Old Railway School
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Kent  TN24 0PF

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If your email is a request for information made under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please forward to: FOI Lead, Eastern and Coastal Kent Community Healthcare Trust, Trinity House, 110-120 Upper Pemberton, Eureka Business Park, Kennington, Ashford, Kent. TN25 4AZ. Telephone: 01233 667940. Email: [log in to unmask]
________________________________________
From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals. [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Taylor, Barry [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 20 April 2011 12:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Switch control of ebooks on iPad

Matthew
I heard that at least one US firm was looking heavily into general
switch access for ithings.  May be Origin?

Barry

Barry Taylor, Clinical Scientist
Medical Physics Service
Tulley Medical Physics Building, Hull Royal Infirmary
Anlaby Road, Hull HU3 2JZ

Tel: 01482 608971, Fax: 01482 608951
Internal extension HRI 608971
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]
Web page http://www.hey.nhs.uk/showcontent.aspx?PageID=180



-----Original Message-----
From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Matthew Pepper
Sent: 20 April 2011 12:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Switch control of ebooks on iPad

Client wishes to control ebooks on the iPad via a switch interface.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,


Matthew Pepper


Dr M.G. Pepper
Head of Clinical and Rehabilitation Engineering
Medical Physics Department
Kent & Canterbury Hospital
East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust
Canterbury
Kent CT1 3NG

DDI: 01227 783016
Ext: 76412/74801
Switchboard: 01227 766877 ext 76412 or ext 74801
General Office 01227 864083
Mob 07795825591


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