Speak for Yourself

I bought this for my son who was 3 at the time. I had heard that these kinds of apps and augmentive tools would help increase his speech. I didn’t really believe it and bought the app for the whole reason of him being able to “say” what was in his head. Within months he had a language explosion for the first time ever! He was attempting words and sounds he never had before. And it was easy to find which words would be motivating for him because he could tell us!

I am a parent of a nonverbal child. We have tried different APPs and this one is by far the easiest to use and model. I love the babble function and the search function. We purchased a voice that suits our son. We purchased a key guard as well to separate the buttons for our son with cerebral palsy.

Help!! My grandson uses this app regularly and I wanted this on my phone as well. We love this app. My grandson is 8 years old, non verbal. He knows sign and uses this app regularly. It is so worth the money. The school purchased this app for him on his device loaned from the school. I just wanted my own for my phone. My daughter says we shouldn’t need 2

Our favorite thing is that my 8 year old can use this in each grade and it’s so functional that even people (teachers) who have never used AAC before can manage it just fine. Buttons also do not move between pages unlike LAMP and that was very important to us being that my son has apraxia of speech. His issues deal solely with motor planning. Lastly, customer service is insanely accessible. I was genuinely surprised when I needed help when we first got the app. We have had the app for three years now and I still actively recommend it to other parents within our Apraxia community.

Without this app my two non verbal sons would not have a voice. And thank you for the search feature and simplistic motor plan

This app changed our family's life. Love it!

I was just looking through different apps for communication. I went to download the lite version, bumped the wrong key, it just downloaded without my password! Three hundred, I cannot afford. I wanted to try the lite version and if I liked it, insurance would cover it. I need an app but cannot afford this. Help! Please help!

The first 5 months: Within the first week, she was able to tell us a complete thought. She commented on a movie and was excited that she could find the words! Our daughter had a Dynavox for about 10 years. She used it less and less over time. Therapists thought that she just didn't have much to say. What they didn't realize is that the multi layers to access the words made using the device too complicated and slow. What we love about SFY is that it isn't pre-programmed speech (even though you can do that), but due to the babble feature, she can find the word she wants to use. She likes to emphasize with words like "exceptional" or "annoying". She found these words on her own and added them to her vocabulary. What makes this most remarkable is that she didn't get this device till she was 21. We are seeing a transformation in her. She is no longer isolated and forced to have one way conversations. As a parent, to hear "Mom, I love you" was pretty awesome. Finally, someone thought outside of the box and created something that user friendly, actually grows with a person and is affordable. Jess is now 25 she has not stopped talking!

Looks like Chinese bloatware compared to PODD Compass.

As an Educator who has the honor of working with 100's of special youngsters, it is a responsibility of mine to see that non-verbal students are given an opportunity to verbalize their wants and needs. Last year I was introduced to the Speak for Yourself Application for possible use as a communication tool for our students. With the assistance of an OUTSTANDING technical support department I was able to successfully download and utilize SfY for use in my Speech Department. In turn, many of our students are now able to communicate more effectively. I would highly recommend this tool to anyone who strives for better and more efficient communication. Give it a try and you too can be a witness to success....

My 7 year old son with autism uses this app as his talker. It takes only 2 touches to get to any word. I can easily add words that are not preprogrammed, like favorite toys and TV characters. It has an easy search feature if a word needs to be found. This app has done amazing things for my son and I can't praise it enough!

Our son has apraxia and this app has been a life changing device for us. He is able to learn and remember where the words are because of the thoughtful design of this program. He can communicate needs, feelings, and comment on his surroundings. We are forever thankful we bought this app.

From the easy search functionality to the robust vocabulary to the incredible app support from SFY leadership, we LOVE this app!

The simple usage paradigm of 2 touches to each word works for my girl.

This is a great aac app. The motor planning itself is worth it. Thank you'

I don't get it. Too many buttons. They don't make sense (e.g., "little"/mouse picture goes to page with about a hundred flowers???? What is that about?!!!!!). No word prediction in keyboard mode. Ugh!!! Give me my money back!

Speak for Yourself is extremely easy to use, and pretty much impossible to break. It works out of the box without much customization. SFY allows access to a huge number of words without being overwhelming to new users. Much better support for independent exploration of vocabulary than any other app. There is an amazing search feature. Even non-readers can use search, if they are able to guess which letter it might start with. Search teaches you how to find the word. (This is good for users and also makes modeling much easier than on any other robust app.) In addition, editing is really easy. SFY is very easy to learn, and has many more words available than other options. (For instance PRC Unity devices and PRC LAMP are harder to learn and have fewer words.) That said, there are some drawbacks, and Proloquo2Go and Proloquo4text have advantages for some users. Proloquo2go has better support for alternative access. There are numerous ways to select buttons, including select on release and multiple forms of switch access. Proloquo2go also has more options for visual and aural feedback, which can be important for some users. If you are looking for an app to support your own communication, there are other options worth considering seriously. If you are a literate person looking for a primary AAC solution for yourself, Proloquo4text or another typing-based app is likely to be a better option. It may also be a better option for some literate children. Symbols aren't the best for everyone. If you basically think in words and know what you want to say, Proloquo4text and other typing-based apps are likely to be better. If your primary means of communication is typing or speech and you're looking for augmentative cognitive support in some situations, Proloquo2go might be a better solution. If you're looking for support in keeping your communication and remembering options or something like that, making pages and folders can be better than a flattened core approach like SFY. You can't make situation-specific pages or folders in SFY. (Which for language development is a good thing, but if you want AAC for a different reason, it can be a bad thing. ) Also, p2g uses a symbol set that is less childish and more effective for cognitive support. That said, some people find that the motor planning arrangement in SFY is really effective at helping them hold on to language. So your mileage may vary. Short version: Speak for Yourself is amazing and probably the best option for supporting language development for most users. For adults and older children who have language development already and need AAC to overcome physical barriers to speech, a typing-based approach like Proloquo4text might be better. For people who have good speech or good typing but need secondary augmentative support for cognitive reasons in some situations, Proloquo2go is likely to be better. For people with very severe motor impairments for need alternative access, Proloquo2go may also be better. But for most people who are learning to communicate, Speak for Yourself is likely to be best.

I LOVE this app. I love how it is set up, how it only takes two taps to say anything, how it bounces you back to the main screen after you tap a button, I love the thought that was put into the organization. I adore the babble button and the search button is so handy. However, if I could change three things, it would be the voices, the rigidity, and the grammar. My boy is 4yo and while I can change the pitch and speed of the voice, it just doesn't do it for me like proloquo2go's "josh" voice does. It seems like a small deal, but when it's his VOICE that people will recognize him by, it makes a big difference. As for the rigidity, I understand the concept behind core words and how important they are, but (and I will be specific to our story here) when I get into the family folder, too much real estate is taken up by all the different relationship types and verbs that we have no place to put actual buttons for family members. I agree with keeping the core words on the first page locked, but I wish once we got into the second page we could have more freedom. I love how each verb has all the different tenses available. I have to say, though, that P2Go's feature of holding the button and having the tenses pop up is a huge real estate saver. Huge. In the end, it was worth it to me to pay for the app to get the template. The voice and the flexibility of the sub-pages were more important to me than the babble and search button, so I have set up P2Go to mimic SFY. If you ever change these things, I would use SFY exclusively.