Talkii is a pictographic application for alternative and augmentative communication for people with speech or language difficulties and cognitive disorders. The application is suitable for both children and adults. Talkii allows to consult and communicate on one's agenda, while communicating on something else. Autistic people need a time frame that reassures them... This is also true in many other pathologies.
Talkii: one application, two interfaces
The Talkii application is available on Androïd, and can be downloaded via Google Play. While Talkii Tab can be installed on a tablet, Talkii Supervisor can be installed on a smartphone or tablet.
Talkii is also available as a package with a Samsung tablet with the application blocked, an ultra-protective shell and a smartphone with the Talkii Supervisor application. In order to prevent the user from unintentionally changing settings, the application offers two interfaces: one for the user - Talkii Tab - and one for the configuration - Talkii Supervisor.
Getting to know Talkii
There are five possible layouts for Talkii Tab: comm. border + senetence bar + daily agenda, comm. border + senetence bar, com border + daily agenda, comm. border, weekly agenda. Talkii offers a set of pictograms organized in categories. APF France Handicap recommend adding categories and importing images or photos. By defining some pictograms as favorites, they will appear directly on Talkii Tab to communicate on needs, requests etc... with or without voice (Google voice synthesis or recorded voice).
The user will be able to consult an agenda with his daily activities and communicate on it if he wants. It is possible to set a day and a duration for each scheduled activity: this is the time timer. When you press on a pictogram of the agenda, it opens wide and the user sees the duration of the activity until the next one.
Talkii is available in 7 languages: ENG, FR, DE IT, PT, ESP and LUX.
You are free to chose the size of the communication grid and you can put from 1 to 10 pictograms per line. For the moment, the use of the communication border remains limited. It is necessary to prepare a communication border at a time or to save them in different profiles (1 per profile).
An AAC app in development
The Luxembourgish company, Sovi Solutions, has developed this AAC application. Note that the two co-founders, Gianluca Marinelli and Alessio Weber, were present at the ISAAC conference in Lille in 2019, where APF France Handicap met them.
By their own admission, they are very attentive to user feedback and work with speech therapists and specialized centers. Thus, they will further develop their AAC application to make it more efficient. In particular, they will integrate new pictograms such as Widgit, Metacom or SymbolStix. The goal is also to allow sequencing of daily activities, for example, steps to go to the toilet. Allowing the order of pictograms to be changed on the communication edge is also in progress.
A more detailed data sheet on Talkii will be published in March 2021.
Credits: APF France Handicap
Original Link in French: https://lehub.apflab.org/talkii-application-communication-caa/