NovaChat User’s Guide
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Symbols, photographs, visual scenes, videos, or words can be used on
the message, topic, and script pages. Included are pages that facilitate
supported communication techniques, self-advocacy, directing care,
and repair of communication breakdowns. Types of information
typically included in communication books—such as pain and emotion
scales, maps, and templates for personal information and life stories—
are also incorporated into the vocabulary file. Specialized features
include variable “rate of speech” and “pause between words”. Grid size
and vocabulary are easily customized to reflect and support the life
experiences of the person with aphasia.
Although this vocabulary file contains starting-point vocabulary
commonly required by adults with aphasia, it
must
be customized. Each
person has a unique history, and the file must reflect that person’s life,
experiences, and abilities.
Intermediate Scan
Intermediate Scan is primarily a phrase-based vocabulary for
communicators who access communication through auditory and/or
visual scanning. It was designed to be a next step after using the Basic
Scan vocabulary file when beginning to transition to the use of core
words. Intermediate Scan was developed by Lisa Nobel Martin, MA,
CCC-SLP, specifically for ChatFusion and NovaChat devices. Lisa has
years of experience working with nonverbal pediatric patients at all
stages of communication. Her focus on teaching auditory and visual
scanning techniques to these individuals has proven quite successful.
MultiChat 15
MultiChat 15 features a 15-button layout and is available in three
versions: one for school-aged individuals with emerging language skills,
one for adolescents, and one for adults. There are multiple forms of
communication available in this program: sentences, phrases, individual
words, recordings for story-telling, and visual scenes. Also included are
interactive play and reading pages, social pages and a News-2-You
starter page for the weekly newspaper’s vocabulary. There are symbols
on every button with the exception of several core words.
