the Grid 1
Contents
1. serial joystick and keyboard If you are using a JoyBox or JoyCable or any other joystick connector then select joystick If you are using serial switches then select serial switches and choose the correct comm port from the list if you are unsure this is usually com 1 or com 2 so try both If you are using a device that connects to the keyboard socket or if you have no switches and want to test The Grid using the keyboard keys as switches then select keyboard You will also need to configure the correct keys Do this by double clicking on the switch number you want to define and pressing the switch or key that you wish to use For example if you want to set the blue switch as switch 1 double click on the number 1 and then press the blue switch Before you close the window you should test your switches When you press them the lights should come on at the bottom of the window If they do not light up then consult the Reference Manual for troubleshooting If the lights do come on then click Ok to close each window in turn until you return to the grid 18 5 3 Create a new user Rather than modifying the default settings it 1s better to create a copy and modify these Right click anywhere on any cell to bring up the cell properties window Don t worry about what is in this window right now we ll cover edit cells later on but select Current User gt More Users from the menu Select User ings2. The Grid e Using symbol grids as keyboards e Using smart text input for speed Setting the output The options here are Text Bar which looks just like symbol mode except that no symbols appear Calculator Bar only for use with number grids and Other Windows Programs The Other Windows Programs options will make your grids work as an on screen keyboard This is one of the most powerful features of The Grid the ability to use a symbol communication system as a way of writing text in any program Symbol grids in text mode These work as before but without the symbol appearing in the sentence bar Alphabet and word grids For text users the alphabet grids allow The Grid to be used as a powerful stand alone text communication system The alphabet grids can be used with or without prediction and the program works in exactly the same way whether the cells contain single letters or whole words Note especially the Fast Text Entry grid which combines a number of techniques to achieve the fastest possible text entry e The most common words are on the grid along with common word endings e If you enter the first letter of a word a list of words from a word bank appears This is not true prediction just a list of selected words that always appear in the same order see the reference manual for how to edit a word bank e Ifyou enter a second letter then the suggestions down the left hand side are filled from the prediction dict
3. You can also add and New user name gt MET Remove User The Select User window Select the user that you wish to copy from the list on the left default and type the name of your new user in the box provided and then click on Copy User Your new user will appear in the list so select them and click on Close You can quickly check which user is selected by going to the Current User menu where the current user will be ticked at the top of the list and other recently selected users are listed You can have more than one user of The Grid and they each have their own saved settings for all aspects of the program 19 You are now ready to go The settings you have made will be saved for the current user Remember that there are more settings available particularly for switch users Check the Reference Manual to learn how to make the most of switch access using The Grid 20
4. and columns if you want and then click Ok to create the grid Choose one of the cells on the Tutorial 2 grid to make a jump cell and set up a jump to Tutorial 3 as before 15 When you jump to the new grid you will see that the first cell has been set up to jump to the previous grid and the second has the name and picture for the new grid This is almost the end of the tutorial but we have no easy way of getting back to the home grid If you look at the properties of the Previous jump cell then you will see that previous 1s selected as the grid to jump to Selecting this cell takes you back to the last grid We want to make a cell to go to the start grid for the grid set so change the jump to start grid None Start and Previous are always at the top of the list of jump grids so they are easy to find Time to go home Finally select the cell and jump home to complete the tutorial We have covered the basic elements of grid design here but clearly there are more options in the program The best way to find out what you can do is to look at the sample grids and to experiment If you get stuck or want to know more about a feature all the settings are explained in the Reference Manual 16 5 Getting started with a new user When The Grid is installed 1t is configured with the most useful default settings These will need to be adjusted to the needs of each user of the program 5 1 User input To
5. copy for use on their personal computer systems Site Licence Copies of a program purchased by an institution such as a school or hospital may be used on any computer that is the property of that institution and is used only on the premises of the licensee Students clients or patients should have their own copy for use on their personal computer systems Institutions requiring additional licences for multiple users should contact their distributor 1 Getting Started Welcome This manual is designed to help you start if you are unfamiliar with our products The Reference Manual provides detailed information about all of the features of The Grid The Grid is an update to the previous Sensory Software programs Winspeak Word Wall and HandsOff Users of these programs will be familiar with many of the concepts of the program and should be comfortable using it straight away 1 1 System requirements The Grid requires a PC running Microsoft Windows 95 98 ME 2000 or XP with a CD ROM drive The minimum recommended specification is a Pentium II processor with 64mb of RAM For speech the computer will also require a soundcard 1 2 Installation procedure The installation procedure should start automatically when you insert the CD If it does not locate the file setup exe on the CD and double click on 1t the start the installation After the main software has been installed you will be prompted to install some speech engines Some of t
6. introduce you to some of these features but you may like to refer to the Reference Manual as you go along 4 1 Tutorial One If you are not on the start grid then return to it by clicking on a home cell and then click on the cell marked Tutorial One This will take you to a sample grid ready for you to experiment with Tutorial Grid One The first tutorial grid is very simple It is a 3x3 grid so it has 9 cells and only two of these have been used The grid has no output it 1s just for speaking aloud Create your first cell Right click on one of the blank cells to edit 1ts properties You will see the cell properties window The Grid Setup Options File Edit Change User User Settings Input Device Help i 2 i o edit the settings For this grid Tutorial Gne click on Grid Settings Spoken Text ef Recording Options E AutoFind Picture Text Output El Browse Picture al Type Options Browse Picture Select a grid to jump to A Capture Picture none ep Jump Ae w El Carrero Short description of cell Cell Size W Quick text entry Single cell a Cell Colour W Use default colour E Cearricture Picture AutoFind as you type Show Advanced Options gt gt Grid Settings Apply Cancel The Cell Properties window for a blank cell This window is where we edit the settings for the cell you right clicked on 11 There are a lot of options available here but we shou
7. Jump E Cearricture E Cearricture Picture Short description of cell Cell Size We Quick text entry Single cell a Cell Colour i Use default colour Grid Settings Apply Ok Cancel Selecting the mouse as an input device Note the mouse picture in the top right Capture Picture W AutoFind as you type In addition to the basic settings described here there are a number of features designed to make life easier for the user We suggest that you try some of these once the input device 1s setup as the user may find that they help to make selections more easily For more information about setting up inputs see the Reference Manual Setting up switches If you are using switches then you will need to set up the correct connection method Select Input Device gt Switch Settings from the menu 17 Now click on the Configure Switches button Switch Configuration f Serial switches f Joystick f Keyboard 4 switch or pair of Joystick buttons 1 to 4 are Keyboard keys or switches connected to switches 1 Eo 4 and the switches that emulate the computer s com port joystick axes correspond the keyboard to the other switches Double click a switch Select com port Select joystick port number below and then press the switch Eo identify it ji 2 3 Ja 5 lo 7 fe ox The Switch Configuration allows serial joystick or keyboard switches 1 There are three types of switch connection supported
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9. ary 3 3 The on screen keyboard samples This takes the use of text further instead of a simple text Tools Input bar at the top of our screen we may now use The Grid to Se ees O e take complete control other Windows software even if the E iemet Explorer E Dock window Q Realistic method of input is a single switch 1 catculator E Resize Windows J Alphabetic m Word TH Move Grid E Frequency of use The Grid is a very powerful program for controlling all gam p Hide on NARA aspects of a Windows computer system It has many A E tna wi advanced features not found in other on screen keyboards 1 i W Vindbag Control Yat phrase linking and can greatly reduce the time and effort required for a E open a folder 0 shut Down amp start switch user to work with Windows software Launch programs The Grid can work like your Start Menu to bring up different programs that you wish to use The examples in the yellow column should work on most computers as long as the programs are installed If one of them does not work on your computer do not worry The Grid can be configured very easily to run the programs that are installed on your system Notice how the cells not only start the programs but take you to a suitable custom keyboard with the most used commands for that program Tools The Blue column contains many tools for managing Windows If you are using a mouse at this point please note that some of them require t
10. asking someone to do it for you Verbs Verbs are always a difficult are with symbol based software Here we show you two ways to handle verbs with dynamic screens Later you will see how 1t can be done with symbol linking The verb cells in the middle row take you to a grid where the pronouns are in columns and the tenses are in rows identified by the colour code Fitzgerald Key in this system Selecting the girl on the dark green background from the Want grid will give you she wanted A set of 20 verbs created in this way 1s available from our web site The verbs on the bottom row are for a more advanced user Here you may assemble the verb and the pop up closes only when you choose the verb ending Notice that the pronouns are on the same row as the form of the verb that agrees with them On request we can supply sets of up to 400 verb grids like these for incorporation onto your own grid sets Vocabulary samples Finally very few people will make all the grids from scratch The samples show the food related grids from some of the ready made grid sets now available We supply CDs with complete sets of grids like IDV or CALLtalk and a symbol library like PCS or Rebus 3 2 The text communication samples In these examples the symbol bar has been replaced with a text bar Using text as an output opens up more possibilities to the user with some literacy skills In this group of samples we see two powerful applications of
11. bols or text for people with no speech e An On screen Keyboard for controlling other Windows software e A Teaching Aid to provide point and click access to learning grids in the classroom 2 2 Grids and cells When you run The Grid the screen is divided into rectangles Each individual rectangle may contain pictures and words these are referred to as cells The entire page of cells is referred to as a grid The appearance of grids can vary a grid may fill the screen or occupy just one corner of the screen and it could have from just 2 cells to over 100 The cells themselves can contain pictures and or words and have a number of functions This grid has four rows of six columns and a sentence bar at the top of the screen 2 3 Output from The Grid The Grid is designed for people with a range of abilities from selecting phrases from a grid of symbols to taking complete control of the computer As a user becomes more comfortable with the software they may be able to increase the level at which they use The Grid Simple phrase bank At the simplest level The Grid can present the user with a selection of phrases to speak each illustrated with a picture and captioned with a short piece of text When the user selects one of these cells The Grid speaks the appropriate message A simple phrase bank for greeting people Sentence construction using symbols The user can build a sentence from these phrases and then speak the whole s
12. creen Quit 3 1 The symbol communication samples Here are some examples of how dynamic screen communication with symbols works using a choice of large small or no symbols in the output bar This is only a demonstration of some of the possibilities for symbol communication For real use you would need many more grids Setting the output You may swap between large symbols small symbols and no sentence bar at all Normally these settings would be built into the user profile so it is not necessary for the user to make this choice Simple messages Yes No QuickTalk Greetings and Food show simple messages sentence building and the use of links to reach a large vocabulary Yes No is an example of how simply you can start while QuickTalk gives an idea of a very basic topic grid Sentences Greetings moves on to the next step now you can build sentences edit them and speak them Try making up some simple greetings phrases and speaking them out And try the various commands along the top line Note that when the program is used as a communication aid there is not normally a printer attached Therefore The Grid requires you to alter the Printer options See Reference Manual to enable immediate printing of sentences Food is another sentence building topic but this time we can go into a sub topic to find our word So we can find Rice Krispies by choosing Food gt Breakfast gt Rice Krispies The sample grids only
13. entence at once An extra row of cells is displayed at the top of the screen called the symbol sentence bar or sentence bar and special action cells allow the user to speak clear or print the sentence Symbol based sentence construction using the symbol bar This grid is for discussing food Sentence construction using words More advanced sentence can be done with the text bar This provides a space at the top of the screen to construct text messages in As with the sentence bar these messages can be spoken when the user 1s ready e hise del e bee hg la hi E ar eh reel rep Text based sentence construction using the text bar Using other programs via The Grid The Grid is also a very powerful on screen keyboard that can give the user complete control over the computer Writing browsing the Internet or playing Solitaire almost all Windows programs can be controlled by The Grid Typing into WordPad via The Grid 3 The Sample Grids The Grid is designed to work both as a communication aid either text or symbols and as a powerful on screen keyboard It is difficult to show the scope of such a powerful program in a few minutes but the CD is supplied with some sample grids that can give you an idea of the capabilities of the program The opening screen has links to Q Symbol output Tutorial grids o bare communication G o ext communication prod MH cide e On Screen keyboard kisini e Learning grids On S
14. he use of switches Change Window switches only allows the user to select which program to use Dock and Resize Windows are for controlling the size and position of the program that you are controlling Move and Hide grid allow you to get The Grid out of the way when you need to Hide Grid actually takes you to a very small grid which also contains a cell for stopping and starting the dwell click This means that someone using dwell click say with a head mouse can take a rest Keyboards The pink column shows a range of keyboards For switch users we highly recommend the use of the Fastscan layout which places all the most common letters at the start of the scan The most important thing to note here is that the symbol grids may also be used as a way to type into any text based application 3 4 Grids for learning The Grid also has many uses in the classroom Here are a few examples of how the program may be used for learning and writing support Here are some examples of how The Grid works as a fs Examples of word bars Word bars with symbols Themed Word Banks Word bars These are simple grids with words in They may be arranged alphabetically or by topic They may also have a symbol to aid word recognition The links to the word bars are bookmarked so that you can go from topic to topic or from letter to letter and then jump back to the index grid If the bookmark were not there the cell that jumps to previous wou
15. hese are free or included in the cost of the software and others are demonstrations that must be licensed It is a good idea to install more than one speech engine so that you can choose one you like 1 3 Licencing The program installs as a demonstration version that will run for 60 days After that you must purchase a licence disk to keep using the software To install the licence launch the licence manager from the start menu Start Menu gt Programs gt Sensory Software gt Licence Manager Some of the speech engines used by The Grid will also need to be licenced after the demo period has expired We can supply these licence disks as well but the rules and prices may vary according to the publisher of the speech engine DECtalk and InfoVox will run as a demo while The Grid is a demo Others like Jane will run for 30 days 1 4 Running The Grid Once the installation The Grid can be launched from the start menu Start Menu gt Programs gt Sensory Software gt The Grid 1 5 Start using The Grid At this point you can start trying out The Grid and getting used to its features You will be in mouse mode by default we will see how to set up the input for switches or keys later The next two sections explain the basic functions of the program and take you on a tour of the sample grids 2 Overview of The Grid 2 1 What the grid is for The Grid is designed to combine three types of program e A Communication Aid using sym
16. ionary which is much larger and learns your words and how often you use them e The right hand column allows links to other grids which may contain ready made phrases Symbol Linking This is a powerful new feature of The Grid that allows a large vocabulary to be built from a small number of cells If you have used a communication aid with semantic compaction you will see how The Grid could be programmed in the same way The sample grids here shows how the technique may be used for modifying verbs creating a finished sentence from basic input and semantic compaction The verb grid shows how to use symbol linking to assemble a correct verb structure To select a verb choose a tense optional from the top line followed by a pronoun from the second row and finally the verb from the last row The Phrase Correction grid shows how selecting a couple of basic elements can be translated into a coherent sentence Symbol linking may also be used for semantic compaction In some systems such as Minspeak or LinksIcon the linking 1s used for the entire vocabulary Such systems could be emulated using The Grid if desired However in the context of a dynamic screen system it is unlikely that symbol linking would be used entirely in this way As our core vocabulary is made up of a small number of words that are used very frequently 1t makes sense to have a symbol linking grid for common words with jumps to other grids with the extended vocabul
17. ld just take you back through the topic grids in reverse order Symbol word bars These are really no different to the symbol grids used in communication except that they are designed for a specific task or topic The ability of The Grid to capture graphics directly from the screen makes it very easy to scan materials that may be used in the cells Notice how the double height setting for some of the cells gives more space for the picture Word banks These are lists of words that appear automatically in the grid when the user types a letter They are easy to create with special vocabulary for different topics For example the Music grid has a word bank of music related words Selecting the first letter of the word shows the words from the word bank beginning with that letter If the desired word is not there pressing a second letter will go to the full prediction dictionary Prediction Unlike word banks the prediction dictionaries may contain thousands of words and automatically learn your vocabulary along with the frequency and likely order of the words 10 4 Editing Grids As you will have seen from the sample grids The Grid is a very powerful communication tool To get the most out of The Grid you will need to modify some of the existing grids and create new grids Fortunately this is easier than ever The accompanying Reference Manual has details of all the features in The Grid Working through the following tutorial will
18. ldn t need many of them at this stage The cursor should be in the Spoken Text box in the top left so you can start typing straight away the text in the Spoken Text box is what is spoken when the user selects this cell Start typing hello and watch the screen as you type each letter to see what happens There are two helpers working here to make grid creation fast and easy These are AutoFind as you type and Quick text entry Notice that there are two tick boxes on the right hand side to turn these off but leave them on for now Quick Text Entry is designed to avoid having to re type words several times and you can see that the word hello has appeared in four different text boxes on the screen We will cover what these other boxes are actually for as the tutorial progresses The AutoPicture feature is responsible for the picture changing on the right hand side When you type he the picture changes to the picture for he As you continue to type the whole word hello the picture for hello appears Click Ok to accept the new cell The Cell Properties window will disappear and you will return to the tutorial grid Try clicking on the new cell it will say hello The hello cell has been added to the grid The Recorded Sounds window Jumping between grids Now we are going to create a Jump cell These are very important as they allow you to jump betwee
19. n grids We are going to create a cell to jump to the second tutorial grid So choose another empty cell and open the Cell Properties for that cell with the right mouse button Instead of typing into the Spoken Text box we want to select a grid to jump to from the list marked Select a grid to jump to The second tutorial grid is called Tutorial Two so select this from the list Tutorial two has a picture already so we re done Just click Ok to confirm the cell settings and return to the grid We re now ready for tutorial two so click on your new cell to go to the Tutorial Two grid 12 4 2 Tutorial Two Tutorial two will introduce a major new feature the ability to use the different outputs described in section 2 the overview Tutorial Two The yellow cells on the right are for changing the output from the grid Currently there 1s no output from this grid so try selecting symbol output or text output With these different outputs you can add either text or symbols to the space at the top of the grid If no output is selected then The Grid will continue to talk but you cannot make sentences Try making speaking and clearing a few simple sentences in the different modes Next we ll see how those cells were made Right click on the Speak cell to bring up the properties then click on the Show Advanced Options gt gt button The window will drop down to reveal the advanced o
20. opened this window to make some more space so change the number of rows to 5 to give us some more cells Click on Ok to implement this and then close the Cell Properties window 14 In addition to the sentence bar there are now five rows 4 3 Tutorial Three Making a new grid The grid for Tutorial 3 has not even been made yet but making new grids 1s something you may need to do quite often so we ll do that now Right click on any cell to bring up the Cell Properties window Although we are not editing a particular cell this 1s how we get to all the settings If you want to change any grid settings user Settings input settings or anything else the first step 1s always to open the Cell Properties window From the menu select File gt New Grid Create New Grid nd size For the new grid The new UE Sample aaa m ri Pete At New grid name Grid Picture Tutorial Three Ts Grid dimensions Columns s le tee Browse This is where you set up the new grid We need to give the grid a name so type Tutorial 3 in the appropriate box We also want the T3 icon to appear when we make jumps to this grid so click the Browse button You will find a suitable image in the Pictures Tutorial directory If you installed The Grid to the default location this will be C Program Files Sensory SoftwarelCommon Pictures Tutorial Select the Tutorial 3 icon and change the number of rows
21. operate The Grid the user needs to select cells from each grid and The Grid has been designed to work with a range of input devices The input device used is determined by the capabilities of the user and they fall into three categories described briefly here Pointers Pointer input devices are mice and devices that emulate mice This includes trackballs touch screens head pointers and joysticks Switches Users with limited movement may be able to press one or two buttons or switches If so they can use these switches to select cells in The Grid At the simplest level the user will press the switch once and each cell in the grid will be highlighted in turn When the desired cell is highlighted the user presses the switch again to select that cell Keyboard The Grid can also be operated using the keyboard s arrow keys 5 2 How do I select my input device Right click to bring up the cell properties window and select the appropriate choice from the Input Device menu A tick appears next to the selected device If you are using pointer or keyboard input then you are ready to go The Grid Setup Options File Edit Change User User Settings Mia Help edit th Pointer Secungs rial Two click on Grid Settings Switch Spoken Text Switch Settings cf E AutoFind Picture Text Output zj Key biari y Keyboard Settings dE Browse ricture Browse Picture a Select a grid to jump to Auditory Feedback none ad ep
22. ptions Symbol Output Options Add to Sentence Speak Cell Message Speak Sentence Preview Sentence Print Sentence Erase Last Undelete Last Clear Sentence The Advanced Options section of the Cell Properties window Here are even more options for modifying a cell s behaviour We are interested in the tick boxes on the left the Symbol Output Options Notice that the Speak Sentence box is ticked that is how you make a cell speak the sentence Close the window with either the Ok or Cancel button and bring up the properties for the Erase and Clear cells You can see that these too have a box ticked to make them do an action You may also notice that all the buttons for changing the picture have gone this is intentional The grids are grouped into sets and all the grids in a grid set will use the same pictures for speak clear print and other often seen actions These pictures can be changed for the whole 13 grid set This makes it very easy for the user to identify the main action cells as they always have the same symbol Create an undelete action cell Open the properties of the first cell in the new row and put a tick in the box marked Undelete last We want some text to appear in the cell so type Undelete in the box above the picture and then click ok Try using the cell after erasing from the sentence bar Undelete cells can be very handy if the u
23. ser accidentally selects Clear Before we try and create some more cells close the Cell Properties again and look at the properties of one of the main cells such as I like You will notice that the Add to sentence box is ticked if you un tick this then the cell will not be added to the sentence When Quick text entry is on this box is ticked for you when you enter text This has already happened for the hello and my name is cells that you made in tutorial one Changing a grid s settings We re going to see how to make an action cell but we re running out of space on this grid so the first thing we will do is make it a bit bigger Right click on any of the cells and then click on the Grid Settings button Grid Settings Automatic Content Type Change Grid Picture none Powis Columns 4 5 F Cell ratio Fit to screen Make this grid a self closing grid Apply Ok Cancel The Grid Settings window This can be accessed from the properties of any cell While this window is open notice the picture in the title bar of the window This is the picture for this grid and you see this picture whenever you make a jump fo this grid For example when you made the jump in tutorial one the T2 logo appeared in that cell The top two buttons Change Grid Image and Clear Grid Image allow you to change and clear this picture respectively We actually
24. show 24 cells but even so that give access to a total of 13 824 cells in three selections The maximum number of cells is 108 which gives 1 259 712 cells in three choices dynamic screens give you a BIG vocabulary Special grids abc shows how to use the alphabet as a part of your communication In this grid we are not really catering for a full time text user just offering the chance to spell some words for practice The letters appear as individual elements and the amount that can be written 1s strictly limited Using text as a main means of output is covered later 6 Colours shows how a self closing pop up grid can expand the vocabulary on a page Notice how it jumps back as soon as you choose a colour It avoids the need to repeat all the colours on every gird where they may be useful Another advantage of a pop up is that you can alter it for example to add more colours and all the links to the colours grid will immediately jump to the new version Guess Who shows how a communication system may be used to participate in a game The pictures were captured directly from a scanned image of the game cards Many games could be used in this way Environment Control shows the use of The Grid to operate devices around the home It makes a lot of sense to include environment control in a communication aid as apart from the convenience of operating both functions from the same device asking may I change the channel is far better than
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