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Communication Devices for Stroke Victims?
chowbok asks: "My grandmother recently had a stroke, which left her with the inability to speak or move the right half of her body. It also seriously impaired her motor skills on the half she can move, so she can't write. She does understand what is said to her, but she has no way to communicate. I'd like to set something up for her so that she can write notes. What I have in mind is a keyboard with rather large keys (perhaps 2" square) and a screen or monitor of some sort. I'm sure they make such stuff specifically for stroke victims, but anything labeled 'medical' will undoubtedly be astronomically expensive, even if it is a rather simple device like what I have in mind. I thought it would be easier to build one or find something similar (perhaps a toy or some such). I thought Slashdot readers might have some good suggestions along these lines. I'm not totally against doing it with a computer with a modified keyboard, but that seems like overkill when all I want is really a 'video typewriter'. Has anyone seen anything that might work for my purposes, or might serve as a good starting point?"
I found it by searching google for "really really big keyboard" ... no joke.
A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself.
I'm not totally against doing it with a computer with a modified keyboard, but that seems like overkill when all I want is really a 'video typewriter'.
...
No, you want a computer.
Why, you ask? So that you can get some sort of predictive typing interface. You'll probably also want something that allows easy one or two key selection of common words and phrases.
That way your grandmother won't have to type as much, or feel self-conscious as
P E O P L E
W A I T
F O R
H E R
to laboriously type out sentences which they've probably already guessed.
Suggestion: predictive typing based on words already typed, with a completion list mapped to a meta key and some other key, and a special meta key that pops up a list of words and phrases, each mapped to a single key:
A - "Hello"
B - "Goodbye"
C - "Visiting hours are over, you annoying cretin"
Ok, maybe not that last one.
If she's especially immoble, you might even use a two button mouse, and some Huffman encoded alphabet that includes stock words and phrases. While learning the Huffman encoding might be laborious, this could be made considerablly easier with large on screen prompts:
> Press mouse button one to select any of "A E I O U", press mouse button two for any other letter or word.
> You pressed mouse button one. Now press mouse button one again for the letters "E" or "A". Press mouse button two for "I O U" or to start over."
> You pressed mouse button two. Press mouse key one for "I". Press mouse button two for "O" or "U" or to start over.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
found it - DASHER.
on slashdot here and here. lotsa fun, downloadable demo.
if you're willing to do something in the interim, my wife's grandmother had a plastic coated sheet of paper she used when she was in the hospital and couldn't talk. It was divided into grids and had pics and words for common phrases such as "i'm tired", "i'm hungry", "it hurts.. (then a drawing of the human body for her to point to)", "i'm thirsty", lots of others. they actually had it at the hospital, but it would be easy to make one up. maybe several with different sets of phrases even..
Free Webmail
They also sell a programmable foot switch with a keyboard interface for $120.
-- ;-)
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