Description
iMean turns iPad into a letterboard with large easy-to-read keys and word suggestions. I developed it to help my autistic son communicate and formulate his thoughts. Richie Meade-Miller did the programming. My son enjoys the word suggestions not just for speed but because they make him read. We are hoping that other people who use typing or facilitated communication because they cannot speak or speak well will enjoy this app too.
We have found iPad makes it easy to switch into this app from reading or watching a video so we can discuss what we are studying and then switch back again.
Unlike icon-based systems this app is dedicated to text and the subtleties of expression and immense developmental potential that using text and formulating thoughts offers many people on the autistic spectrum.
The app saves what's been spelled and features large YES and NO buttons in the main view.
iMean's word prediction offers up to three possible word suggestions as the user is typing. These can be selected with one tap of the finger. This speeds communication and also fosters visual scanning and reading as the user looks at the words and considers whether they are what she or he is trying to spell.
There are four views, a large keyboard in alphabetical order, a full-screen qwerty keyboard, a numeric view for entering numbers and an editing view that makes use of the standard iPad QWERTY keyboard as well as the Apple-built edit, select and copy functions which can be used to transfer the text to other applications such as word processing and mail.
In future updates we hope to offer file management so you can work on more than one document at a time and a keyboard that can be enlarged by pinching like a web site.
We are delighted that iMean now has the ability to speak the text that is entered.
Comments and feature requests are welcome via "email me" at www.iMean.mobi.
What's New in Version 1.5
Speech! iMean now comes with one male and one female voice! Touch the gray area to start speaking. Highlight a section in edit view to have iMean speak that text. Speech has been our most-requested feature and we are proud to offer it as a free upgrade to our existing customers!
iPad Screenshots
Customer Reviews
Voice output shoots this app to the top of the list!
My non-verbal typer son has used iMean since it came it out because the word prediction is great and easy to use and also because the program stores the the typer's writings. Now the app has voice output! This one has it all now -- yes/no button choices on the keyboard page, great word prediction, storage and voice output! Thank you iMean for the latest and greatest update!
Better than ever!
For a very brief time the imean did not work well after the recent ipad update. It is working perfectly now and is a wonderful tool for helping a young autistic boy I know communicate. This would also be great for anyone who cannot speak for any reason. It is easy to use, fast, and facilitates language skills. Highly recommend this!
This application should be available to anyone who cannot talk ... hospitals should use it to communicate with people who have had throat surgery or cannot talk because they have a ventilator. It works smoothly and beautifully and the new voice feature is perfect.
Just needs a few enhancements
My son with CP loves using iMean to communicate. He loves having a voice and on a device that can do so much. But, there are a few annoyances in iMean.
First is the small space bar. He often hits Z or Y when atempting to use space. It would be great if that were just slightly larger.
Second is that there is no indicator on the sentence display that a space was successfully registered. An underline or centered dot would show that space was hit.
Third, there are no space, backspace, or clear buttons on the numeric keypad. My son uses iMean for his math homework and has to constantly switch to the alpha pad for those functions.
And last, it would be nice to be able to disable the phrases interface. We never use it, but frequently end up in it accidentally.
We love iMean and will continue to use it for as long as it is supported.
- $4.99
- Category: Education
- Updated: Mar 19, 2011
- Version: 1.5
- Size: 119 MB
- Language: English
- Seller: Michael BERGMANN
- © 2010 by Michael Bergmann
Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.3 or later.
