Touch Screen Word Processor for the Physically Disabled?

[Akira321]

I'm looking for a word processor that my relative with cerebral palsy can use to write.  His mind is intact and he's very intelligent, but his motor functions are severely impaired due to an accident he suffered after birth.  He has already written a book with the help of an aide, and he can communicate using the Bliss system as well as touch screens using the limited control he does have over his body.  But it would be really great if we found a computer program he can use to type on his own.

Does anyone know of such a program?  A touch screen version of the Bliss program would be ideal, but anything with very large icons on a screen that he can use to type words will work, especially if those icons include lists of common words.  We have no preference between commercial and opensource.

Even if you don't have any recommendations, thank you for reading this.  All help is appreciated.

[Eurac]

Well I think it is a shame no one has replied to this post so I thought I should. I cant help much though. I've seen many products, ( Physical disability keyboard google search) while looking for things to help my wife who has restricted mobility, No where near as extreme as your relative though.
It depends on what it is they need exactly, I have seen a virtual keyboard for touch screen PCs that can be zoomed in and out, I thought maybe a dual screen system, one for the keyboard full screen, and one for the WP. Would a giant keyboard help, I have seen these also but the keys are not that large. Double the size.

I just wanted to reply really Akira, hope you can find something, good luck.

[Socius Rockus]

Make a few phone calls to companies who make keyboards for the blind, Maybe they have some connections?
I'm sure something like that is out there, I've seen on Discovery Channel once a woman who could guide a laser with her eye on a (?) laser board and was able to type like that.

[Minks]

Hi, Akira321,

Google Germany spit out this company for me: http://www.touchkeyboard.de/
(It's in german, but the site says the there is also an english version of the program
avialable).
I'll give you a rough translation of the key features:

"MH touchkeyboard (=name of the program) shows a freely configurably keyboard on the monitor. This virtual
keyboard can be operated by mouse or directly via touch screen."

"The highlights are:
    * arbitrarly user-defines keyboeard layouts
    * provided layout editor (pro-version)
    * Windows-login with TouchKeyboard (PRO-Version)
    * PlugIn-Management to extend the keyboard with custom functions and layouts with DLLs.
    * can be remote controlled with an COM/Automation (ActiveX) interface (whatever that is  )
    * one keystroke can write a whole word, start a program, open a file, etc.
    * supports Unicode for different programs (e.g. Word, Wordpad)
    * if required, always in the foreground (no other windows covering the keyboard)
    * operating systems Windows XP, NT 4, und Win9x"

A flyer in english can be found: here
There is also a time limited demo for download. I've taken a quick look at it, in some of the demo layouts,
the buttons were huge (several cm on my screen), so I guess the size is configurable, too.

If you want to know more, I'll be happy to provide more translation.

Best,
Minks

[Arerano]

Hmm, maybe that could be useful (took quite a while to find it again)
It's basically a program which enables to use a "mouse, joystic or any other coordinate-based input-device" to function as a kind of text-input. One has to get used to that kind of input to be able to write with it at a decent rate.. but it really works.. and, above all, it's free (and open source).
You actually simply "point" toward the next letter you want to write (on the right side) and the more you point to the right, the quicker do they "zoom in". The program gets "trained" while writing so that "often used letter-combinations" can be written faster... hmm.. I'm not good at explaining it
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/SpecialNeeds.html

Another interesting thing I found (hardware) is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_keyset
Those are basically 5-keys keyboards (some with more than one key for the thumb) which reduces/eliminates the requirement of "replacing" the fingers on several different keys. Different combinations lead to different letters.

[MustangMR]

My son sounds much like your relative, though maybe a bit more motor skill impaired.  He would be unable to use a touchscreen and has to manipulate items with a scanning program and a head mounted switch.  He uses a Dynavox for some communication, but he doesn't quite have the skills to use it.  My overall impression of the Dynavox system is that it's an expensive laptop with a lousy OS (it's custom), but, it does have some very nice features.  It is rugadized, so it can take a beating.  It has a ton of icons for programming pre-programmed phrases.  It has a touchscreen and scanning interfaces.  It has infra-red controller built in that he can use to control the TV and other similar devices.  It also has a word prediction system built in that will help minimize the amount of typing a person has to do, and can then speak the phrases.  It is pretty powerful, but it's just so dang expensive being that the market is so small.  Here is a link:

http://www.dynavoxtech.com/

They have other devices as well.  I have also seen new technology coming out soon that will allow direct scanning of the spinal cord externally (i.e. no implants) that will allow a person to control a device by thought.  This is getting close to reality, and we may see this in practice in the next five years.

[Marqsaynt]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for exactly but, seems to have a lot of information.

http://www.makoa.org/computers.htm#guide

Hope it helps some.

Also, not sure if this is quite what you want but came across it after looking through that site a bit.

http://www.sensorysoftware.com/computercontrol.html

[MustangMR]

@arerano,

Thank you for that post.  I am going to look into some of that as well for my son.  In particular, the eyegazing control systems look real promising. 

[hitancrias]

I know somebody who can't use his hands at all, but who can do everything with a computer by using the LUCY keyboard. The LUCY keyboard is a light sensitive keyboard that works in combination with a laser light which is usually mounted on somebodies glasses. It works very well. The only disadvantage is that it is very expensive.

For more information, see: http://www.lucykeyboard.nl/

For all kinds of other (and usually less expensive) solutions see: http://www.keytools.co.uk/home.php