Hi,
I am a big fan of Morse code and Dasher but if someone is typing at a rate of 70 words per minute that is going to be very hard to beat.  I have know some people who become very good with memorized abbreviation expansions for common words, phrases and sentence starters (eg: by the way, thank you, let me ask you a question, etc) which they use to speed typing.  I could fax you the list of abbreviations my best abbreviation expansion user uses.  He is amazing.  I never timed him when he was a touch typist (can't use his hands anymore) but it sure seemed like he typed (communicated) at an amazingly fast rate.  He still uses the abbreviations but needs alternative access).  I believe 70-80 words per minute without any strategy is about the max a touch typist can reach but someone who has mastered abbreviations for some core vocabulary, key phrases and sentence starters could potentially boost their speed.   I am very eager to see other peoples ideas.  Frankly this would benefit plenty of bulbar pts if we came up with something faster than 70 words per minute.

Sincerely,

Amy Roman, MS, CCC-SLP
Augmentative Communication Specialist

Forbes Norris ALS Research Center
2324 Sacramento Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
P (415)600-1263
F (415)673-5184



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Thank you.

--- On Wed, 1/26/11, xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx <xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx <xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: AT non-als question
To: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 11:13 AM

What about morse code?
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
From: "Alisa Brownlee" <xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sender: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 07:36:51 -0800
To: National ALS Association AT Listserv<xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
ReplyTo: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: AT non-als question

Hello all,
 
Anyone have any ideas on helping this person? 
 
I'm a special education teacher in Harlem, New York, and I'm used to
dealing with students with pretty serious cognitive delays. My friend
is a professional accountant and he is about to have his jaw wired
shut for 6 months to fix some chronic and astounding jaw pain. He
needs an adapted keyboard with a text-to-speech output. His IQ goes
well above genius (probably 150-170), and he'd like to keep working
with clients. He has no physio-motor impairments to speak of. To keep
working, the voice has to sound real and the rig needs to be portable
and somewhat unobtrusive (no Dynavox slung around the neck with a
yellow strap). Further, he needs some input system that moves faster
than he can currently type on a standard computer keyboard (70 words
per minute). He expressed that the speed of slowish speech (110-170
words per minute) should be adequate. Perhaps some phonetic system?
I'm thinking of something akin to court stenography, but smaller and
not taking three years to learn.
 
 
 
Alisa Brownlee, ATP
Clinical Manager, Assistive Technology Services
ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) Association National Office
 and Greater Philadelphia Chapter
Direct Phone: 215-631-1877