Proloquo is a digital AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) technology that supports or replaces speech for people who experience communication barriers. Through a symbol-based digital communication system where the user can form ideas and sentences by selecting symbols on the screen, Proloquo improves and empowers communication for people with communication barriers or speech-related disabilities. Compared to text-based AACs, Proloquo’s symbol-based system is especially useful for people who cannot yet read or spell, or who experience difficulty with reading, writing, or vocabulary.
Proloquo benefits a wide variety of people, not only those who meet medical definitions of disability. For example, people who benefit from Proloquo might include those with developmental disabilities such as autism, people who have experienced acquired conditions such as stroke or physical trauma, people with progressive conditions like Parkinson’s disease, and people who experience cognitive-communication barriers that affect language and literacy. Proloquo includes a variety of accessibility and inclusion features that can empower diverse users, such as symbol-to-speech or text-to-speech with a range of system and personal/recorded voices. Proloquo is also compatible with head-tracking and eye-tracking, which, combined with customization, can support people with limited hand mobility. Finally, the vocabulary within Proloquo can be tailored to audiences of all ages.
More than a functional tool, Proloquo allows people to talk about a wide range of topics, express opinions, tell stories, and ask questions. In a recent update to the Proloquo app, a whiteboard feature now supports not only simple sentence formation but also the communication of complex processes and ideas. In addition to typing out a sentence by selecting symbols, the user is able to drag, cluster, and freely rearrange symbols on a whiteboard to express more complex and conceptual ideas. This moves beyond being a simple functional alternative to spoken words and towards creative solutions that empower people who experience speech-related disabilities. In the long term, this also supports the ability to foster deeper interpersonal relationships, richer social interactions, and increased autonomy and self-determination.
Proloquo’s use case is aligned with the social model of disability, in the sense that it strives not only to support communication for the person using the app, but also to encourage communication partners to adapt their behavior when interacting with people who experience communication barriers. For example, a communication partner might use Proloquo to pose a question using the app in addition to or instead of their speech. This brings both the person experiencing communication barriers and their communication partners into the same mode of interaction. Instead of favoring a single “normalized” mode of communication, Proloquo fosters shared communication practices that promote inclusion.
However, the Proloquo app currently only supports four Romance languages—English, French, Spanish, and Dutch—which makes it less accessible for large groups of people worldwide. Additionally, while the app has a basic set of symbols, vocabularies, and sentence structures, these existing options are not necessarily universal: they may not reflect the full range of cultural experiences, vocabularies, or practices that a given person might need to express. Nevertheless, the option to customize vocabulary and images provides a potential pathway toward a more inclusive range of expressions.
Reference:
https://www.assistiveware.com/learn-aac/what-is-aac
https://www.assistiveware.com/alternative-access-and-accessibility
https://www.assistiveware.com/products/proloquo
https://www.assistiveware.com/products/proloquo2go