One of my favorite keyboard apps' developers has made an attempt at a "keyboard" app that is designed to help families communicate with their children who have developmental/communication disorders.

We all take it for granted that we can hear, talk, see, and generally use all of our senses. Communication is an important way of sharing what is going on with us, and in our world. But imagine if you cannot communicate, or communicate well, and how different life would be. For some people they cannot communicate in the ways we all take for granted even though they have all of their senses functioning. Take children on the autism spectrum range, for example, from high functioning to non-verbal, and everywhere in between. For the non-verbal families, the lack of communication and knowing what is going on with their child is frustrating. The child is just as frustrated. 

The makers of Swiftkey, one of the long time Android keyboard app makers, have created Swiftkey Symbols to help people with speaking disabilities to better communicate. Users use people, actions, and colors to create entire sentences. In a nutshell, Swiftkey, the regular keyboard app/replacer for Android and iOS, learns and predicts, over time, the next word you would want to use; the same thing is true of this Symbols app. This is free (none of that in app purchase stuff), and it allows you to also upload your own pictures to help with communication.

Technology is moving us forward in so many ways, and if this app allows non-verbal children, and people with speaking disabilities, to have a voice then what an amazing gift to those around them, or least for themselves. 

Right now it appears just on Android (or at least I cannot find it for iOS just yet, nor did I have any luck finding a counterpart from another app developer at this time), but I hope more apps like this are designed and implemented, successful or not, so that others can be inspired. After all, communication is a human need, and something that we all should have access to.

Source and Image Credit: Swiftkey (Swiftkey Blog)