Lightwriter Review

From an Ataxia point of view you maybe interested to know that I did try some smaller, cheaper systems based on Pocket PC and touchscreen/stylus. The major difficulty I had was hitting the right icons with or without a stylus. Bigger picture icons that held an whole sentence weren’t too bad but obviously you cant fit many on a tiny 3.5” or 5“ screen. Trying to hit a letter of a virtual keyboard squeezed into this limited space was virtually impossible. I managed a few last September but it was slow and frustrating and it didn’t allow for much more progression before I would be unable to use it at all (unless I used a mouth stick or head pointer).

As I wanted to be able to type for as long as possible and still had fairly good typing skills for an Ataxian, we felt the Lightwriter was a more appropriate solution for me, as I was did not particularly want another computer (12” Tablet version of the Typespeak software).

As I still sign and prefer signing where its possible as its much quicker, I felt I needed a portable solution that was a back up where people didn’t understand my signs and could be switched on immediately, It also needed to provide a solution for the problem I was having with text messaging on my mobile phone.

My Lightwriter finally arrived last week and I have been busy putting all my medical information in and creating abbreviations for most commonly used phrases.

I decided to split them into sentence beginnings and endings so just place/people/item names would need to be inserted in most cases

For example combining the abbreviations ‘rpt’ (repeat) and ‘lpr’ (lipread) will bring up the sentence “ can you say that again please, I need to see your face to lip-read” or they could be used on their own if I felt the situation didn’t require both to be said.

Some sentences which would be the same every time have been stored as a full pre-stored sentence for example ‘Tea please, milk and one sugar’
Or “I have Ataxia, it means I have difficulty co-ordinating my muscles”, as a basic explanation to Joe Public with a more detailed description stored in the notebook section under ICE (In Case of Emergency), which contains all my medical details.

To create abbreviations you have to choose up to 3 letters that are not an actual word or the letters aren’t found in that sequence as part of any word.

For example I cant use the abbreviation ‘at’ for assistive technology because ‘at’ is a word. Similarly I can’t use ‘hys’ for ‘Have You Seen’ because that combination of letters is found in words such as hysterical and the word prediction would bring those up as I typed the abbreviation in. The idea is for them to work together so I am able to put together sentences quickly, using a combination of abbreviation-expansion and word prediction as I do with Keystrokes on the Mac.

Where phrases would have a similar combination of abbreviation such as ‘dyh’ which could be ‘do you have any’ or ‘did you hear about’, I stored one of them as a pre-stored sentence and the other as an abbreviation, so dyh quickly brings up ‘do you have any’ then just add the name of the item I want to ask for in a shop. If they brought the wrong item I can type ‘one’ and it will bring up “not that one, the one with ‘ and add relevant words.

‘Did you hear about ‘ is a pre-stored sentence as I’m more likely to say that and add more while chatting with someone who will be aware that I need more time to answer by that point.

So basically anything I’m likely to say in a situation where someone has never met me before I have created an abbreviation for e.g. ‘lw’ brings up Lightwriter which brings up the sentence “This is a Lightwriter, it speaks what I type, as I have difficulty with speaking” adding ‘tma’ (TiMe to Answer) continues with “please be patient and give me time to answer “


The word prediction is very good though for putting together spontaneous replies on the spot as it will predict the next word you might use also so as soon as you switch it on common sentence starters are there ‘I’ ‘My’, ‘Can’ etc, if you selected ‘Can’ the next selections may include ‘I’, ‘you’ ‘we’ select ‘I’ and you get a new selection of words ‘have’, ‘go’, ‘make’ etc so you can quickly make up sentences such as My name is, Can I have, Can we go without even pressing any letters.

You select the predictions by either pressing the number keys or pressing the arrow keys to get to the one you want. The more you use it the accurately it predicts so although at first abbreviations are quicker, once it learns the main vocabulary and combinations I most frequently use the word prediction will be just as quick and I will be able to type entire sentences pressing only the numbers keys to select predictions.

It also does text messaging and Environmental Controls so if you have difficulty with small buttons on mobile’s or some TV remotes you can use the Lightwriter instead. I have to wait for the man to come back this Friday to set that up though.

My one small issue with it is it doesn’t have an handle or a strap to put around your body to stop you dropping it especially if you balance it on your knee rather than have it mounted on a wheelchair. As I switch chairs frequently and have Inca to walk too in all weathers I couldn’t want it mounting on a chair in case it got damaged. Also for example I prefer my scooter for going to the asda where I might be more likely to use it to ask for something.

I was told the man who comes on Friday is bringing some kind of bag so whether this is a bag that allows you to use the device whilst inside it with some kind of body/neck strap, I’m not sure yet. That would be an acceptable solution if so, although their brochure did show a man with a neck strap.. looking underneath there appears to be nowhere you would fit one other than the holes for the mounting screws.

I originally had the flush keyguard during the week trial last September, this is slightly raised so you cant see sides of the keys but the keyguard is level with the tops of the keys.
However after also trying out the Deep keyguard (it comes with 3 so you can choose which is best for you) I now prefer that and found my key pressing is more accurate as it’s a smaller keyboard than the Mac one.

Overall its an excellent little device which is in a kind of mid-range price at £3,200. With most of the more complex communication aids costing from anything over £6,000 it is not at all badly priced in comparison and is easier to use if you are already literate and do not need an icon based or switch accessible communication aid.

(This model of Lightwriter is NOT switch accessible but the company do make other models which are, for people unable to physically press keys to select a letter).

This pic shows my new lightwriter with deep key guard on, showing abbreviation-expansion. I type in 'hhu' the phrase appears in first word prediction selection box underneath, pressing number 1 then expands it to show full sentence as seen in other picture below (facing reader). This was the trial machine and shows the flush key guard.