Introduction

What is Pictalk?

Pictalk is a CAA pictogram communication application that was the winner of the Handitech Trophy 2022 in the digital innovation category. It is royalty-free, free, and without advertisements. It works on Android, iOS (Apple), and in web version.

We are a team of two telecommunications engineers who started developing Pictalk during our years of study for our younger brother with disabilities.

Pictalk allows for vocal feedback through a synthetic voice and provides a pictogram search engine ARASAAC, Sclera, Mulberry, and others. Importing images from your photo library is also possible.

The current version of Pictalk does not allow for advanced use of CAA (conjugation, sentence structure, complete library) but may be sufficient for individuals with severe cognitive impairments or major speech difficulties. It is important to note that due to a lack of contribution from speech therapists or other language professionals, we have not been able to provide complete starting libraries designed for language development. This is a goal for us.

Installation

The application is available on Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pictalk.www.twa&hl=fr&gl=US) and on iOS (https://apps.apple.com/fr/app/pictalk-aac/id1617860868). It is also possible to access the application directly through your web browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc) at this address: https://application.pictalk.org/public/346

In order to add your own pictograms and personalize your binder, you will need to create a free account. Once the application is installed, offline use is possible.

Video tutorials are available at this address https://www.pictalk.org/fr/tutorials

How to Use?

First Use

Once your account is created, you can log in to your personal space. You can then explore your pictogram grid. You will notice that some elements have a black border. In fact, there are two types of entities on Pictalk:

• Collections (similar to "folders"). They have a black border (similar to shadow). A collection can contain pictograms as well as other collections.
• Pictograms (similar to "files").

 

By clicking on a collection, for example, "food":

We are redirected to this page:

This is the inside of the "food" collection. Here, we find pictograms related to this collection. Such as: hot, coffee, drink, eat... A bar at the bottom has appeared. It is called the "Sentence Strip".

To compose your own sentence and be able to verbalize it, click on pictograms. Here, I clicked on "I", "Want", "To eat" "Fries".

Let's look at the buttons on the "Sentence Strip":

1. The "Trash" button deletes the current sentence and takes you back to your home (initial screen).
2. The "Delete" button deletes the last clicked pictogram and takes you back to your previous position.
3. The "Volume" button in green allows you to read the sentence:
4. The "Copy" button in blue allows you to copy the sentence to the clipboard to send it via WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS, or other means.

Create Your Content (Essential!)

For any modification, you must switch to "Edit Mode". To protect your library from unintentional deletion or modification, you must solve a very simple arithmetic calculation:

After switching to edit mode, numbers will appear under each pictogram. These are the display priority.

The lower numbers will appear at the top left of the screen and the higher numbers (10) will appear last. We are currently working on a better solution (drag and drop) to organize pictograms.

Hovering over a pictogram or collection will display 3 vertical dots (in blue) and 12 square dots (in red).

In blue, the three dots provide access to the "Pictogram Actions":

1. Edit it (image, text, speech)
2. Delete it
3. Add it to the sidebar

In red, the 12 dots allow you to move the pictogram to a collection by drag-and-drop.

For a collection, here are the available actions:

(Thanks to Aurélie REGENT for this very clear description of available actions) 

You can make "linked copies" of collections to place them in another collection. For example, if you created a collection "educators" and want to copy it to the "school" collection, you can do so using the "linked duplicate" button and then "paste" it in edit mode. If you then add a pictogram to the standalone "educators" collection, it will also automatically appear in the "educators" collection inside the "school" collection. This is denoted by the green chain symbol "Linked duplicates".

In contrast, a "Distinct Copy" will not be updated if an educator is added or removed from the original collection.

Creating a Collection

In edit mode, click on the "Create + " button and select "Collection".

Pictalk includes a pictogram search engine that uses Sclera, ARASAAC, Mulberry, and Tawasol.

Once the pictogram is imported from your computer or found among the search engine suggestions, you must provide the "speech" oral message, the "Meaning" in writing, and then give it a color. For a collection, it is possible to mute it.

Edit a Pictogram or Collection

You can edit the image of a pictogram or collection from the "Options" menu. Here are the 4 editing possibilities:

You can also edit the "Speech" and "Meaning".

Sidebar

Similar to other AAC applications, you can pin pictograms or collections to a sidebar. They will be highlighted and accessible at all times.

Settings

In this settings menu, you can change:

1. The interface and pictogram size
2. The sentence display time
3. Edit protection by solving an addition
4. Automatic pronunciation of the pictogram when clicked

If you click on the "language" symbol, you will access the second panel:

Here, you can change the display language and the synthetic voice.

In the next tutorial, we will explore sharing features for easier use in a structured environment.