I have to admit, the first time he took the thing and bashed it on the table they kinda had me.
Pros about the Maestro compared to ipad:
Dedicated to speech, made by speech pathologists so it is easy to use
The therapist said it is 10x easier to program and to use than the ipad
Has camera, internet, and many of the great things the ipad has
Our current insurance will pay for all of it
Very durable
Has 1 year warranty
Can pay for warranty after that (although it is $300-$500 a year)
From 8-5 I will have tech support
They come to your home and school to teach everyone how to use it.
It uses PECS pictures (unless I choose to change them)
Cons about Maestro compared to ipad:
Someday we will have different insurance and even if it pays 80%, the Maestro is $7,000...that's still a lot
The ipad has about 1 million apps that at some point Josh will want to use (unrelated to speech) and although the Maestro is essentially a computer (PC) and you can do just about anything on it you can on a computer...it isn't an ipad
It is 3.5 lbs (and when you are only 36 lbs, that is a big deal)
It is thicker than an ipad
We will still have to pay for the warranty which is like buying an ipad once a year
His teachers are used to using ipads, not Dynavox. (Although the guy will teach them)
That is all I can think of right now. I went ahead and signed up for the Maestro with the understanding that I can call it off in the next few months without losing anything.
Do any of you have any experience with any of this? What do you guys think?
2 comments:
Hi--Dana here from Uncommon Sense. I saw your comment on my blog, hopped over here to learn more about you, and saw this post---we've been going through this exact thing. (iPad vs. Maestro vs. Vantage Lite)
We have an iPad with Proloquo2Go, but I don't love it. I became convinced that a device was the way to go, and foughtfoughtfought to get one. We got a 6 week trial with the Maestro, and I was psyched, but it wasn't a good fit for us. For us, it was too cumbersome (no way could she carry it) and much harder to program and customize than the iPad. Most importantly, though, I didn't like the way the language and grammar were set up. I had high hopes, but it just isn't a fit for Maya (she wasn't a fan, either).
Bottom line: Get a trial. Arrange to borrow one from Dynavox for a month (they will let you do this). This will give you time to play with it and see if it's a good match for you. I'm so glad that we had a trial period, because if I had done all of the work to get one and then disliked it I would be kicking myself.
I would say. Consider the future extremly carefull.
My problem is i can no longer use my communication device all the time as i lose the a ability to move and cordinate
Before this happened i was about to get an ipad as i have proloqu2go on my old. Iphone. But sometimes i cant use this either as my fingers dont register i cant grip a stylus
A mouth stick would mean my parner helping me and i want to be independent
Dynavox have different input devices such as track pro, eyegaze it can use joystick , switch etc
I have proloqu2go on a very old second had iphone the program is good. But. There are currently no options other than figuires.
Dynavox is cover for help breakages etc back up support to and is an. Aac device with. A computer with lots of advantages
You can run word and all thee normal stuff for doing work and games it would be replacible if broken
Help via email phone etc
Everthing in one pacage
Ipad
Only use figuires for imput
No back up replacement if stuck
No training. You are. Alone
Now wordprocessing that school and work would use
Ipad breaks easy
No alturnative input device if. U cant use figures mouth stick , or stylus that will control the complete device
Ipadd isnt recognised by every speach thrapist or school
Have to buy lots of apps to do what dynavox does
Not covered by medicare etc
No try before u buy who comes to u u go to them
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