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Predictable training
Basics of Predictable
About Predictable
Predictable top features
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History Strip: provides quick access to your most recently spoken messages. -
Favourite Strip: provides quick access to your most commonly used phrases -
Word Prediction Strip: provides a smart word prediction mechanism which allows you to construct your messages more quickly. -
Feature Keys: allows you to engage with a number of useful features with ease. -
Categories: allows you to store relevant phrases together. -
Phrases: allows you to speak pre-constructed phrases.


Opening the App for the First Time
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Open the App Store. -
If you're using iOS 12 or earlier, tap Today at the bottom of the screen. If you're using a newer version, tap the profile icon at the top of the screen. -
Scroll down to see pending updates and release notes. Tap Update next to Predictable to get the latest version.

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Open the Google Play Store app -
Tap Menu and select My apps & games. -
Games with an update available are labelled "Update." You can also search for a specific game. -
Tap Update.
Speaking your first message
When you first open Predictable, it is likely that you will be keen to speak your first message. To do so there are a few steps to consider first.
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Press the Categories and Phrases icon, which can be found directly above the Speak icon on the keyboard. -
Click on the category which best suits your phrase and then press the edit icon. -
Tap on Add Phrase, which will take you to a page where you can create your phrase. -
You can add text for both the Spoken and Display Phrase, a recording, an icon and a link to multimedia. -
Save your new phrase

Guest vs. Predictable account
Guest mode
One way you can interact with Predictable is through Guest Mode. Guest Mode will store your data locally on your device. This means if you wish to change or use a different device you will not be able to recover your settings, phrases and multimedia from your previous device. Alongside this, if you were to experience data loss you would be unable to recover your customisations.
Predictable account
Finally, you have the option to Exit Predictable Account. Pressing this will give you the option to logout of your account, and return to the Predictable login screen. However, contrastingly to Guest Mode, you will not lose your data by doing so.
Cross-platform usage
User mode
History, Favourites, and Message Window
One of Predictable 6’s new features, is making your History and Favourite Phrases easily accessible by placing them at the top of the User Mode.
Feature keys
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Bell: makes a pre-chosen sound when pressed. This sound can either be an audio-recording or can be chosen from Predictable’s existing bank of alert sounds. This feature is useful to notify someone that you require help. -
Share: allows you to share your message on multiple communication channels e.g. Facebook, email etc. -
Settings: takes you to settings. -
Delete: deletes the entire message in the message window. -
Speak or Show: reads out the message in the message window in the voice the user has chosen or displays the text in your message window backwards, so your conversation partner can read the message. -
Calls: allows you to call any of the contacts you have pre-entered into the Calls section of Settings. For more details on the functionality of, check the Calls section of this User Guide. -
Delete All: will remove all content from the Message Window -
Delete Last Word: will remove the last word from the Message Window -
Handwriting: allows you to handwrite your messages -
Phrasebank: will take you to your Phrasebank -
Grid View: will take you to Predictable’s Grid Layout -
Email: will send your Message Window content as an email
Word prediction, keyboard and features
Phrase bank
Categories and customisations
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Add Category: To add a new category, press Add Category which can be found on the far left of the categories section. Here you can decide on the name of the category and what photo you wish to assign to it. You can assign a photo from the existing icons available on Predictable, from your device’s photo gallery, or you can take a new photo. -
Edit Category: You can edit both the name and icon of a category. To do this, tap on the category you wish to edit. Then press the edit button, which has a pen icon. -
Delete Category: You can delete unwanted categories. To do so, first press the category you wish to delete. Then press the icon of a bin icon to delete the category.
Phrase customisations
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Add Phrase: to add a phrase, first choose the category where you wish to store the phrase. To add a phrase, press the edit icon and then add phrase. Here you can decide on the spoken phrase; displayed text; whether you want to record audio for the phrase or keep it as text-to-speech; what icon you would like to assign; and whether you would like the phrase to be linked to any multimedia. -
Delete Phrase: On the right side of the keyboard, tap on the edit button. Tap on the phrase you would like to delete, then press the bin icon.. -
Edit Phrase: You also have the option to edit a phrase. Tap on the edit button on the right side of the keyboard. Tap on the phrase you would like to edit, then press the pen icon.
Speech
Device voices
In Predictable 6, you can select one of the 3 voice engines available: Device Voice, ModelTalker and Acapela. You can choose different genders and nationalities for your voices.
The changes you make in your Text-to-speech settings in your device will automatically reflect in the Predictable Android app. To find your Text-to-speech settings, you will need to leave Predictable and open your device settings. Under the System menu, tap on Language and input and tap Text-to-speech options (the location of the Text-to-speech setting can be different depending on the device you are using).
On many Android devices, the Google Text-to-speech is already turned on. If this option is not showing you can download the Google Text-to-speech from the Play Store.
On Samsung devices, Samsung text-to-speech should be installed by default in your Text-to-Speech Options.
Using your Acapela voice
Acapela is an external company providing personalised digital voices from their My-Own-Voice (MOV)voice banking service. Using an Acapela MOV allows users to communicate with a unique personal synthetic voice that is representative of their own voice.
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Apply to the ‘My-Own-Voice online service: https://mov.acapela-group.com/start-now/ - You will then receive an email with your Acapela login details
- Use these details to https://mov.acapela-group.com/
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Download the MOV recorder app adapted to your laptop and proceed to the installation -
Record the 350 sentences at your own pace and select Send a request -
48 hours later, you can listen to your voice in the Type and Talk interface of Acapela website -
If you are happy with it, you can decide whether to buy their services. -
Find more information about the pricing on their website: https://mov.acapela-group.com/pricing/

Using your ModelTalker voice
Here is the email address to contact for support:
staff@modeltalker.org.
To download your custom ModelTalker voice on Predictable, open the speech settings of the app, select ModelTalker as the voice engine, enter your ModelTalker credentials and then press download.
Speak buttons behaviour
Speak Button Behaviour refers to the different ways in which you can use the Speak Buttons to speak.
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Communication Type refers to whether the button will either show or speak your message. If you enable Show, when you press the Show button, the text in your message window is displayed backwards. Speak will simply read out your message when pressed. -
Speak Interaction determines how your message will be spoken when pressed. There are 7 different ways you can alter the speak interaction option: -
Speak All: the entire message in the message window is spoken
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Speak after Cursor: the text after the cursor will be spoken
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Speak Before Cursor: the text before the cursor will be spoken
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Speak Current Sentence: the sentence where the cursor is placed will be spoken
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Speak last sentence: only the last sentence will be spoken by the voice engine.
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Speak Unspoken: only unspoken words will be spoken
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Speak Current Sentence: the sentence where the cursor is placed will be spoken
It is important to note, only Speak all, Speak last sentence and Speak unspoken are available for the Message Window Speak interaction behaviour. -
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There are two Speak Interruptions: Stop and Pause. When the stop function is enabled, when pressed it will discontinue the entire message. If you wish to speak the same message, you will have to start from the beginning, rather than from the point where you pressed the stop button. Contrastingly, the pause function will halt the message when pressed, and will allow you to continue from this point when you press the play button. To activate either of these features, tap the speak button this Speak Interruption is assigned to.
Custom Pronunciation and Abbreviation
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Add Pronunciation: when you add a new pronunciation, you will need to add the word and your desired phonetic pronunciation. You can hear the pronunciation before saving it by selecting Play sound. -
Edit an existing custom pronunciation: tap the pronunciation you wish to edit, then select the edit icon in the top-right corner of the screen. -
Delete an existing custom pronunciation: tap the pronunciation you wish to delete, then select the delete icon in the top-right corner of the screen.

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Add Abbreviation: to add a new abbreviation. -
Delete Abbreviation: tap the abbreviation you wish to delete then select the delete icon in the top-right corner of the screen. -
Edit Abbreviation: tap the abbreviation you wish to edit, then select the edit icon in the top-right corner of the screen.

More Speech Customisations
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One customisation is to adjust your Speaking Rate and Pitch. Speaking Rate refers to the speed at which the message is spoken. The Speaking rate can range from Very Slow to Very fast. Speaking Pitch determines how high or low the voice will sound. The speaking pitch can be anything between Very Low and Very High.
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Another option on offer is Clear after Speak. When enabled, this function causes the entire message to be deleted from the message window after it has been spoken. This saves you from having to delete the previous text every time you have spoken a message.
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Speak after space is another speech option. Predictable will read out a word after every space. This feature can be used for a more continuous dialogue.
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Speak after sentence, when enabled, will read out the most recent sentence every time you use a full stop.
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Highlight as you speak will highlight the content of your message window as it is spoken. This feature is especially useful for users with dyslexia, as it can help you track what content is currently being spoken.
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The other Speech customisations we provide is related to using Phrases. You have the option to enable or disable Send Phrases to Message Window and Speak Phrases on Tap. Send Phrases to Message Window means when you tap on a phrase, it is sent to the message window. Contrastingly, Speak Phrases on Tap will mean that when you tap on a phrase, it is spoken. If you decide to enable both, when you tap on a phrase, it is both sent to the message window and spoken.
Accessibility
Access Methods and using Progression and Selection
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Direct Touch -
Switch Access -
Screen Tap -
Head Tracking -
Scan and Track
Direct Touch with Force and Time Delay
By default the app uses Direct touch. For Direct Touch, progression is your finger moving to your desired button, and selection is the tapping of this button. In Predictable, two settings have been made available to customise the Direct touch to fit your specific fine-motor skills needs. These options are Force and Time delay. They can be especially useful for users who struggle to control their movements, which leads to a number of unwanted interactions with the app. The two options are mutually exclusive.
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The first customisation is Time Delay. When Time Delay is enabled, you will need to press down on your desired button for a set amount of time to activate it. A timer will keep you informed of the remaining time before the button is selected. You can set up the Time delay duration from 1 to 15 seconds using the slider. -
The other option is Force Delay. Enabling this setting will make the screen freeze after the first tap. While the screen is frozen, touching the screen will not trigger any actions. A customisable timer will keep you informed of the remaining time before the screen will unfreeze. You can set up the Force Delay duration from 1 to 15 seconds using the slider.
Switch Access and Screen Tap with scan customisation
For Screen Tap, the progression involves the items on the screen being highlighted automatically. Once the relevant item is highlighted, tap anywhere on the screen for the item to be selected.
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Scanning Rate: This determines how fast the scanner will highlight the different levels of the screen. This is only available for automatic scanning.
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Stop Scanning: The number of cycles before the screen scanning cycle ends. Ranges from stopping after 1 Cycle to Never Stopping. Likewise this is only compatible with automatic scanning.
Head Tracking and Selection triggers
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Hover: to select an item, you will need to focus the pointer on it for a pre-chosen amount of time. This Hover time can range between 1 and 5 seconds.
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Blink: blink to trigger a selection.
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Mouth Open: to trigger a selection, open your mouth.
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Tongue Out (only available in iOS 12 or after): To select an item, direct the cursor to your chosen item, then stick out your tongue.
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Smile: to trigger a selection you will have to smile.
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Frown: To select an item frown.
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Eyebrows up: raise your eyebrows to trigger an action.
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Cheek puff: puff your cheeks out to trigger the selection.
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Eyes Look up: look upwards to trigger a selection.
Scan and Track Progression and Selection
Scanning appearance
Setting up email contacts
Floorhold
Floor Hold is a function that reads out your pre-constructed floor hold phrases. Sometimes it can take a bit of time to type out longer messages, so this function can be used to notify your conversation partner that you are currently constructing a message.
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Add Phrase: this allows you to add your own custom Floor hold. To add a floor hold, press the + Add phrase icon. You can either assign an audio recording or a Text-to-Speech caption to the Floor hold.
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Edit Phrase: you can edit an existing phrase by tapping the phrase and then selecting the edit icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
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Delete Phrase: To delete a floorhold phrase, select the phrase you wish to delete, then press the delete icon in the top-right corner of the screen. You won’t be able to delete all the phrases as you will need to keep one.

Appearance
Themes
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Getting Started: this is the most stripped back version of the User Mode and only includes Predictables most basic features. This could be useful for someone adjusting to Predictable. -
Tablet Friendly: this is UI is optimised for use on a Tablet -
Keyguard Friendly: this UI is optimized to be used in tandem with a keyguard. The UI is designed as a 10 by 9 Grid so that Predictable can be used effectively with a keyguard in place. -
Left Hand Keyguard Friendly: this UI is optimized to be used in tandem with a keyguard for a left-handed user. The UI is designed as a 10 by 9 Grid so that Predictable can be used effectively with a keyguard in place, -
High Contrast: UI is designed for those with limited visibility. -
Vowel Keyboard: UI designed to draw attention to the Vowels on the keyboard. It is also suitable for those with poor visibility. -
Ten Key Keyboard: sets the Ten Key keyboard as the default. -
Grid - 2*2: makes the 2*2 Grid the default home page -
Grid - 5*4: makes the 5*4 Grid the default home page -
Screen Tap Access: sets Screen Tap as the default accessibility method -
Switch Access: sets Switch Access as the default accessibility method -
Head Tracking Hover: sets Head Tracking as the default accessibility method, with hover as the selection method -
Head Tracking Blink: sets Head Tracking as the default accessibility method, with blink as the selection method -
Stay Connected: optimized to allow for easy communication with friends, family and colleagues by setting Calls and Email as default feature keys -
Dyslexia: a colour coded keyboard designed for those with Dyslexia.
Visual customisations
While Predictable’s themes offer the option to change the entire appearance of the app, you can also customise specific elements.
Show/Hide Feature Keys
More Appearance and Customisation
Predictable also allows you to position the Feature keys on either the left or right-hand side of the Message Builder. You can assign the Dexterity Position to be either Left or Right. This feature is designed to make it easier for people to access those buttons depending on whether they are Left-handed or Right-handed.
Word prediction
Vocabulary Settings
You can customise the Vocabulary Settings for Word Predictions to make sure the predictions closer match your word usage patterns.
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Add: you can add words to your dictionary.
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Delete: if you wish to delete a self-learned word, possibly because it has been wrongly learnt, tap it and then select the delete icon in the top-right corner of the screen
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Edit : if you wish to edit a self-learnt word, tap it and then select the edit icon in the top-right corner of the screen
More Word Prediction Customisations
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One option is to enable or disable Auto-completion. When enabled, as you start to type your desired word, this function predicts the word you are going to write, and completes the rest of the word in red. To choose the word, tap the spacebar which will turn the red letters to black.

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Autocorrect: misspelt words are automatically corrected. -
Spell Check: misspelt words are written in red.

Keyboard screen
Keyboard(s)
Managing External Keyboard Shortcuts
Managing emojis
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Name of Emoji: You can edit the name of the emoji. If you choose Text to Speech option for the emojis sound, this name will be read out when you use that emoji in a message. -
Sound attached to Emoji: there are three different types of sound you can assign to your emoji:
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Record your own audio for the emoji. To do this, press the record ‘New Recording Icon’, record the audio, assign the recorded audio a Display Name > then press the tick icon to save the recording. -
Assign one of Predictable’s pre-recorded sounds to to the emoji. Predictable has 8 different recorded sounds for the emotes, and are available both for Males and Females -
Text to Speech will read out the name of the emoji when you use that emoji in a spoken message. To select this feature you will need to press the X button.

Grid Layout
Grid
The Grid Layout displays your categories and phrases in a typical grid format. Such a layout is both optimised for the different scanning methods and for users more reliant on imagery to communication e.g. individuals living with autism.
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Set as your default home page: if you expect to communicate with Predictable primarily from this page, it may be worth setting it as your default home page. To do, go to Settings > Global Appearance > scroll to the bottom > Select Grid View as your default Home Page. -
From User Mode: you can also access Grid View while in User mode. To do so press the Phrasebank icon > Press the Grid View Icon (found directly below the edit button).





Calls
How to make and receive calls, managing contact list
Gesture speak
Why and when to use Gesture Speak, and managing actions
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Add: first go to the Gesture Speak section of Settings. Then press add New. On this page, you will have the option to pick whether you want to create a Gesture Speak for a Category or an Action. If you choose Action, all of the possible feature key options will be displayed. If you pick Categories, all of your Categories and their corresponding phrases will be displayed. . After selecting your desired action or phrase , you can pick the trigger you wish to allocate to it. Once happy with your combination, press confirm. If you are already using a trigger as a selection method you will be unable to use it in a Gesture Speak Recipe. -
Edit: to edit a Gesture Speak, tap on the and delete your Gesture Speaks. -
To increase the number of Gesture Speak options available, we have introduced the option to create ‘Recipes’. In the context of Predictable, recipes means you can assign a combination of Triggers to a spoken phrase. For instance, Blink, Tongue out and Frown could be assigned to ‘Who is that?’ while Blink, Frown and Tongue out could be linked to ‘This is great’. You can cancel a recipe by using your chosen Selection method in the Accessibility section.
Support
Whatch our tutorials or email us
Support section provides Youtube Video Tutorials which aim to teach you how to use Predictable features.
Web platform
Customise your phrase bank and download categories and phrases
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Search for your phrases easily: When pressing a column’s title (category, display phrase, spoken phrase), the files in the column get ordered alphabetically. You can also search for the file by typing either the audio file name, spoken phrase, display phrase or category name. -
Delete content: Select the categories and phrases and press “Delete selected”. You can also delete them one by one by press the delete icon for each phrase. -
Edit your phrase bank content: clicking on the category name, display phrase name, or the spoken phrase name allows you to edit the name. -
Edit the images attached to your phrases:
- Adding a new image: Press the “+” icon and choose the image you would like to attach to the phrase.
- Changing the attached image: By pressing the image attached to a phrase, you have the choice to replace it or remove it. -
If you need to edit the sounds attached to your phrases:
- Adding a new sound: Press the “+” button and choose the sound you would like to attach to the phrase.
- Changing the attached sound: By pressing the sound attached to a phrase, you have the choice to replace it or remove it. -
Attach a multimedia link: You can paste a web link in the text box. If you need to delete the multimedia, simply erase the link in the CMS.
Import pre-built phrases to your account
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From your myMessageBanking account, download the audio files you want to use in Predictable -
Upload the .zip folder to the Draft Phrases section of Predictable web platform, the transcriptions will become your spoken phrases and the tags your categories. -
You can still make some changes before adding it your new phrases to your Predictable account -
Then press Merge
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You will also be able to edit your new phrases within Phrase Bank section, if you change your mind after having merged! -
If you have several tags to a same phrase in Draft phrases section, your phrase will be added to different categories. To add a new Tag, press the “+” button, you can also delete it by pressing x. -
In Draft phrases section, you can also upload categories and phrases that have been downloaded from another Predictable account. In this way, from his/her Predictable account, your Speech and Language can create a category with phrases in it, customise all this for you and send you the .zip file for you to upload to your Predictable account
Managing your audio and image content
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Search for your files easily: When pressing a column’s title (title, source), the files in the column get ordered alphabetically. You can also search for the file by typing the title. -
Delete content: Select the files you wish to delete, then press “Delete selected”. You can also delete files one by one by press the delete icon for each file. -
Edit the title attached to your files: clicking on the title of the file causes a text box expands, in turn allowing you to edit it. -
All the files uploaded to this section will appear in your app when you will edit a phrase and choose an audio file to attach to it:
- Import an audio file from your laptop: To import an audio file, press the Import button, then press Browse, Select the file that you previously saved on your laptop and select Upload.
- Record an audio file from your laptop: To record an audio file from the CMS, press Record, Then select the microphone icon. Once you stop recording, you can pause, resume and save the file, Type a title and press Save