Alphabet Charts & Books

ABC spelling charts

Alphabet communication book templates

Alphabets you can eye point to

Alphabets you can point to

Charts with the alphabet + some words and phrases to point to

Coded alphabet charts

Encoded alphabet charts

Frequency layout spelling charts

High contrast charts

Letter codes

Listener Mediated Scanning

QWERTY alphabet charts

Education resources

Developing Access Methods

Implementation

Literacy

Seasonal

Info & Apps

Access

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E-Books

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Learning

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Customisable symbol charts for communication available in five layouts to support different access methods.

Symbol Charts

Communication Books

Core

Creative

Daily Routines

Leisure

Older Learners

Play

Younger Learners

Colour encoded ABC you can point to

Coded ABC chart you can point to

Number encoded - UPPER case - for eye pointing

Laminator essential

Laminator optional

Colour encoded - UPPER case - for eye pointing

Colour encoded - lower case - for eye pointing

Combination access ABC

Encoded coloured borders E-Tran

AEIOU layout for row column Listener Mediated Scanning

<p>Over 80 additional pointers and cursors for those with visual or perceptual difficulties. Icon styles include animated, coloured, large, I-beams and circles.</p>
<p>The pointers have been designed here at the Ace Centre, so if you have a need or a suggestion for a particular pointer style, please let us know. (Note &#8211; some people are understandably concerned what this installer contains. You can see the entire source code &#8211; and <a href="https://github.com/AceCentre/AceCursors">build your own installer here</a>).</p>
<p>Instructions on how to download, install and change your cursor can be found in this video:</p>
<div>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/lite-youtube-embed@0.2.0/src/lite-yt-embed.css" />
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/lite-youtube-embed@0.2.0/src/lite-yt-embed.js"></script>
<lite-youtube videoid="YpddAhEiSjc" playlabel="Play: Keynote (Google I/O '18)"></lite-youtube>
</div>
<h2>Other downloadable cursors</h2>
<p>There&#8217;s more large cursors available for free download at <a href="http://athena.uoa.gr/eng/categories/view/5">Athena: Free Assistive Technology Software Inventory </a>  or <a href="http://rbx.de/big-cursors/">Rabe&#8217;s big cursors</a></p>


Large Pointers

Getting Started with Modelling

Access to paper-based symbol resources when pointing is difficult

Getting Started with Core Words

Communication Partners

Getting Started with Yes/No

<p class="cvGsUA direction-ltr align-justify para-style-body"><span class="a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none">Most people communicate yes or no—by speaking, nodding, or using gestures. But for those with complex needs, it’s not always that easy.</span></p>
<p class="cvGsUA direction-ltr align-justify para-style-body"><span class="a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none">This resource explores ways to teach yes/no responses, including alternatives for those with limited movement. It outlines practical methods such as head movements, eye pointing, switches, and verbal/physical cues, with tips for consistency and modeling across communication partners.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


<p dir="auto">pasco is a development project by the <a href="https://acecentre.org.uk/" rel="nofollow">Ace Centre</a> to create a AAC app to support people who require auditory scanning only. This may be with one or several Text to Speech (TTS) languages or recorded speech. The app supports auditory cues in a headphone and main speech out of the main speaker of a device. Currently only these features are supported in iOS &#8211; other platforms are due to be supported in the future.</p>
<h2>So what is pasco?</h2>
<p>pasco is designed for a specific need and is a development project led by Ace Centre. Its primary purpose is an AAC solution for individuals who need an auditory scanning system and who possibly require multi-lingual support. We felt a system that would work on a range of platforms would be useful so the software is web-based, however it can be  specially created to work off-line on iOS, Windows or Android. In the first phase of this work, we focused on iOS mainly because the individual client we are working with has an iPhone.</p>
<p>What pasco will do:</p>
<ul>
<li>Have an auditory cue and main voice, these can be different voices</li>
<li>The cue and main voices can be recorded messages rather than text-to-speech</li>
<li>The cue and main voices  can be split between a wired headphone and the internal speaker of the iPhone</li>
<li>Be able to spell using purely auditory scanning – speaking out each letter as it is written and then speaking out the whole word on a space or finish command</li>
<li>The language can be created and edited  using a simple text file – where each tree is just an indented list of words or phrases</li>
<li>Support one switch scanning</li>
<li>Support direct access, so that a communication partner can use it and/or so that clients who are able to make small movements are able to use it.</li>
</ul>
<p>Try out the app on an <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pasco/id1317265884?ls=1&amp;mt=8">Apple iOS device (iPhone or iPad) by downloading the free app here</a>. The web version can be trialled at <a href="https://app.pasco.chat/">https://app.pasco.chat</a> . Please note that the different audio for a headphone and device speaker is only available in the iOS app.</p>


Pasco

<p>At Ace Centre we meet a number of clients where traditional AAC solutions aren’t suitable. Here are some examples</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Said is a 45-year-old man who lives at home with his wife. Said and his wife are Kurdish and have lived in the UK for 10 years..  Said speaks and understands English, his  wife has limited English and speaks to Said in Kurdish. He has Motor Neurone Disease which has now affected his speech to the point others can no longer understand him. His eyesight is poor. He still operates a TV remote by holding the remote between his thumb and forefinger – but can only operate the 4 way TV controls. He wants to spell out whole words and communicate his care needs with carers. He has tried eyegaze technology in the past but this has not been successful.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Fen is a 56-year-old woman who lives in the UK, she is a first-generation immigrant from China. She has had a brainstem stroke limiting her physical skills to a small thumb movement. It is not clear what Fen can see – her family and care staff feel she can hear better than she can see. Prior to her accident she spoke and understood verbal Chinese (Mandarin) well with her family members. Fen now lives in a care home where staff are English speaking. Fen would like to make her care needs known to staff and her family would like to communicate further with her. Fen has begun to use a partner assisted auditory scanning system using a paper-based book put together with her family. As this system is in Chinese  it is not accessible to care staff.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Joel is a 6-year-old boy who has a significant visual impairment and physical difficulties. He lives at home with his Mum, Dad, baby brother and dog. His family speak both Portuguese and English. He has trialled some AAC by auditory fishing (dragging his hand across a device and hearing a cue about what is underneath it) and selecting with a switch – but this has proven difficult. He can activate a switch well with his head. He has begun to use a partner assisted scanning book with his mother e.g to choose  activities to play with; to make comments  like telling his mum he loves her.</em></p>
<p>In these cases, there is a range of issues but in general, we need to identify solutions that:</p>
<ul>
<li>Use one or four discrete (in close proximity) movements to operate a device.</li>
<li>Be able to support different languages</li>
<li>Support auditory cues. This  may be with the cue in one language and the main voice in a different language</li>
<li>Where a language cannot be supported with text to speech, it needs to be possible to have audio recordings for the  cue and main voice.</li>
<li>Really simple to edit the vocabulary items for support staff, with the ability to take something already in existence and import the language into a different system</li>
</ul>
<p>Some auditory scanning solutions exist but these are all traditionally grid-based[KS1]  systems which are designed to do multiple things like support symbol systems and access methods such as eyegaze.  Often the language can be edited but it’s hard to import from something like a word document to the software. Few solutions can really support re-organising large blocks of language and “trees” (lists of words organised in categories or blocks) [KS2] of words quickly. If we imagine that, for someone who has a visual impairment, the words are not in a block but are in a list – then it makes more sense to have the words in a list. On paper based systems words and phrases are traditionally organised in lists rather than grids. This led to the question – can we replicate something similar on an electronic system to solve some of these issues?</p>
<div>
<h2>Introducing Paul Pickford</h2>
<p>Paul Pickford is a user of Assistive Technology and a past client of the Ace Centre. You can view more about Paul in the video below.</p>
<p>Paul now uses head controlled technology to operate his computer and has been keen to raise funds for Ace Centre. He contacted us to donate some money to help us fund a bespoke solution to one or two of our clients. We identified the need from the case studies above and sketched out what was required. We are hugely grateful to Paul for offering this and hope that his input helps the development of AAC solutions for many individuals. The result is pasco – Phrase Auditory Scanning Communicator.</p>
</div>
<p><span style="background-color: #ebf1a4; float: right;"> </span></p>
<div class="responsive-embed widescreen"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Paul Pickford" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8lxpvI3lk8w?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p><span style="background-color: #ebf1a4; float: right;"> </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>So what is pasco?</h2>
<div class="rounded-img aligncenter wp-image-6308 size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://acecentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2018-04-20-at-12.58.48-144x300.png" alt="" width="144" height="300" /></div>
<p>pasco is designed for a specific need and is a development project led by Ace Centre. Its primary purpose is an AAC solution for individuals who need an auditory scanning system and who possibly require multi-lingual support. We felt a system that would work on a range of platforms would be useful so the software is web-based, however it can be  specially created to work off-line on iOS, Windows or Android. In the first phase of this work, we focused on iOS mainly because the individual client we are working with has an iPhone.</p>
<p>What pasco will do:</p>
<ul>
<li>Have an auditory cue and main voice, these can be different voices</li>
<li>The cue and main voices can be recorded messages rather than text-to-speech</li>
<li>The cue and main voices  can be split between a wired headphone and the internal speaker of the iPhone</li>
<li>Be able to spell using purely auditory scanning – speaking out each letter as it is written and then speaking out the whole word on a space or finish command</li>
<li>The language can be created and edited  using a simple text file – where each tree is just an indented list of words or phrases</li>
<li>Support one switch scanning</li>
<li>Support direct access, so that a communication partner can use it and/or so that clients who are able to make small movements are able to use it.</li>
</ul>
<p>Try out the app on a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pasco/id1317265884?ls=1&amp;mt=8">Apple iOS device (iPhone or iPad) by downloading the free app here</a>. The web version can be trialled at <a href="https://app.pasco.chat">https://app.pasco.chat</a> . Please note that the different audio for a headphone and device speaker is only available in the iOS app. For some support see: <a href="https://acecentre.org.uk/page/pasco-support/">https://acecentre.org.uk/page/pasco-support/</a></p>
<p><strong>Warning</strong>: Please remember this is very much a development project. <strong>There is limited support. If you are looking at this app to see if it is something that may help you or someone you are supporting please contact your local AAC service for guidance on whether this is the correct solution for your needs. </strong></p>
<h2>What do we expect to happen now?</h2>
<p>pasco is an open source development project. We believe that to meet the wide range of needs of our clients a large number of solutions are required. As part of this mix of solutions, a broad number of individuals are best supported by a business model of good long-term support and maintenance. As well as providing a solution for a few niche use cases, we hope to inspire the development of future AAC software and solutions focused on this area of need. To do this we aim to share publicly case studies and data regarding the use of the app going forward on this page. <a href="http://github.com/acecentre/pasco/issues">Issues with our software will be publicly available here</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


<p>At Ace Centre we meet a number of clients where traditional AAC solutions aren’t suitable. Here are some examples Said is a 45-year-old man who lives at home with his wife. Said and his wife are Kurdish and have lived in the UK for 10 years..  Said speaks and understands English, his  wife has limited&hellip;</p>
<p><a class="moretag" href="https://backend.acecentre.org.uk/project/pasco/">Read the full article</a></p>


pasco

<p class="f4 my-3">⚠️ We are no longer actively developing Pasco as we have launched the next generation version, called <a href="https://acecentre.org.uk/resources/echo"><strong>Echo</strong></a>! Check it out here!. Don&#8217;t worry, Pasco isn&#8217;t going to be removed, so you can continue to use it. ⚠️</p>


<p>When most of us use a computer we use the standard interface – a keyboard and mouse. However, what do you do if you can&#8217;t use these? A number of &#8216;alternative access&#8217; systems exist, for example alternative keyboards, trackerballs, touchscreens, headpointers etc. But for some people these devices are also an unuseable, and this is where switches step in.</p>
<p>The main subject of this freely downloadable pdf document is the switch user. The document aims to encourage developers to include switch access into their products, and standardise practice and terminology. It explains some of the issues involved for people with severe physical difficulties who access computers and other electronic devices with switches. It details the ways in which switch users interact with software and other technology that&#8217;s designed to be directly accessible to them. It also attempts to survey the whole range of issues associated with switch use.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a publication that&#8217;s useful to professionals and software developers working or entering the field. Use it as a guide to promote standards and a common understanding and nomenclature for switch use. It&#8217;s hoped that the adoption of the terminology and approach detailed in this document should help improve the development of evidence on switch access.</p>


Switch Access to Technology

<p>Throughout our work there are many many unanswered questions; Whats the best way? Whats the fastest? What works for a client and why?</p>
<p>The problem is many of these questions are either hard to answer – or require a long detailed research study. Well we have one such question to do with our ongoing work supporting people who we assess to use morse code; Whats the fastest way of learning it? If you speak to traditional Morse users they largely say “Auditory” “You can’t use it fast unless you have heard it”. What they traditionally mean is the dot and dash sounds – because a lot of people use it for amateur radio operating where this is the medium. But – if you are using it to write – without hearing the sound – is it really auditory?</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030802269405700405">A study looked at this</a> – and concluded a mixed approach was probably best – and interestingly that auditory alone wasn’t useful.  But the sample was small and the cues not that engaging. So how can we easily fix this?</p>
<p>Well we have taken the morse-learn game that Google made – and further developed it. Mainly:</p>
<ul>
<li>Adding Auditory cues</li>
<li>Adding Visual cues that match the auditory cues (Download posters and cards if you need them in different colours: <a href="https://morse-learn.acecentre.net/HelloMorse-Poster-Cards-AllColors/HelloMorseAce-Poster-Cards-Blue.pdf">Blue</a>, <a href="https://morse-learn.acecentre.net/HelloMorse-Poster-Cards-AllColors/HelloMorseAce-Poster-Cards-Green.pdf">Green</a>, <a href="https://morse-learn.acecentre.net/HelloMorse-Poster-Cards-AllColors/HelloMorseAce-Poster-Cards-Orange.pdf">Orange</a> or <a href="https://morse-learn.acecentre.net/HelloMorse-Poster-Cards-AllColors/HelloMorseAce-Poster-Cards-Peach.pdf">Peach</a>)</li>
<li>Provide the ability to turn on/off these cues – along side the dot/dah sound</li>
<li>And we can keep track of your learning – anonmously – to see how fast users take to get through the game. We honestly can’t track anything more – not your location, not your hobbies or dogs name. Just how fast it takes you to learn – and with what settings you are using. (If this means something to you  – take a look at the code <a href="https://github.com/AceCentre/morse-learn">https://github.com/AceCentre/morse-learn</a> )</li>
</ul>
<p>By having no authentication and making this truly open to anyone (and most important of all – FUN!) we hope to gain a greater understanding of how fast it takes people to learn morse.</p>
<p>Tips:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Use chrome if you can.</b> Its slightly less buggy (backstory: It was a chrome only experiment. We’ve done some work to make it as work as well as we can on safari/iOS but its not without some issues still)</li>
<li>Stick to one device. As we have no login system we can’t migrate you from one device to another.</li>
<li>Please try and stick with the settings you are given. These are randomised to make sure a random sample of people are provided different options</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Check it out at<a href="https://morse-learn.acecentre.net/"> https://morse-learn.acecentre.net </a></b></p>


Morse Learn

<p>Morse Learn is a game to enable everyone to learn morse code by attaching mnemonic cues to letters. It has auditory and visual cues so is accessible to both blink and deaf users.mnemonic</p>


<p>Hit your switch when you find two Eid al-Adha images that match. There are other themes to choose from as well as uploading your own images.</p>
<p><a href="https://backend.acecentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Ace-Centre-Christmas-Snap-Instructions.pdf">Checkout this help sheet to learn how play Snap with your switch.</a></p>
<p>Why not try it out with our free EyeCommander eye blink switch app?  <a id="LPNoLPOWALinkPreview" title="https://acecentre.org.uk/blog/introducing-eyecommander" contenteditable="false" href="https://acecentre.org.uk/blog/introducing-eyecommander">Introducing EyeCommander | Ace Centre</a>.</p>


Eid al-Adha Snap!

<p>A fun and engaging switch accessible game made by Ace Centre with a festive theme.</p>
<p>With thanks to the <a href="http://arasaac.org/">ARASAAC project</a> and <a href="https://globalsymbols.com/">Global Symbols</a> for the symbols used in this game and <a href="https://freesound.org/people/Bertrof/sounds/351566/">Bertrof</a> for the <a href="https://freesound.org/people/Bertrof/sounds/351564/">Sounds</a> used.</p>


<p><a href="https://docs.acecentre.org.uk/eyecommander/">Check out the EyeCommander documentation, including the version history.</a></p>
<h2>System Requirements</h2>
<p><span data-slate-fragment="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">EyeCommander is compatible with all modern versions of Windows, its been tested on Windows 10 and up.</span></p>
<p>You <u><b>MUST</b></u> grant Administrator rights to EyeCommander when prompted.</p>
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<div class="r-1oszu61 r-1xc7w19 r-1phboty r-1yadl64 r-deolkf r-6koalj r-1ro0kt6 r-eqz5dr r-16y2uox r-1wbh5a2 r-crgep1 r-ifefl9 r-bcqeeo r-t60dpp r-bnwqim r-417010" data-block-content="4dbd287cf2d3463aaf2f2f46374e0168">
<div class="css-901oao r-1nf4jbm r-gg6oyi r-ubezar r-16dba41 r-135wba7 r-fdjqy7 r-1xnzce8" dir="auto"><span data-key="b3f938e3463a419e80aa79f643dd966b">EyeCommander is uses a lot of CPU power to run, this is due to the fact that every frame has to be analysed by a machine learning model to extract all of your facial features.</span></div>
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<div class="css-901oao r-1nf4jbm r-gg6oyi r-ubezar r-16dba41 r-135wba7 r-fdjqy7 r-1xnzce8" dir="auto"><span data-key="149e9d1d36274569b10eae4dc66d646d">EyeCommander shows a &#8216;frames per second&#8217; counter in the top left hand corner of the video feed. The higher the number of frames per second the more responsive and accurate the blink detection will be. The highest you will get is 30 frames per second and anything lower than 5 frames per second will be too low to work at all. </span>You <em class="r-36ujnk" data-slate-leaf="true" data-offset-key="19b41fce462b4d65b728f54ea38b8e05:1">can</em> run EyeCommander on GridPad devices but we have found that they get fairly low frame rates. EyeCommander still works at a low frame rate, however it will be less accurate and responsive but you might find its still usable for your use case.</div>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Feedback on any beta features is always welcome.</p>
<p>Checkout this video which outlines what EyeCommander is and includes a short demo:</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/VZ1k-D2hcIE" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<h2><strong>Getting started with EyeCommander</strong></h2>
<p>To install EyeCommander go to our <a href="https://github.com/AceCentre/EyeCommander/releases/latest">page of downloads here</a> and follow the instructions there.</p>
<p>Watch our help series on YouTube which shows you how to install EyeCommander and calibrate it:</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLWWQ5nlUD_tvVEM9Ch39GuyFAP_zYhAhW" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<h2><strong>Who would use EyeCommander?</strong></h2>
<p style="background: white;">To help explain EyeCommander we created two personas that are not based on specific individuals but a collection of people who could benefit from using this technology.</p>
<p>Our first persona is Alexis Anderson who had a brain stem stroke and cannot use body movement to trigger switches. She uses paper based AAC with a limited group of communication partners who understand how she indicates her selections by blinking. Alexis is frustrated that she can only communicate when one of these communication partners are available. Her current solution also means that she cannot access environment control.</p>
<p>Our second persona is Ben Brown who has MND and currently uses eye gaze when he has the energy to do so. Typically, he has to move to a low-tech solution as he becomes tired throughout the day. Ben is very proficient with his high tech device and has learnt where all his vocabulary is stored. It is very problematic that his access depends on having enough energy to use eye gaze and Ben’s family is worried that he will be not able to access his eye gaze as time goes on.</p>
<p>Ben and Alexis are both examples of people who would benefit from using EyeCommander. Ben could use it when he is tired and he can continue to use the same vocabulary no matter his energy levels. Alexis can use EyeCommander to communicate independently and not be reliant on the presence of a specific communication partner.</p>
<h2>Previous Work</h2>
<p>Detecting an eye blink is something that has been done before, however the solutions don’t work in every scenario which is what lead us to create EyeCommander. Some of the problems we found with solutions that already exist are explained below.</p>
<p>Android recently added a <a href="https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/11150722?hl=en">new accessibility feature</a> to allow users to control their device using eye gestures. It is great and if an individual uses an Android app to communicate then this can be a great option.</p>
<p>Mac computers also have a similar solution built into their operating system, allowing users to trigger switches using blinks or other facial gestures. If you want to access your Mac this way it is a good option. However, we found that the Mac facial gestures don’t allow you to change and calibrate the detection enough for it to work for everyone.</p>
<p>Another similar software solution is <a href="https://smylemouse.com/">SmyleMouse</a>. Like EyeCommander it uses consumer grade hardware to detect facial gestures. However, SmyleMouse doesn’t detect blinks or eye gesture, which we plan on implementing in EyeCommander in the future. Other software solutions exist, include <a href="http://sviacam.sourceforge.net/">SViaCam</a> and <a href="https://github.com/danetomseth/Blink1.5">Blink1.5,</a> but we found they didn’t fully met our needs.</p>
<p><a href="https://getnous.app/">Nous is a hardware device</a> that users wear to detect their blinks. However, we wanted our solution to work on consumer grade hardware that was readily available. There are a variety of other hardware options on the market, such as <a href="http://www.techaccess4you.com/ist-switch/">IST Switch</a>, <a href="https://www.home.eyecontrol.co.il/product">EyeControl</a>, and <a href="https://key2enable.com/produtos/a-blinx/">a-blinx</a>.</p>
<p>The main difference between EyeCommander and these previous solutions is that it allows you to control Windows devices and will work with the computer you already have meaning you do not have to purchase and maintain new hardware.</p>
<h2>Background</h2>
<p>EyeCommander was initially developed by a group of students and graduates as part of the <a href="https://www.propelprojects.org/">Project Propel program</a> to give them real world experience. They were given the brief to create something that could detect eye gestures using consumer grade hardware.</p>
<p>The group created a machine learning model that could detect when someone looked up, down, left, or right. The machine learning model was trained using a varied set of videos of people doing these gestures. The model was then retrained to individual users so that it worked for them.</p>
<p>The work the group did proved that it is possible to create a very accurate eye gesture detection algorithm.</p>
<p>The current version of EyeCommander doesn’t use the eye gesture model but the plan is to include it in future versions.</p>
<h2><strong>Future of EyeCommander</strong></h2>
<p>EyeCommander will continue to be developed by Ace Centre and the wider AAC community. We have <a href="https://github.com/AceCentre/EyeCommander/projects/1">created a roadmap</a>, with things we want to add and future plans for the project. If you have ideas for us to add please let us know.</p>
<p>We are looking for people to contribute to EyeCommander and to help us add more features. <a href="https://github.com/AceCentre/EyeCommander">If you want to get involved, then check out the code on Github</a>. Have a read through the open issues and comment if you want to be a part of it and we can help you get up and running.</p>
<h2><strong>Feedback</strong></h2>
<p>If you have any feedback on EyeCommander then email me at <a href="mailto:ghenderson@acecentre.org.uk">ghenderson@acecentre.org.uk</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


EyeCommander

<p>EyeCommander is a desktop application that uses the front facing camera of any Windows device to detect when you blink. EyeCommander then uses that blink as a switch input for communication software.</p>


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