This has now been superseded by Grid 3. Useful for languages other than English not yet available in Grid 3
The Grid 2 is award winning, powerful and versatile software for communication and computer access. It can be used on tablet computers, laptops/notebooks or desktop PCs (Windows Vista, XP, 7 or 8). Grid 2 is installed and supplied with Grid Pad Go 11, Grid Pad Go 8, Grid Pad Pro, Grid Pad eye, PowerBox MOTION, PowerBox MOTION Access, Tellus 4, Tellus 4 Intelligaze,and is optional on Mobi 2. It provides speech output using Australian voices in addition to other speech synthesizers, including languages other than English. Australian Acapela speech is included. Full libraries of Widgit/Rebus symbols and SymbolStix are included. Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) can be added. Many pre-made grid sets are available and The Grid 2 can be readily customised to perform a wide range of functions for communication, computer control, environmental control, email ,internet, Facebook, YouTube access.
This has now been superseded by Grid 3. Useful for languages other than English not yet available in Grid 3
The Grid 2 is a powerful program for Windows computers, tablets and speech generating devices. It is a "framework" or "template" program offering a wide range of ready-made grid sets including well-known vocabularies such as PODD 15, WordPower and Ingfield Dynamic Vocabulary. Grid sets are supplied with the program and may be downloaded from the Online Grid site, or authored grid sets may be purchased In addition, grid sets may be designed and created from scratch, or existing grid sets customised. The Grid 2 offers grid sets for communication, including social media, email and SMS and computer control grid sets for specialised access to mainstream computer software. NEW training & support packages for 2015.
FREE TRAINING & SUPPORT: Grid 2 is supplied with up to 2 hours of Level 2 and 3 Training via phone, email, TeamViewer and/or Skype, redeemable in the first 3 months after purchase. This is remote assistance intended for set-up and initial editting to customise The Grid 2 for the individual user.
Level 2 and 3 support is available at an hourly rate. On-site training and support is available. Please see pricing or request a quote.
Download your free trial Grid 2: Go to Download Guide
Please note: this is not for iPad. For iPad the Grid Player is available.
If you need the powerful features of The Grid 2 on a slim-line Windows computer, please see Grid Pad Go8 and Grid Pad Go11, Grid pad Pro and Powerbox MOTION.
If you are planning on installing Grid 2 on your own computer please read our Computer Guide (PDF download) We call this a "do-it-yourself" system.
If you plan to use eye gaze access please see the complete systems: Mobi 2 Intelligaze, Grid Pad EYE and Tellus 5 Intelligaze.
Considerations for adding eye gaze to your own computer with Grid 2 is also addressed in a webinar (Eye gaze in the Classroom - link to webpage with video), which includes concepts also revlevant to setting up your own computer with eye gaze.
Winner of the 2009 BETT award: Congratulations Sensory Software. The Grid 2 is a winner in UK in the Special Education Needs category of the 2009 BETT awards. Since this time the Grid 2 has continued to develop more features and functions. The judges said that they chose The Grid 2 for the following reasons:
ADULT VOICES: Grid 2 is now supplied standard with Australian Acapela adult voices: Tyler and Lisa. These voices are included in the price of the Grid 2. The Australian RealSpeak voices (Lee and Karen) will continue to be available as optional extras
CHILD VOICES: New child voices, Olivia and Liam are now available. These are not supplied as standard but can be added by purchasing an additional license for both voices at any time or at the time of purchase. Single user and multi user/site licenses are available.
To hear voice samples of all Australian voices - please click on the links below.
Australian adult male - TYLER (click to listen)
Australian adult female - LISA (click to listen)
Australian child male - LIAM (click to listen)
Australian child female - OLIVIA (click to listen)
To update The Grid 2 to include the new Australian Acapela voice please see instructions here under SUPPORT.
The Grid 2 can be customised to suit the needs of the user. Grid pages can display as few as two squares to a 50 x 50 grid, providing 2500 cells. A number of sample pages are supplied as a starter, and pre-made vocabularies are also available. Grids can be downloaded and shared from the Sensory Software Online Grids
The Grid 2 can use a wide range of symbol libraries and your own photos can also be imported. Digital images and clip art can be readily incorporated into displays using the simple SCREEN CAPTURE feature of The Grid 2. This time-saving feature enables the 'capture' of a picture or picture part, from another program, from a website, in a document, or any visible image from your screen. Simply click on the Screen Capture button. You do not even need to save the picture first, nor do you need to edit it to select just a part of it. Anything you can see on the screen can be captured. The Grid 2 makes its own copy of every picture that you choose as an image there is no need to save pictures before you use them. This also means that you can browse storage of photos or clip art and capture images or parts of images required.
Many pre-programmed grid sets are available. A popular selection is downloaded with the initial installation including FastTalker 2, Beeline. The Sensory Software ONLINE GRIDS makes downloading additional grid sets from a wide range of Grid sets readily available. WordPower is a premium grid set (See section below for more pre-made grid sets). Generally grid sets are customised for individual needs or pre-made grid sets can be modified. Symbol pages can be made with a wide variety of options:
Text pages have a variety of set-ups also including:
FastTalker 2 is a free Grid set for The Grid 2. It is designed for use by people with literacy skills who wish to spell messages, store phrases in a categorised phrase bank, while integrating these communication functions with internet, YouTube, environmental control, media player (videos and music) and email. The grids are designed to streamline access to all apps, being optimised for alternative access such as scanning, eye-gaze control, head tracking with Tracker Pro and many other options.
In the FastTalker 2 CHAT page, the word prediction row displays the predicted text from the dictionary which learns new words and frequency of use. Other keys are provided in a consistent and clear layout to link to other pages and other functions. Fast Talker 2 is a comprehensive grid set which has been designed and programmed by Sensory Software to ensure seamless control of all available functions from within the Grid 2. If the user requires more functions then it is most likely that use of mainstream programs would be required using The Grid 2 on-screen keyboard.
The Grid 2 has a mode providing on-screen keyboards for people who are unable to operate the computer using the regular keyboard. Mouse, mouse emulation or switch access can be used to access any computer program including the internet. Sample grids are provided for common functions for applications such as word processing, internet explorer, mouse control, calculator, media player and also sample chat displays for communication are included. The internet explorer display includes command buttons such as 'scan links' and 'scan frames'. Any displays can be customised for individual requirements.
The Grid 2 uses mouse or mouse emulation, so a mouse can be used on a regular computer to make selections. A touchscreen emulates a mouse. Any computer accessing mode that emulates mouse control can be used including touch screen devices. Switch and scanning access is also an option included in The Grid 2. One, two switch or multiple scanning can be set up. The JoyCable or JoyBox USB switch interfaces are required.
Scanning options include automatic scanning, inverse (hold to advance) and manual (tap to advance) scanning. These scan modes can be set to linear, row/column, column/row or overscan. If single switch scanning is selected, a long hold can be set to a particular function such as 'cancel'. Auditory scanning can be set to a choice of tones, an incremental tone or spoken prompts.
The Grid is programmed with codes compatible with the GEWA range of environmental control units. This means that with a PROGress Star connected to the computer, The Grid 2 can be used to control appliances such as TV, DVD, air conditioning and other systems with a remote control. It is compatible with other environment control units such as GEWA, UIRT, TIRA and z-wave.
The Grid 2 is supplied with a number of free pre-made Grid Set samples and many more can be downloaded from the Sensory Software website at no cost. The Grid sets described below can be purchased as optional extras to the main program.
The PODD 15 is now available.
Starting Blocks is an exciting grid set for introducing speech generated communication and dynamic displays to young children. Starting Blocks was designed and created by U.K. Speech Pathologist, Sally Conner. There are hundreds of grids providing many hours of fun as you progress from very simple interaction through to independent communication.
The targeted activities develop core skills, and a clear 'roadmap' makes it easy to see where to go next - and how far you have come! At every step there are a variety of activities, so you can focus on one skill until it is fully mastered, without the tasks becoming repetitive.
Starting Blocks Toy Box Starting Blocks is available as a stand-alone product (the grids and the workbooks), or with the Starting Blocks Toy Box. The Toy Box includes lots of toys and equipment to allow you to use Starting Blocks right away.
WordPower provides access to core vocabulary, with additional words available in just a few selections. Language studies have shown that we reuse a small number of words very often when we speak, often referred to as our "core vocabulary".
WordPower places this core vocabulary on the main grid, so these words are readily available in a single selection. To find words that are not included in the core vocabulary, you can type (with prediction) or go to one of the vocabulary pages, which are arranged by topic. The Grid 2 versions of WordPower use features such as verb morphology and spelling support. Picture WordPower Picture WordPower displays symbols next to the words to aid word-finding. Symbols are also displayed in prediction cells. You can use either PCS or Widgit symbols.
Text WordPower For users who do not require symbols, Text WordPower provides a less cluttered display. Switch access Alternate versions of WordPower are included for switch users. These have some re-arrangements to increase the efficiency of scanning the grids and keyboards, and also use block-scanning to make cell selection easier. The original WordPower concept was developed by Nancy Inman, and the Grid 2 version was created by Gillian Hazell.
CALLtalk was designed primarily for school children, but can also be used by adults, if adapted and personalized. CALLtalk is more complex than a ‘beginner’ vocabulary and goes beyond basic functional communication. Users need to understand topic categorization and should be starting to put two or more words together. It is for direct touch screen users, keyguard users, and switch users. CALLtalk was developed by Speech Pathologists, Janet Larcher and Sally Millar.
CALLtalk users
Primary school pupils with reasonably good educational potential (mainstream and/or special settings).Relatively cognitively and language-able children aspiring to acquire at least some degree of literacy – i.e. for whom ‘talking’ and writing in sentences could be a realistic long term target. Users frustrated by limited vocabs.
Key Features of CALLtalk
The Ingfield Dynamic Vocabularies (IDV) are a collection of 4 grid sets, developed by Speech Pathologists Sally Connor and Janet Larcher.
IDV is a topic-based system that place all the necessary elements of a sentence on one page. This makes IDV a quick and easy way to create complete sentences. IDV is organised in 4 levels, from A to D. As you go up through the levels, the number of cells on each page increases, allowing more vocabulary to be included on each page. Higher levels also include more topics and sub-topics. The layout of the grids is designed to allow easy progression from one level to the next. Grids can be customised or extended as much as required.
A download is available providing the fully functioning program for a 60 days trial. This will work on Windows PC. Not available for Mac. Feel free to call and discuss your interest, or any questions you may have once you have started your trial.
Minimum computer requirements:
The Grid 2 Reference Manual (PDF download 4 MB)
The Grid 2 Training Cards (PDF download 1 MB)
The Grid 2 Getting Started (PDF Download 5 MB)
Install or re-install Grid 2 on your computer. There is no need to uninstall The Grid 2. Please install over the top of previous versions. Grid 2 can be downloaded from the online installer or from a DVD supplied by Zyteq. Download from the Installer will always ensure you have the most up-to-date version. It is not possible to add the new voices using Sensory Update.
Supplied with
DVD
manual | on the CD in PDF format
Acapela speech synthesizer (Australian)
Part Code | Part Name / Description | Price | GST | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Featured Title | ||||
G2-1-AU |
The Grid 2 AU: STANDARD
The Grid 2 (single user) Australian: Acapela speech synthesis. Widgit/Rebus & SymbolStix symbol libraries included. (supplied with Acapela Australian male and female adult voices, Tyler and Lisa) |
$768 | $0.00 | |
Standard USB Package | ||||
G2-1-AU-USB |
The Grid 2 AU: USB portable, single user
Software - The Grid 2 (portable single user) “Widgit” & SymbolStix symbol libraries; Acapela AU Tyler and Lisa on USB storage. (special order) |
$800 | $0.00 | |
Packages | ||||
G2-1-PCS |
The Grid 2 with PCS
The Grid 2 (single user) with PCS symbol library, also supplied standard with Acapela speech synthesis. Widgit/Rebus & SymbolStix symbol libraries included. (supplied with Acapela Australian Tyler and Acapela Australian Lisa). |
$995 | $0.00 | |
G2-1-PCS-USB |
The Grid 2 AU with PCS: USB portable, single user
Software - The Grid 2 (portable single user) with PCS “Widgit” & SymbolStix symbol libraries; Acapela AU Tyler and Lisa on USB storage. (special order) |
$1045 | $0.00 | |
Multi-USER |
Grid 2 Multiple User-Site Licenses
Multiple-user-site licenses are no longer available. Each Grid 2 is supplied with 3 license tokens for the individual user’s device/s. For multiple users and multiple computers individual licenses for each device/computer are required. |
POA | POA | |
Add-Ons | ||||
PODD+PCS |
PODD with PCS
PODD Grid set for Grid 2 and Grid 3 (Grid program not included) with the required Picture Communication Symbol library (PCS) |
$713 | $0.00 | |
G2-ACAP-AUC |
Child voices, Liam and Olivia (AU) (single license) for Grid 2 and Grid 3
Acapela - Australian child voices, Liam and Olivia (single user/site license) for Grid 2 and Grid 3 |
$125 | $0.00 | |
G2-1-PCS |
The Grid 2 with PCS
The Grid 2 (single user) with PCS symbol library, also supplied standard with Acapela speech synthesis. Widgit/Rebus & SymbolStix symbol libraries included. (supplied with Acapela Australian Tyler and Acapela Australian Lisa). |
$995 | $0.00 | |
Additional Languages | ||||
ACAP-GREEK |
Acapela Voice for The Grid 2 - Greek
Software - Acapela - any one voice, speech synthesizer - Greek For The Grid 2 |
$140 | $0.00 | |
Premium Plans for training, support and maintenance | ||||
PP-ES |
Premium Plan - per event / session - Business Hours
Premium Plan - per event / session - business hours. Please do not pay before you have secured a remote appointment. |
$145 | $0.00 | |
PP-ES-AH |
Premium Plan - per event / session - After Hours
Premium Plan - per event / session - After Hours. Please do not pay before you have secured a remote appointment. |
$175 | $0.00 | |
PP-ESx3 |
Premium Plan - Per Event x 3 package - Business Hours
Premium Plan - Per Event / Session x 3 package - business hours. Purchase and pay-online or add to your funding submission or Purchase Order by including in your QUOTE. |
$405 | $0.00 | |
PP-E12 |
Premium Plan - Essential 12 months
Premium Plan - Essential 12 months. Pre-pay online for the next 12 months, or include on your funding submission or Purchase Order, by including in your QUOTE |
$768 | $0.00 | |
PP-C12-Y1 |
Premium Plan - Comprehensive - Year 1
Premium Plan - Comprehensive - Year 1. Pre-pay by including on your funding submission or Purchase Order. |
$11400 | $0.00 | |
PP-C12-Y1-CC |
Premium Plan - Comprehensive - Year 1 - online payment
Premium Plan - Comprehensive - Year 1. Online payment including 2% online payment gateway fee. |
$11628 | $0.00 | |
PP-ENH12 |
Premium Plan - Enhanced 12 months
Premium Plan - Enhanced 12 months. Pre-pay online for the next 12 months, or include on your funding submission or Purchase Order, by including in your QUOTE |
$3000 | $0.00 | |
Grid Sets - also see separate web entries | ||||
PFA |
Phonics for All for Grid 3
Phonics For All - Grid Set for Grid 3 (requires Grid 3 - not included) |
$335 | $0.00 | |
PODD+PCS |
PODD with PCS
PODD Grid set for Grid 2 and Grid 3 (Grid program not included) with the required Picture Communication Symbol library (PCS) |
$713 | $0.00 | |
G2-PODD15 |
PODD15 and PODD60 grid sets single user license
PODD15 and PODD60 grid sets single user license (the Grid 2 and Grid 3 and PCS required, and not included) |
$465 | $0.00 | |
WPR-PCS |
WordPower Symbol for The Grid 2 - with PCS license (The Grid not included)
WordPower Symbol for The Grid 2 supplied with standard Widgit symbol library - also includes PCS license (The Grid not included) (single user) |
$715 | $0.00 |