When a touchscreen is hard to use

Cerebral palsy, dyspraxia, tremor, apraxia and other differences in movement can make a touchscreen hard to use. A finger lands next to the key, rests too long, or taps twice. TBoard has settings for this. Here they are in plain words, with the name you'll see in the app and the words a therapist might use.

They change how the board's keys respond, and nothing else in the app or on the device.

TBoard's Quick settings panel open over the letter board: Tap timing set to On touch, with On lift beside it; Speak on tap and Tap guard switched on; rows for Board settings and Voice settings — Quick settings. Open it with the tune button, the second button at the top left of the board.

When a key counts: On touch or On lift

In the app this is Tap timing, with two choices.

On touch. The key types the moment a finger lands on it. Sliding or resting afterwards changes nothing. This is the setting TBoard starts with.

On lift. The key types when the finger lifts. If the finger lands on the wrong key, sliding it off before lifting means nothing is typed. A therapist may call this "select on release".

Double taps: Tap guard

After each tap, the board waits a moment before it accepts another. A finger that bounces, or lands twice, types one letter instead of two. A therapist may call this ignoring repeat or accidental touches.

Tap guard is on when TBoard is first installed, and you can switch it off in Quick settings. How long it waits is in Board settings: 0.5 seconds (recommended), 1, 1.5 or 2 seconds. The app's own advice: 0.5 seconds suits most people; lengthen it if taps are still landing twice.

Bigger keys

Fewer keys on the screen leaves room for bigger ones. A therapist may talk about larger targets.

The 3-Stencil board: the letters A to I as large keys, with buttons for J–R, S–Z and numbers down the right side — The 3-Stencil board shows nine letters at a time. J–R and S–Z are one tap away.

3-Stencil splits the alphabet across three panels, A–I, J–R and S–Z, to keep large keys while covering the full alphabet.
Build your own board with just a few keys: in My Boards, tap Add board and choose Grid of keys. The smallest grid has two keys.
When you customize a board, Letter size and Key size change the size of the letters and the keys.

Hearing each letter: Speak on tap

Speak on tap says each letter as it is typed, so every letter can be checked by ear without watching the screen. A therapist may call this auditory feedback. It's in Quick settings.

What TBoard doesn't have

TBoard is made for direct touch. It has no switch scanning, head tracking or eye-gaze control, and no hold-time (dwell) setting. If someone needs those, a speech-language pathologist or occupational therapist can help find an AAC system that has them.

See On touch and Tap guard in the walkthrough video

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