pulled into the twenty first century for AAC and autism apps

am not having to relie on laminated PECS and limited makaton anymore for AAC or timelines, recently/a few weeks ago had bought a asus memo hd...something tablet which has android running on it,its been bought purely for aac and autism apps but have added a few games to aid as distraction when having to wait for anything-which is a major cause of anxiety and severe challenging behavior for self.

these are the best free apps have come across so far;

autiplan:

this is a photo of tomorows timeline which am able to put together with staff support,they can also make the timelines from the office pc and am able to sync the tablet via the laptops mobile data connection.
its extremely useful and better than carrying around a clumsy laminated board with PECS that easily fall off.


alexicom;

its the best android AAC app have got,its easy to use and although it hasnt become a part of daily use as am still getting used to using high tech AAC again, its a favourite and hope it to become a regular part of communication.

if anyone knows of any decent free AAC programs for android,please post.

a communication barrier of severe autism; pain

am getting really fed up of trying to communicate experiences of pain across to people.

as with the previous post written,the past few days have had very severe acid reflux and heart burn that was bad enough to present like a heart attack and had been in hospital as well as back to the NHS walk in centre yesterday to finaly get prescribed omaprazole.
whilst in the hospital,was shown a symbol based pain chart by the nurses and asked to point to the one am at in terms of level of pain,and was one step below the highest,she was like 'REALLY?, are you sure? its more like this level,not that level...bla bla bla', no amount of insisting worked and got really pissed off with her.

the problem is,am unable to communicate pain in any manner to other people,am unable to translate it into language let alone have the natural inbuilt prompting to tell others.
it doesnt show physicaly either and am not sat there shouting,the only way it shows in self is through severe challenging behavior when it gets extreme but that is always blamed on the disabilities and not pain.

am in constant pain due to the nerves injury in the lumbar region of the spine,have severe headaches throughout the day caused by sensory & information overload as well as head banging and none of this is recognised as real pain,people think am taking the piss because it doesnt show in a stereotypical way and this is why had ended up with the label 'addict' tagged onto NHS records thanks to a consultant having no fucking clue why am using pain killers every day despite being told by a specialist of mine and support staff who see self every day.
these painkillers dont even begin to cover the pain am in,theyre a very mild level of kapake co codamol and can only take six a day.
am fed up of being in pain and people not taking it seriously because am not writhing around shouting ow.

PECS

Being a makaton user,it is sometimes very difficult if it is the only form of obvious communication on offer to self when fully non verbal,don't have quick-or no access to laptop or PDA [usually because batteries have ran out] and the person am trying to sign to will only respond to limited number of signs [eg,backwards 'peace' sign or just the one finger flipped up].
That is where PECS comes in.

Have now collected a huge pile of PECS pictures-most of which do not fit in this large PECS book [which not only has standard pages but also added ones,ones that have been adapted for the book,and also ones that have come from the smaller PECS book that had been using before it]:

Thanks to both the current autism service am in and NAS,they have made communication a lot less difficult,for self and staff,and am not having to spend ages messing about looking for one PEC in the bumbag anymore either-that is now gathering up dust.

The current autism service had also provided much better TEAACH/PECS time line/whatever service are in-wants to call them boards than what had used at home which did not have enough space for what was needed.

All spare PECS are kept in seperate mini sandwich type boxes,and have also got the alphabet in own style of finger sign,attached to
string.

Have got a very snazzy looking horsey 'disability' bag to carry the lot in, had been in a small tack shop called bits and pieces one day grabbing everything in sight when had spotted a awesome small blue!! bag from shires 'buddies' range-it is now the official 'disability' bag, taking over from the recked n retired bear camo rucksack,it holds blue badge,PDA,ear defenders,all the non booked PECS,spare velcro,ear plugs,horse bix [pepper mint flavour,looks like small shredded wheats but is for horses and they like it a lot]...
Would always recommend trying PECS if self or child has got a need for it,it would not stop self or child from communicating in any other form it can have the opposite effect and make want to communicate.

One of the big issues have got with PECS is it is not very accessible to the individual autist or parent of autist,the major programs for making own PECS,such as the board maker series [screenshot of boardmaker]:Are perfect for individuals and not too difficult to use once have learnt how it works,but they price us lot out by charging at what only organisations/charities/clubs/schools etc can afford.

And SALTs take too long sorting PECS needs out,if they even get that far,had gave up waiting for P/books from own SALT and used several small PECS books owned by the organisation instead-with a belt in one for a strap and a technics lanyard for the other-
until...had been given the large blue one near new year.

Why isn't PECS software a part of open source now,are there no programmers who can see the point of it,or maybe have PECS using family instead?
Heres hoping it catches up with text to speech,speech to text and screen readers in open source in the near future!