Using the LAM (Language Activity Monitoring)
As a clinician or teacher you can use the LAM capabilities in your device to analyze your
clients’ language activities. This can be helpful for clinical intervention, outcomes measurement
and research.
The following instructions are for use with a USB flash drive.
In order to accumulate language data to be analyzed, Data Logging must be ON in the
REVIEW VOCABULARY MENU. Your device will then record all language activity data.
You should also set the CLOCK menu to the current year, month and date and the correct time.
You can tell if there is data to be analyzed by looking at the Clear Data Log key. If there is a
number displayed on the key, (e.g., 134 Bytes, or 400 Bytes, etc.) then there is data available to
be analyzed. If there is no number on the key, you will have to turn Data Logging On and have
the client generate some data.
NOTE: Within newer versions of software, the feature of Enhanced Logging has been added which adds each key location activated to the report.
You will save the language data to your USB drive. You can then download the Data Log file
from the USB drive onto your computer and save it as a word processing document.
Save Data Log
Once you have accumulated some language data, you need to save it to your USB drive.
1. Make sure you have the USB drive plugged in
2. Open the REVIEW VOCABULARY MENU.
3. In the Logging Destination option, select USB Disk
4. Select Save Data Log.
5. When the log is saved, remove the USB drive from your device.
6. Follow the directions that came with your USB drive to place the Data Log on your computer.
7. Select Clear Data Login the REVIEW VOCABULARY MENU. This erases the data you
just saved. If you want to accumulate more data, make sure Data Logging is On.
An Example of a Data Log
### CAUTION ###
The following data represents personal communication.
Please respect privacy accordingly.
Language Activity Monitor Springboard LAM-2
Version 2.00
Prentke Romich Company
[YY-MM-DD=05-06-07]
09:47:15 SEM “like “
09:47:22 SEM “read “
09:47:24 SEM “put “
09:47:28 SEM “please “
09:47:39 SEM “I “
09:47:41 SEM “eat “
09:47:48 SEM “I “
09:47:49 SEM “feel “
09:47:58 ACT “happy “
09:48:15 SEM “you “
09:48:17 SEM “feel “
09:48:18 ACT “happy “
09:48:22 SEM “I “
09:48:23 SEM “want “
09:48:24 SEM “drink “
09:48:27 ACT “water “
09:48:44 SEM “you “
09:48:45 SEM “go “
09:48:47 ACT “outside. “
09:49:05 SEM “my “
09:49:07 SEM “ “
09:49:16 PAG “Maria “
An Example of CTL Information
01:52:01 CTL “Switch User Area from Unity 45 Full to Unity 84 Single Hit”
01:52:14 CTL “Switch User Area from Unity 84 Single Hit to Unity 45 Full”
About the LAM Data
When you look at the Data Log, the first thing you see is the year, month and date of this
particular log.
The next item you notice is the Time Stamp. Time is presented in a 24-hour format.
Following the time Stamp is the SOURCE of language event. Source codes are in capital letters.
The following source codes are currently valid:
ACT (Activity Row)
CTL (Control – this supplies information on non-language key activations the client makes.)
PAG (Page)
SEM (Semantic Compaction – Minspeak® and Unity®)
SPE (Spelling)
WPR (Word Prediction)
DWP (Derivative from Word Prediction).
Any characters spaced more than 0.2 seconds apart are considered as separate language events.
In the example at the top of the facing page you can see that the device user formed sentences
and used Pages and Activities. In the second example, the user changed overlays. These were
not language events, so you see the CTL source code, but from them you can see that the user
knows how to change overlays.
More information about LAM data and LAM tools is available on the Web at
http://www.aacinstitute.org/