Why Morse?
Better communication has been one of the most sought-after goals of people since...forever. Lack of ability to communicate fully and fluently is one of the most frustrating challenges a person can encounter.
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Morse code has a 150 year history of being used for communication, and an equally robust history in the use of augmentative/alternative communication (AAC). The search for ways to improve speech that's impaired or replace speech that's absent has found Morse code to be a powerful tool for many. Its binary nature, using only 2 symbols--dots and dashes--makes it simple to learn. It's also simple to use. Any two actions can be used for dot/dash: push/pull, right/left, up/down, in/out, making it well suited to people who have severe sensory and/or movement challenges. Simple switches can be made to respond to such actions,opening up the entirety of written expression.
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In the past, the need for the message receiver to also know the code was a barrier to its widespread use. Today's technology removes that barrier by allowing digital devices to instantly translate the code into written or spoken language.
About Morse Code
Morse users' stories
The Finlaysons
The Morse code option for Gboard was driven by the Creative Lab's work with Tania Finlayson, who has cerebral palsy and learned at age 12 how to use Morse for communication. Then as the technology she had been using became obsolete, she and her husband Ken created their own Morse input device, TandemMaster, for herself and others to use on personal computers. Tania and Ken's collaboration with Google has brought Morse to the inexpensive, portable world of smartphones and tablets, with the added benefit of Google's sophisticated word prediction software using machine learning, which saves time and energy for the Morse user.
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The web page for TandemMaster includes a history of how Tania found Morse code as a communication method when she was 12 years old.
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Check out the YouTube channel for NottLimited, Ken and Tania's family business
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Here's a story about Tania from a Seattle TV station: Kirkland woman works with Google to give voice to the voiceless
Jeffrey Watkins
In 1988, when Jeffrey was 14, his computer teacher at Perkins School for the Blind, Sandy Smith, found a Morse code program on an Apple 2G that she thought would be perfect for him. She asked Alex Truesdell--who would later found the Adaptive Design Assn--to build lever switches and attach them to the left and right side of a school chair. Jeffrey learned Morse quickly (pushing one lever for a dot, the other for a dash) playing a special Hangman game and then went on to using Morse for all written work. The next year, Alex made a set of grip switches (ones Jeff could hold and squeeze), which sharply increased his input speed.
Jeff used those switches until his death in 2008. A filmmaker friend of his, Nick Parsons, is making a movie of Jeffrey's life and it is likely that ADA's game jam event will provide the ending for the film.
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Movie trailer: A Horse of a Different Color
Alex Truesdell's Morse code saga
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Founder of the Adaptive Design Associ- ation, Alex Truesdell has been a Morse code enthusiast for 30 years. The arrival of free, portable Morse code in 2018 has been a dream-come-true for Alex, who has written about her Morse journey and what she has learned along the way.
​​​Photo: At ADA's 2018 #GivingTuesday event, Alex shows a young man how switches made from toilet rolls can be used to spell out messages in Morse code.
Speech problems
What kinds of conditions can cause speech problems?
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Oral speech involves a delicate dance among three bodily functions: respiration (breathing), phonation (vibrating the vocal cords to produce sound), and articulation (using the lips, teeth, tongue, etc. to pronounce words). These three functions must be finely coordinated in order to produce speech that is understandable by others.
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Any condition that makes it hard to do even one of these functions can lead to difficulty with speech.
About Augmentative/Alternative Communication
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You may have seen someone write in a notebook to answer a question. Maybe you have seen people using sign language or other gestures. You may have seen someone push buttons on a computer that speaks for them. These are all forms of augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC.
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AAC includes all of the ways we share our ideas and feelings without talking. We all use forms of AAC every day. You use AAC when you use facial expressions or gestures instead of talking. You use AAC when you write a note and pass it to a friend or coworker. We may not realize how often we communicate without talking.
People with severe speech or language problems may need AAC to help them communicate. Some may use it all of the time. Others may say some words but use AAC for longer sentences or with people they don’t know well. AAC can help in school, at work, and when talking with friends and family.
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Although Morse code was invented for radio telegraphy, it makes a very effective method of augmentative communication.
Twenty-six letters, ten numbers, and a few frequently-used punctuation marks and computer commands--People master them in a variety of ways: in alphabetical order, by order of frequency, or by patterns of dots and dashes; using a printed listing, using graphic icons, or listening to the rhythms of the codes. Here are a few options to help you find the learning helper that's best for you. Most of these tools also have advice about how to learn Morse.
This site contains a simple list you can print (print page 2) and keep handy while you practice.
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ADA's visual trainer
There are several different systems of icons that incorporate the dots and dashes of a character into a pictogram to help you remember it. Click the icon to download ADA's version of this concept, which includes pictograms borrowed from earlier systems, plus some originals.
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Tree diagram
These diagrams start with the letters represented by a single element (e = . and t =-) and progresses in a branching structure to two-element letters, three-element letters, etc. The first version may be easier to use, visually, but requires two pages to print. Version 2 can be printed on a single page.
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"MORSE CODE": from RWSG on YouTube
Here's an example learning Morse by listening to the codes to memorize the sound/rhythm of each.
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MORSE TYPING TRAINER FOR GBOARD
By Tania and Ken Finlayson, Use All Five, with friends at Google
Tania and team created this online trainer to make learning Morse code more fun and to encourage people to keep at it. Intended for Android and IOS, but a demo version is available using the Chrome browser on a computer. There's also "Printable Morse poster and cards," an open source document of the pictographs used in the Morse trainer (about halfway down the page, right under the Morse Trainer).
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Trainer apps for Android* and Trainer apps for iOS*
All different types. ADA has not tried them all and can't vouch for them but expects, with the variety available, you can find one that works for you. ( iOS: try searching the AppStore for "Morse Code Trainer.")
* Bear in mind that many of these learning tools are designed by and for radio operators (the original purpose of Morse code) and may contain information and advice not relevant to people using Morse as augmentative communication or as a writing tool.
IMPORTANT: Traditional Morse code was entered with a single "key" using a short press for DOT and a longer press for DASH. In AAC, most people use two switches (keys), one for DOT and the other for DASH. Not all of the training tools linked to here may be helpful to two-switch Morse users. (We'd appreciate your feedback on whichever apps you try: susan@adaptivedesign.org.)
Ways to learn Morse
These apps are different from the trainers; these are keyboards that can be used in place of your onscreen keyboard or external keyboard. They allow you to type into any location that accepts text. Therefore, they need some setup; you need to tell your tablet, or phone, that you want the Morse code keyboard to be your primary means of text entry. (In most cases, your text keyboard can be left active and accessed from the Morse keyboard with a keystroke or two.) Naturally, there are other apps in this category besides the ones listed here. If you find one you particularly like, please let us know and we will add it to the list.
For Android 5.0 and above or iOS 10.0 and above:
Gboard with Morse code option: This is Google's virtual keyboard with the recent addition of Morse code with machine learning. This page gives instructions for downloading and installing the Morse option.
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For Android: MouseCode Keyboard: This app uses the two buttons on a mouse to input dots and dashes.
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For iOS: Tele-Key: Tap a virtual Morse code key to type in Morse.
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It's hard to find Morse apps for Windows or MacOS, since those devices come with hardware keyboards. If you spot an app anywhere for a computer, give us a heads up.
Morse apps for mobile devices
For 20 years, Modern Morse Code has been the "bible" of Morse Code applications in rehabilitation.
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It was written by Professor Thomas Wayne King, a certified speech-language pathologist and special educator. He is an expert in Morse code and holds the highest FCC license in amateur radio.
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Professor King is making his book -- now out of print -- available in digital format, at no charge to interested parties.
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Click the buttons below to download the sections of the book in .PDF files (each file under 25MB). Check out the Table of Contents first to see which sections you want to download. If you find the book illuminating, you might want to let Prof. King know.
Download Modern Morse Code
Morse Code was a means of early communication using dots and dashes or long and short sounds that correlated to each letter of the Latin alphabet. These messages were typically sent by electric telegraph (also known as a straight key) or by light signals.
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Samuel Finley Breese Morse (pictured above) is credited with the invention of Morse Code. He was an American inventor who was also a well known painter. He was born on April 27, 1791 in Charlestown.
Development of Morse code
In the 1830's, Morse began work on the first electrical telegraph, which was a means of communicating using electricity. He received his first patent for the electrical telegraph in 1837, before moving on to his code.
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Morse Code was used to send messages over long distances. Morse code messages can be sent using light or by pulses. In Samuel Morse's time, the most common way to send a pulse message was via a telegraph. A telegraph, also known as a straight key, sends pulses in the form of electrical current based on the message that was "tapped out" using the telegraph key.
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Telegraph operators would then key messages using a series of clicks based on the spelling of the words of the messages. An operator on the receiving end would hear the clicks and translate them back into words.
With Morse Code, each letter of the alphabet was translated into short and long signals (also known as dots and dashes). The pulse length of a dash is equal to the pulse length of three dots. Eventually, when Morse Code was adapted to radio, the dots and dashes began being referred to as "dits" and "dahs" based on the sound of the radio pulses.
A switch is merely a simple device to allow the flow of electric current, or stop its flow. A switch can only exist in one of two states: open or closed.
In the off state, a switch looks like an open gap in the circuit. This, in effect, looks like an open circuit, preventing current from flowing.
In the on state, a switch acts just like a piece of perfectly-conducting wire. This closes the circuit, turning the system “on” and allowing current to flow through the rest of the system.
A Morse key like this one, is a simple switch. Normally it is OPEN, but when an operator presses it down, contact is made (arrow), current flows, and a dot or dash is sent.
In augmentative communication many different switches are used with Morse code. Most look nothing like this Morse key, but inside they function the same way: they open/close a circuit. (Click any image.)
What's a switch?
When Tania Finlayson (see Morse User Stories, above) heard that she in Washington, might be able to remote-control some toys here in New York, she was very excited. Because her cerebral palsy made it hard for her to play with many traditional toys, and because she didn't have access to adapted toys, she largely missed the play experience in her own childhood. That sad aspect of disability is all too common.
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Often, the fun of interactive play is another casualty of failure to creatively adapt. Sometimes an un-adapted toy or game can be made accessible with a simple adaptation. Here, a racetrack built of cardboard allows two boys to play together from their wheelchairs.
Play is a vital part of growing up, and games, like the ones developed at our Game Jam, offer just one means of play for children. Adapted toys, like the ones developed by our Creative Technologist (switch-controlled robot, at right), offer another. ​We at Adaptive Design advocate for play. Serious play. We're working to provide adaptations and assistive technology that facilitates avenues of fun and exploration for children and adults alike.
Why play?
DIY electronics
Hardware developers affiliated with ADA have developed some unique switches suitable for Morse code input, some with the help of 3D printing. This one turns left/right head movements into the dots and dashes of Morse code.
If you're a switch user, you need your switches, of course, but you also need an interface to translate your switch presses into signals the Morse software can understand. Pre-made interfaces may be purchased for computers or for mobile phones and tablets, but -- you guessed it -- DIY interfaces are possible, too.
Building an interface is a bit more complex than a simple switch, but you don't need an engineering degree, just the right components and some instructions. One vendor is offering a kit with the necessary components for such an interface and some online help.
With the arrival of Morse code apps for mobile devices, alternative communication is low-cost and highly portable for those who use the built-in touchscreen on their devices. Those who use Morse code with switches may not be far behind. The do-it-yourself (DIY) movement is touching this field, too.
A huge variety of commercially available switches is available to meet nearly anyone's abilities, but you can also make your own switches. Get your feet wet with very simple ones (great for STEM learning) from materials you already have.
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How to make a simple switch Foil switch
Using inexpensive components, you can create more durable switches, and even adapt toys and game controllers.
