CoughDrop offers several account types including communicator, supporter, free modeling account, and evaluation account. Each account type offers different features and function to better fit the needs of that specific user.
An evaluation account is meant to allow a communicator and team to try out CoughDrop for an extended period and determine if the CoughDrop app is the best fit for the communicator.
While CoughDrop offers a free 2-month trial for any new user, this account type can be used by schools, groups, lending libraries, or teams to keep a CoughDrop account ready and available for an evaluation period at any time.
Creating an Eval Account
You can create an evaluation account at any time. This account type comes at a one-time cost of $25 and can be used for multiple evaluations moving forward. An evaluation account is generally owned by a school, team, or group and is shared with a communicator for a period of time.
You can create an account through the CoughDrop website at any time and can then update to purchase the account immediately or after your free 2-month trial period is complete.
To purchase the eval option, log into your account on the CoughDrop website (mycoughdrop.com). Open your account to your account page and select "billing" from the options on the left of the screen. There you can select an account type and update your payment source to purchase the account.
**Purchases MUST be made through our website at mycoughdrop.com**
Starting an Evaluation
Once the eval account has been purchased it will automatically enter its first eval session. The default session length is 12 weeks.
You will want to connect a CoughDrop supervisor to his evaluation account in order to oversee and manage the evaluation. Adding a supervisor must be done while logged into the eval account. You can find instructions on adding a supervisor to a CoughDrop AAC account in our support article here.
You will also want to assign a home board for the account that will fit the needs of this communicator. There are a number of pre-set home board options within CoughDrop with a focus on core vocabulary boards but also with a number of category-based boards.
You will find some commonly used AAC home board options in our support article here.
After the home board has been selected for the evaluation, you can also adjust any settings that needs to be altered to fit a communicator's needs by navigating to the preferences page for the account. You can select "preferences" from the drop-down menu at the top of the page while logged into the eval account to reach the page.
If you are the eval account's supervisor, you can reach the eval account preferences page by selecting "account" for the student from your "communicators" tab on your own dashboard. Then choose "preferences" from the menu on the left of the account page.
You will know whose account page or preferences page you are viewing by noting the username and icon at the top left of the screen (circled below). You can also see the selected home page for the account on the account page as indicated by the arrow in the image below.
Completing an Evaluation
The end date of the current evaluation period will be displayed on the eval account dashboard as seen here.
When an evaluation ends, the account will be reset to its original status. Any speech boards or buttons added to the account will be deleted and removed from the account so the next evaluation can start fresh.\
**If there are speech boards you plan to use for each new evaluation, it is probably best to save a copy of those boards in the supervisor's account and then share or copy those boards for the eval account so the baords are not lost when the eval account resets.**
As the supervisor of an evaluation account, you can extend or end an evaluation as needed for that account.
To manage the evaluation, open the account page of the evaluation account and then hit the "extras" button near the top right of the page. Hit the "eval status" option from the menu.
A new window will open that will display several evaluation options for the account.
If you need to end the evaluation early to reset it for another communicator, you can enter the necessary information to make that adjustment.
If you need to extend the evaluation period to give the communicator a bit more time, you can select a date for the end of the continued evaluation. Be aware that evals cannot be extended indefinitely. After a period, they will reset even if you continue to try to extend the trial.
Finally, if you plan to move this communicator to their own CoughDrop account, you can transfer the speech boards and information created during the user's evaluation to a new CoughDrop account so that account can be set up specifically for this communicator.
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