Direct selection

Also called Direct access, Direct pointing

Pointing, touching or looking straight at the cell you want. The fastest access method, and the first to try.

What it is

Direct selection means the person indicates their choice by going straight to it: a finger on a screen, a pointer on a keyguard, a gaze on a cell, a fist on a paper board. There's no intermediate step, no waiting for a highlight to arrive. You choose the thing by touching the thing.

It is the way most people use a phone, which is why it is easy to forget it is a method at all.

Who it can help

Anyone with one movement accurate enough to land on a target. That movement doesn't have to be a fingertip. A knuckle, a thumb, a stylus held in a fist, a head pointer or eye gaze all count as direct selection.

It isn't right for a person whose reach is too inaccurate for the target size they need, or whose effort per selection is so high that a whole sentence is exhausting. For them, switch scanning is slower per word but kinder over a day. And accuracy can be bought: a bigger grid size, a keyguard, or touch settings tuned to the hand often turn a person who was written off for direct access into a fluent user.

How it works

The device registers a selection when the pointer (finger, gaze, cursor) meets a cell and satisfies a timing rule. For touch that rule is set by touch settings: how long the finger must stay, whether the choice fires on press or on release. For eye gaze and head tracking it is dwell selection, or a switch press while the pointer sits on the cell.

Target size matters more than anything. Halving the number of cells on a page doubles the size of each one, and for many people that is the difference between hitting and missing.

Getting started

Start with a big grid and one real choice. Two cells, then four, then six, at home or in class, with something the person actually wants on one of them. Watch whether they land where they meant to, not whether they land at all.

If the finger drags, slides or double-taps, don't move to switches yet. Try a keyguard (a piece of card with holes cut in it will do for a trial), lengthen the hold time, and set the selection to fire on release rather than on press. Try a different part of the hand. Try the screen flat, then tilted. Only when those are exhausted is it time to look at switch access.

Where to get help

A speech and language therapist or occupational therapist can run an access trial, and the ACE Centre and CALL Scotland publish free materials on assessing direct access. For a formal AAC assessment, ask for a referral through your NHS trust or local AAC services.