Thanks for the input, Kyle. I showed this to my son today and I have a few early reactions :
1) Any font smaller than around 25 point will be too difficult for my son to see easily, keep in mind the eye tracking computer must be around 19 inches from his face.
2) I think a better approach rather than integrated functionality and help text would be to have an "action" mode and a "help" mode where the real estate is used differently. The action mode would execute a function when a symbol is picked, while the help mode would display a help screen when the same symbol is picked. So we would have two identical inputs leading to two different outputs depending on the mode in which he was in. He should be able to transition between modes easily.
3) I don't like the idea of a "two hit" approach, as each click has a cost. I'd rather have a WSIWYG approach where when he selects a function it either does that function or displays help about that function. I don't see that the "Play" button would be very useful to him.
4) I don't quite understand the different between the play button and the check mark in your template.
5) I don't understand what the "Eye" icon is supposed to do.
6) Please be advised that my son's Grid 3 control is either programmed to operate in dwell-to-select or zoom-to-select mode, it is not possible to have him change between these two. Thus, he would use a zoom mouse to select all content. It may be excessive to consume real estate for big buttons because they themselves would be magnified 5x when my son zooms in.