Touchscreen

ClaroMagX

SLT Summary

Use a smartphone or tablet to magnify text or images 

Brief description

  • Point the phone or tablet at an image or text and use the on-screen magnifier function to increase the size of the text or image for someone with visual difficulties

 

Aphasia Summary

Use a smartphone or tablet as a magnifier 

Evaluation
Price
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Site Icon
icon Summary

Use a smartphone or tablet as a magnifier 

Access
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
Yes

ClaroSpeak

SLT Summary

Text to speech program. Reads text aloud as it is typed so you can listen to what you are typing 

Brief description

  • Spelling errors are highlighted and alternative suggestions are given
  • Word prediction can be enabled
  • Option to hear each word as it's typed or to listen only when a sentence is completed

 

Who could benefit

People who 

Aphasia Summary

Text to speechReads text aloud as you type

Language
Price
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Site Icon
icon Summary

Text to speech. Reads text aloud as you type

Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
Yes
Free trial
Yes

Claro ScanPen

SLT Summary

Screen reading software. Take a photo of written text and it will read the text back to you aloud

Brief description

  • Available as an app or software

  • Choose to hear the text read word by word, line by line or hear the whole text read out

  • Speed up/slow down the screen reading voice

Aphasia Summary

Take a photo of written text & the app will read the text aloud

 

Language
Price
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Site Icon
icon Summary

Screen reader software

Speaks written text aloud for those who find reading difficult

Record Results
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
Yes
Free trial
Yes

Naming Toolbox

SLT Summary

Comprises a naming test and 3 treatment activities: describe, guess & repeat. There are over 500 stimulus items from categories such as personal, out & about, food & drink, objects

Test: the user is asked to name a picture aloud (there is no option for them to record their spoken attempt). If they struggle, they can request 4 written/spoken options to pick from. The user then judges whether they said the word correctly or not by clicking on a tick/cross

Describe: the user is encouraged to describe a picture using semantic feature analysis prompts (there is no option for them to record their spoken attempt). They are not required to judge whether their attempts were correct or not

Guess: the user is encouraged to name an item from a series of semantic descriptions (there is no option for them to record their spoken attempt). They are then prompted to judge whether their attempt was correct or not

Repeat: A picture is provided and a spoken voice repeats the word 3 times. The user is encouraged to tap out the word and verbally repeat it (there is no option for them to record their spoken attempt). They are not required to make a judgement about whether their attempt was correct

Results are stored in-app and can also be emailed 

NB The app uses Apple voices which are quite robotic, however enhanced US voices can be used if they've been downloaded to the user's ipad.  Users need to have good self-monitoring skills to know whether their utterance was correct

Aphasia Summary

Practise saying words

Platforms
Language
Price
Area Targeted
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Verbal naming exercises app

Access
Record Results
Prompts/cues given
Yes
Theory Based
Yes
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
No

Make Write

SLT Summary

Free app co-designed by consultants with aphasia and researchers at City University to encourage people with aphasia to engage in creative writing

Select a piece of writing (your own or one of the 10 included) as your starting point. Automatically erase most of the words to reveal a small set of words to work with. Add and erase words until you have a set of words you'd like to work with. Arrange these words to make a piece of writing and save a photo of it or share it via Twitter or the other apps on your ipad (e.g. email, text, Whats App etc).

 

 

Aphasia Summary

Have fun re-arranging words to write some text, a poem or pure nonsense

Platforms
Language
Price
Area Targeted
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Free creative writing app

Record Results
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
Yes
Can author/customise
Yes
Free trial
Yes

Advanced Language Therapy Lite

SLT Summary

Free demo app for Advanced Language Therapy

Try out exercises for Advanced Comprehension Therapy, Advanced Naming Therapy, Advanced Reading Therapy & Advanced Writing Therapy apps (search each app separately for more detailed information)

1 trial is provided for each section of each app to enable you to inform purchase decisions for the apps which can be purchased separately or as a bundle in Advanced Language Therapy

Supplier: Tactus

Aphasia Summary

Free demo app for Advanced Language Therapy

Try out exercises for understandingnamingreading & writing

Language
Price
Level
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Free demo app for Advanced Language Therapy

Try out exercises for understanding, naming, reading & writing

Access
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
Yes

Advanced Language Therapy

SLT Summary

4 bundle app containing:

Advanced Comprehension Therapy, Advanced Naming Therapy, Advanced Reading Therapy & Advanced Writing Therapy. We recommend searching each app separately for detailed information on each app however below is a brief summary of each:

Advanced Comprehension Therapy:

Written and auditory comprehension exercises, & sentence building exercises

3 modes: Identify (picture matching), Build (sentence building) & Follow (follow directions). Each set of exercises has 12-16 levels

Advanced Naming Therapy:

4 sets of sentence and conversation level exercises: Using verbs to make sentences; Comparing similar items; Category association naming; Generating conversations

Advanced Reading Therapy:

3 levels of paragraph level reading exercises with functional materials (cards, texts, stories)

Advanced Writing Therapy: Matching letters to sounds; Spelling words to dictation; Typing to dictation; Writing sentences & paragraphs

Free trial: yes, free trial available through Advanced Language Therapy Lite app

Supplier: Tactus

 

 

Aphasia Summary

Exercises to work on understandingspeakingreading & writing

 

Language
Price
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

4 apps in a bundle

Exercises to work on understandingnamingreading & writing

 

Access
Record Results
Prompts/cues given
Yes
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
Yes

Advanced Writing Therapy

SLT Summary

4 different spelling & writing exercises from letter to sentence level:

1. Matching letters to sounds

12 exercises incorporating letter names, consonants, vowels & blends. The user can also record their spoken attempt if they wish to practise saying the sound or repeating the sound from a model.

2. Spelling words to dictation

Select nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, function words, irregular words or words with specific vowels for 300 common words. Hear the word spoken in isolation, then in a sentence. The user must type the word but can choose a list of 4 options if they are stuck.  The user can also record their spoken attempt if they wish to practise saying the word or repeating the word from a model.

3. Typing to dictation

Chose from 1-8 word sentences. The user must type the words dictated. If they struggle, they can ask to see the word/sentence & then try again or they can keep the sentence on screen to copy. Their errors remain listed under the stimuli so they can check back if they've made the same mistake.The user can also record their spoken attempt if they wish to practise saying the sound or repeating the sound from a model

4. Writing sentences & paragraphs

Choose a focus (e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, function words, personal information, text messages, taking notes, making lists, writing cards, emails, letters, personal information, directions). A key word is then given for the person to make a sentence with. If they struggle, they can ask for a word bank to help them construct their sentence. Once they have constructed a sentence, the written sentence is read aloud for the user to decide whether they would like to edit it or whether it is correct. The user can also record a spoken attempt at reading their sentence aloud or repeating it after the text to speech model. The app does not say whether the sentence is correct or not, the user must judge this themselves

Error handling: None - an auditory sound is given to indicate correct or incorrect responses but no error handling is given

Prompts/cues: Pictorial, auditory & written cues can be requested.  

Record results: a score is given at the end of each exercise (apart from sentence/paragraph writing exercises where no results are given) and results can be emailed. The user cannot look back at previous results within the app

Free trial: yes, free trial available through Advanced Language Therapy Lite app

Comments: On-screen, aphasia friendly instructions on how to use the app are provided. Comprehensive written instructions are also provided however these would not be accessible to someone with compromised reading skills. Chose upper or lower case presentation, 3 levels of exercise (easy, medium, hard) and a large bank of stimuli

 

Supplier: Tactus

 

Language
Price
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Exercises for practising writing and spelling

Access
Record Results
Prompts/cues given
Yes
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
Yes

NeuronUP

SLT Summary

Web based suite of exercises designed for cognitive rehabilitation.  Each activity has 2-5 levels of difficulty.

Language activities:

Auditory comprehension (true/fase) tasks, including some very high level activities

Written sequencing tasks where the user is required to put steps for an activity in order (3-16 steps, depending on the level)

Picture-adjective; picture-noun and picture-verb matching activities, including some very high level tasks

Functional, object-location matching tasks

Language based executive functioning activities:

Written decision-making tasks 

Written reasoning of consquences tasks

There are also social cognition tasks including inferring facial expressions & inferring emotional reactions 

Error handling: none

Prompts/cues: none

Record results: yes, and they can be accessed remotely

Free trial: yes, a 10 day trial is available

Comments: Latency is measured for most exercises.  Although a large number of rehab areas are listed, some contain no activities (e.g. expression, naming, fluency, writing). Although reading activities are listed, it is simply matching digits to written numbers. Alot of the exercises rely on very good reading comprehension (e.g. decision making, time estimation, reasoning of consequences, task sequencing). On some activities, the user is unable to amend their response before submitting it (e.g. on task sequencing exercises). 

Suppliers: https://www.neuronup.com/en

 

Aphasia Summary

Exercises to work on listening, sequencing, emotions, attention

Language
Price
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Web based exercises for working on listening, sequencing, emotions, attention

Record Results
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
Yes

TippyTalk EDU

SLT Summary

Customiseable app to enable the non-verbal/non-literate user to send text messages to designated communication partners

The user presses a sequence of 2 messages to be automatically sent by text to the communication partner of their choice. All messages are represented by a picture/photo (e.g. I need shopping, please get me some apples)

Pictures, text labels and spoken labels can all be customised

App can be modified remotely (i.e. SLT/carer can change messages on a desktop and it will be immediately available to the user on their tablet/phone)

Aphasia Summary

App for sending texts to friends & family for non-verbal and non-literate users

Platforms
Price
Level
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Site Icon
icon Summary

App to enable non-verbal and non-literate users to communicate via texting technology

Access
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
Yes
Free trial
Yes