Touchscreen

Type of exercises:

• Semantics
• Sequencing
• Spelling
• Homonyms & synonyms

Developed with SLT: Yes



Theory based: No, based on clinician experience



Record own speaking attempts: N/A



Correction of own speaking attempts:N/A



Easy to use?: No. The user must click on an answer, then click again to input their answer and then click again to move onto the next question.



The internet subscription exercises are very slow to accept the answer making multiple activations possible and therefore potentially confusing.



Customisation/personalisation: No



Error handling: None



Prompts/cues given: Only for one set of exercises



Tutorials: Yes, online



Free trial: Yes but not the complete program



Support: Via Livechat or the supplier can take over the user’s PC. All support takes place 9am-5pm New York time



Comments:

• The online subscription allows access to all the modules available so as the user progresses they don’t need to purchase new modules. It feels like an app when downloaded on an ipad
• The CD version has more functions than the internet version
• Need reading skills (single word and simple sentences)
• Sequencing exercises work on functional, everyday activities (e,g, parking, dressing). They go from 2 step to 5 step sequencing
• Remote access to results is possible as long as the SLT has the user’s login & password.

N.B:

    US terminology/vocabulary

    Voice is American and computer generated

    No visual rewards for correct answers

 

Type of exercises:

• Reading comprehension with multiple choice answers.
• Reading of bills, adverts, product labels, timetables. Locating services and recipes.

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: No specific theory base, SLT experience

Record own speaking attempts: N/A

Correction of own speaking attempts: N/A

Customisation/personalisation: No

Error handling: Yes. If a wrong answer is given, it will highlight the area of the text to look at to obtain the correct answer.

Prompts/cues given: Chunks of text to read are highlighted to aid finding correct answer. Can alter number of multiple choice options.

Tutorials: No

Free trial: Yes

Support: Free lifetime technical support via phone, email or online livechat

Comments:

• Very American (e.g. American product labels, prices in $, American vocabulary)
• Not real life clippings
• Some exercises only have 2 items to read
• Progress tracking to automatically move user on as they improve

N.B:

    Very American.
    Not many exercises so would quickly complete the whole program.

Type of exercises:

• Following written instructions to place shapes. 1-3 step instructions.
• Also sequencing exercises with shapes and written memory to a degree

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: No

Record own speaking attempts: N/A

Correction of own speaking attempts: N/A

Customisation/personalisation: No

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues given: No

Tutorials: No

Free trial: Yes

Support: Free lifetime technical support via phone, email or online livechat

Comments:

• More for work on prepositions and sequencing than direction following
• Can change colours to aid visual difficulties
• Can remove written direction to work on written memory skills too

N.B:
   Need very good sentence level reading
 

Type of exercises:

• Verbal single word naming of numbers, amounts and time
• Verbal single word repetition of numbers, amounts and time

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: Not a specific theory base, SLT experience

Record own speaking attempts: Yes

Correction of own speaking attempts: No

Customisation/personalisation: No

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues given: No

Tutorials: No

Free trial: Yes

Support: Free lifetime technical support via phone, email or online livechat

Comments:

• Up to 150 exercises for each ‘lesson’.
• No visual cues (e.g. pictorial representation of a number or a clock face)
• Aimed at reading aloud numbers, time or money amounts

N.B:
  Model voice is American

Type of exercises:

• Reading comprehension with multiple choice answers.
• Reading of bills, adverts, product labels, timetables.
• Locating services and recipes.

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: No specific theory base, SLT experience

Record own speaking attempts: N/A

Correction of own speaking attempts: N/A

Customisation/personalisation: No

Error handling: Yes. If a wrong answer is given, it will highlight the area of the text to look at to obtain the correct answer.

Prompts/cues given: Chunks of text to read are highlighted to aid finding correct answer.

Tutorials: No

Free trial: Yes

Support: Free lifetime technical support via phone, email or online livechat

Comments:

• Very American (e.g. American product labels, prices in $, American vocabulary)
• Not real life clippings
• Some exercises only have 2 items to read

N.B:   

• Very American.
• Not many exercises so would quickly complete the whole programme.

Type of exercises:

• Category discrimination & reasoning (semantics)
• Category naming & completion (semantics)
• Cause & effect (what would happen if…)
• Conditional statements (if X then Y…)
• Deductive reasoning (semantics)
• Form & function (semantics)
• Inferential naming (semantics)
• Logical thinking
• Problem solving (pragmatics)
• Reasons why (pragmatics)
• Situation Reasoning (pragmatics)
• Things in common (semantics)

Access: Mouse for all exercises except inferential naming which also requires keyboard

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: No, based on clinician experience

Record own speaking attempts: N/A

Correction of own speaking attempts: N/A

Easy to use? No. The user must click on an answer, then click again to input their answer and then click again to move onto the next question.

The internet subscription exercises are very slow to accept the answer making multiple activations possible and therefore potentially confusing.

Customisation/personalisation: No

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues given: None

Tutorials: Yes

Free trial: Yes but not the complete program

Support: Via Livechat. The suppliers can also log onto the user’s computer. Support takes place 9am-5pm New York time

Comments:

• The online subscription allows access to all the modules available so as the user progresses they don’t need to purchase new modules. It feels like an app when downloaded on an ipad
• The CD version has more functions than the internet subscription version
• A download version exists for $19.95 per program but works only on Windows, not mac
• The pragmatics exercises are aimed at ‘what if’ scenarios
• Remote access to results is possible as long as the SLT has the user’s login & password.

N.B:
    US terminology
    Voice is American and computer generated
    Need single word/simple sentence level reading or good auditory comprehension to complete the tasks
    US terminology & vocabulary
    No visual rewards for correct answers
 

Type of exercises:

• 4 levels of reading comprehension exercises.
• Ranging from single paragraphs with short sentences up to very long stories with long sentences based on novels.

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: No specific theory base, SLT experience

Record own speaking attempts: N/A

Correction of own speaking attempts: N/A

Customisation/personalisation: No

Error handling: Yes. If a wrong answer is given, it will highlight the area of the text to look at to obtain the correct answer.

Prompts/cues given: Yes. Can highlight the text word by word to aid concentration. Chunks of text to read are highlighted to aid finding correct answer. Can alter number of multiple choice options.

Tutorials: No

Free trial: Yes

Support: Free lifetime technical support via phone, email or online livechat

Comments:

• The long stories are quite long and complicated.
• On levels 3 & 4 some answers are inferred from the text
• Progress tracking to move user on as they improve
   

Type of exercises:

• Time problems
• Money handling
• Calculator maths
• Timed mental maths
• Traffic sign recognition

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: No, based on clinician experience

Record own speaking attempts: N/A

Correction of own speaking attempts: N/A

Easy to use? No. The user must click on an answer, then click again to input their answer and then click again to move onto the next question.

The internet subscription exercises are very slow to accept the answer making multiple activations possible and therefore confusing.

Customisation/personalisation: No

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues given: None

Tutorials: Yes, online

Free trial: Yes but not the complete program

Support: Via Live chat or the suppliers can take over the user’s PC. However all support takes place 9am-5pm New York time

Comments:

• The online subscription allows access to all the modules available so as the user progresses they don’t need to purchase new modules. It feels like an app when downloaded on an ipad
• The CD version has more functions than the internet version
• A download version exists for $19.95 per program but works only on Windows, not mac
• The calculator maths exercises provide real life calculations
• The time management exercises provide real life time concepts and problems
• Remote access to results is possible as long as the SLT has the user’s login & password.

N.B:
    Money exercises all use US $
    Voice is American and computer generated
    Need sentence level reading or sentence level auditory comprehension to complete the tasks
    No visual rewards for correct answers
 

Type of exercises:

• 4 levels of reading comprehension exercises.
• Ranging from single paragraphs with short sentences up to very long stories with long sentences based on novels.

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: No specific theory base, SLT experience

Record own speaking attempts: N/A

Correction of own speaking attempts: N/A

Customisation/personalisation: No

Error handling: Yes. If a wrong answer is given, it will highlight the area of the text to look at to obtain the correct answer.

Prompts/cues given: Yes. Can highlight the text word by word to aid concentration. Chunks of text to read are highlighted to aid finding correct answer.

Tutorials: No

Free trial: Yes

Support: Free lifetime technical support via phone, email or online livechat

Comments:

• The long stories are high level
• On levels 3 & 4 some answers require inferences from the text

Type of exercises:

• Following verbal instructions to place shapes. 1-3 step instructions.
• Also sequencing exercises with shapes and auditory memory to a degree

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: No

Record own speaking attempts: N/A

Correction of own speaking attempts: N/A

Customisation/personalisation: No

Error handling: Yes. Tells user they have made a mistake, states the shape they have chosen and then the shape they need to choose to complete the task

Prompts/cues given: Yes. Verbal directions in addition to written directions.

Tutorials: No

Free trial: Yes

Support: Free lifetime technical support via phone, email or online livechat

Comments:

• More for work on prepositions and sequencing than direction following
• Can change colours to aid visual difficulties
• In the sequencing tasks, the person is also working on their auditory memory

N.B:
    Need very good sentence level reading
    American accent