No

Photo supported calendar/reminders

Photos can be added to the calendar from the photo stream or taken instantly

Calendar items appear with the text in a small font, the time in a big font and supported by a half screen photo

Useful for those who need reminders, can't read or next step by step instructions throughout the day

Type of app & brief description       

• Spaced retrieval technique to help memory of facts, procedures and other information. The person has a target question they must answer at regular intervals (e.g. what is your wife’s name).

Comments/N.B

• Not for independent practice, need someone working alongside & to program prompt questions
• With creative use, could be useful for functional word finding
   

Supplier: Tactus

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:

• 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:

• 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:

• Auditory & visual picture finding
• Picture identification (multiple choice)
• Sentence completion
• Written picture naming
• 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: Yes

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues given: Only for picture naming exercises

Tutorials: Yes, online

Free trial: Yes but not the complete program

Support: Via Livechat or the suppliers 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
• A download version exists for $19.95 per program but works only on Windows, not mac
• Picture naming gives cues (multiple choice/first letter/description/semantic)
• Remote access to results is possible as long as the SLT has the user’s login & password.

N.B:
    US terminology/vocabulary
    Naming exercises are long words with no previous build up exercises to practise pre-spelling skills
    Voice is American and computer generated
    No visual rewards for correct answers
 

Type of exercises:    Speech production, single word and sentence level targeting a range of linguistic/grammar structures.

Examples of exercises provided:

• sentences with prepositions
• sentences with adjectives
• sentences with prepositions and adjectives
• why questions
• complex sentences with multiple verbs and nouns

Access:    Mouse (including click & drag), Touchscreen

Developed with SLT:    Yes

Theory based:    Yes 

Record own speaking attempts:    Yes

Correction of own speaking attempts:    No, the program does not judge the correctness of utterances

Number of exercises:    Over 800 + unlimited if creating own

Easy to use?    To some extent

Customisation/personalisation:    Yes

Error handling:    None

Prompts/cues given:    Yes. Words/sentences are modelled. User can listen to verbal models of each word. Sentence completion words are provided. Possible to customise own prompts (e.g. semantic ones). Model sentences are also provided.

Record results:    Yes. The users’ speech (& photos) can be made into a video which they can send to others directly from within the program, via email (Windows version) or, in the iOS version, via the full range of sharing options (email, messaging, Facebook, Instagram, etc)

Tutorials:    Yes

Free trial:    Yes but not full version

Support:    Free technical support via email or phone

Comments:

• Ability to customise own exercises with target vocabulary
• Don’t need any reading or spelling skills to use
• Practising speech at sentence level at the user’s own level and speed
• Designed to encourage self-monitoring of speech so whilst there are example models, there are also no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers
• Word finder dictionaries (customiseable) are available to aid sentence construction

N.B:    

• need to use click and drag if not using a touchscreen
• interface could be difficult to follow initially for some users 
• American accent

Supplier details:    www.sentenceshaper.com 
 

Type of exercises:

• Following written and auditory instructions (up to 7 steps) with letters, numbers, pictures
• Sequencing
• Remembering patterns
• Multi tasking
• Pairs games
• Visual motor memory tasks

Access: Mouse & keyboard. Requires click and drag function

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 Livechat or the suppliers 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
• A download version exists for $19.95 per program but works only on Windows, not mac
• Following/remembering instructions are not functional, everyday tasks – pure therapy tasks
• High level memory, attention and sequencing tasks
• Remote access to results is possible as long as the SLT has the user’s login & password.

N.B:
    Voice is American and computer generated
    No visual rewards for correct answers
 

Type of exercises:

• Sentence level reading comprehension
• Paragraph level reading comprehension
• Written word finding from written definitions
• Identifying correct spellings
• Whole word spelling
• Auditory word recall

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



Record results: Yes



Tutorials: Yes, online



Free trial: Yes but not the complete program



Support: Via Livechat or the suppliers 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
• The reading comprehension exercises require higher level semantics and US knowledge.
• Remote access to results is possible as long as the SLT has the user’s login & password.

N.B:

    No practising of spelling skills, goes straight in at single word level with long, low frequency words

    Voice is American and computer generated

    No visual rewards for correct answers