Android Phone

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

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

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

App which describes the world around you (designed for people with vision impairment)

Point the phone camera at:

- short typed or handwritten text (e.g. a greetings card) & it will speak it aloud

- whole documents & it will speak the text aloud

- barcodes & it will speak out the product name

- a scene & it will give an auditory description (e.g. busy street with people & cars)

NB there is a long delay before it detects and speaks out the text/scene 

Supplier: Tactus

Supplier: Tactus

6 levels of reading, listening and topic vocabulary exercises for those with moderate to mild reading difficulties who are keen to practise independently

Within each level, there are 10 everyday topics (e.g. making a journey, reading a paper, reading an email, how to lose weight), each with 6 different exercise sets

Web based program - exercises can be allocated remotely & results can be accessed by the SLT remotely

The clinician purchases a yearly license and patients have free access to the software on a computer or via an app on a tablet or phone device

The software is designed for learners of English as a foreign language but can be useful for people with aphasia

Type of exercises & brief description:

Photos of nouns are presented for confrontation, verbal naming.  There are 20 items in each exercise set and a total of 10 exercise sets which must be purchased individually

Speech recognition software is used to assess whether the spoken attempt was correct

Prompts/cues:

If the first attempt isn’t recognised, an initial, written letter is provided. If the second attempt isn’t recognised, the word is spoken and written and the user moves to the next item automatically

Record results:

Results are shown at the end of the session. In order to receive results, the professional license must be purchased

Comments:

•  It is difficult to identify what some of the photographs are of
• The items are always presented in the same order
• Not all regional accents or dysarthric speech are recognised. 

4 sets of sentence and conversation level exercises:

1. Using verbs to make sentences

250 concrete & abstract verbs. A verb is provided and the user must make 3 sentences by generating content or choosing from multiple choice options. They can write and/or speak & record their options.  The user is then encouraged to expand on their sentence.  6 activties are generated from each verb, encoraging more autonomy with differing levels of cues.

2. Comparing similar items

206 concrete & abstract items are presented in either image or text form.  The user is invited to verbalise how the items are alike and different.  They can record their spoken attempts.

3. Category association naming

320 concrete and abstract categories are provided.  The user must name from 3 to an unlimited number of associated items (e.g. things starting with /r/, appliances). This activity can be timed. There is also the possiblity to carry out a 1 minute semantic fluency test and a 1 minute phonemic fluency test to assess verbal fluency

4. Generating conversations

507 images are provided (e.g. funny food, unusual objects) to prompt description and/or conversation. Questions are provided to prompt the description or conversation.

Error handling: none. The user must decide themselves whether or not the got an item correct

Prompts/cues: In the verb sentences exercises, multiple choice items are provided.  The user can also opt to hear their sentences spoken aloud. Keywords are also provided as hints. No cues are given on the other exercises

Record results: a score is given at the end of each exercise 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

Supplier: Tactus