iPad

Type of exercises & brief description             

• A trial version of 4 apps: Comprehension Therapy, Naming Therapy, Reading Therapy and Writing Therapy
• 5 items are available under each therapy category so you can trial the 4 apps before buying the full versions

Error handling: See individual app descriptions

Prompts/cues: See individual app descriptions

Record results: See individual app descriptions

Comments/N.B
Not a therapy tool in itself, a taster/demo

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 & brief description             

• Practice of written and spoken present tense, present progressive and past tense verbs at word and sentence level
• Flashcard exercises
• Multiple choice (4 choices) semantic exercises

Error handling: Removes incorrect responses



Prompts/cues: None



Comments/N.B

• Developed for children but most of the items and photos are adult appropriate

Voice recorder to record your own speech

Record reminders

Record conversations (e.g. at the Dr) to remember what was said and to play back later

Send recordings via email

Type of app & brief description       

• Attach voice recordings to your photos.
• When you press on a photo, the voice recording speaks out so you can explain your photos and use them in conversation if your speech is affected.

Comments/N.B

• Free

Brief description

• Reading & writing tool designed for children but can be very helpful for people with aphasia who need help with writing & spelling
• Word prediction (can be personalised)
• Word & phrase banks by topic or A-Z (can be personalised)
• Written or picture supported word banks
• Hear words before selecting
• Listen back to what you have written
• Make voice notes to rehearse a sentence before writing it

Who could benefit

• People who have some spelling but who need writing & spelling prompts
• People who have no spelling but who would like to write letters/cards
  
   

Type of exercises & brief description             

• Practise of 10 songs to encourage spontaneous and automatic speech
• Songs chosen to practise variety of initial & contrastive sounds
• Songs chosen to practise different rhythms, pace & rates

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues: Video and audio clips of oral movements

Comments:

• It is recommended that headphones be worn to do the exercises
• Male & female model examples

Type of exercises & brief description             

• Practise of speech sounds for apraxia of speech & other motor speech disorders
• Building speech –  to practise basic speech patterns & build up to sentence length utterances, (includes basic  functional phrases)
• Using speech – to practise continuous speech (includes phrases for the phone, & at a restaurant)
• Creating own speech samples
• The user is expected to produce the sounds in unison with the model provided
• They can watch their own production of sounds simultaneously if their device has a camera

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues: Video and audio clips of oral movements

Comments:

• It is recommended that headphones be worn to do the exercises
• Success relies on many, many repetitions so user needs to be motivated to do this kind of therapy
• For a fee, user can send own phrases to the company for them to create conversation scripts
   

Type of exercises & brief description             

• Practise of 21 consonant phonemes progressing to phoneme production in initial position of word/phrase
• The user is expected to produce the sounds in unison with the model provided
• They can watch their own production of sounds simultaneously if their device has a camera
• Sounds are organised into sound families and contrastive sounds

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues: Video and audio clips of oral movements

Comments:

• It is recommended that headphones be worn to do the exercises
• For a fee, user can send own phrases to the company for them to create conversation scripts
• Can designate specific exercises to be completed
• Only consonant phonemes provided

Brief description

• Speech recognition program
• As the user speaks into the microphone, the speech is automatically turned into text
• Can read back &/or listen back to what has been typed

Who could benefit

• Someone with good speech & listening skills but compromised spelling &/or reading skills

Comments

• Need to train the program to recognise your speech
• Noise reducing microphones work best
• Requires good cognitive skills to remember commands & adapt speaking rate