Understanding spoken words

Program: Aphasia therapy online

Type of exercises:

• listening (auditory/word matching, auditory/picture matching, spell a spoken word, auditory letter discrimination)
• reading (single words & short phrases, matching upper/lower case letters, answering simple, written Y/N questions, auditory letter discrimination)
• spelling (picture naming & spelling spoken words)
• written picture naming, spoken picture naming

Access: keyboard & mouse

Developed with SLT: yes

Theory based: no

Record own speaking attempts: no

Correction of own speaking attempts: no

Number of exercises: several levels and 40-50 items per exercise

Easy to use? yes

Customisation/personalisation: no

Error handling: only 1 error is allowed before answer is given, to prevent errorful learning 

Prompts/cues given: initial letter/semantic cue, can limit word length

Record results: no

Tutorials: no

Free trial: program is free

Support: from the SLT who developed it

Comments: user must make own judgement of whether spoken naming was correct. No spoken models are provided to make this judgment

Languages: In addition to English, this resource is available in both European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese - either the therapy tasks or the entire website as preferred.

60 tasks with a functional bias to work on:

• Auditory comprehension (sounds/words/paragraphs/rhyming/auditory instructions)
• Speech (word repetition, picture naming, reading aloud)
• Semantics (written & spoken)
• Spelling (picture naming, copying, anagrams, auditory naming)
• Reading (picture-word matching, reading comprehension, written lexical decision making)
• Attention
• Visual processing
• Time telling
• Map reading
• Cognitive function
• Problem solving
• Planning
• Reading & understanding numbers

There are 2 versions of the therapy app - a client version & a clinician version.  The clinician version is free. The client version requires a yearly subscription.

Supplier: Constant

4 bundle app containing Comprehension Therapy, Naming Therapy, Writing Therapy & Reading Therapy for people who want to work on all 4 areas of language

Look at each app's details individually for more information on what each one contains

Auditory comprehension exercises including auditory word-picture matching, listening to & following basic directions, temporal directions and conditional directions.

There are up to 9 levels of difficulty & 1700 items

Results can be recorded and emailed. A score is given at the end of each exercise & a record of exercises attempted is also recorded within the app but scores are not saved in these reports.

User can record their speech although this is an app to work on auditory comprehension rather than speech.

Ability to turn on background noise & set for multiple users.

Spoken word to picture matching. Written word is also presented.

Click Yes or No to say if the word matches the picture.

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?: Yes but can be confusing because sometimes when you click on 'No', the computer says 'Yes' as the reward for a correct response.

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
• 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
 

Supplier: http://www.parrotsoftware.com 

Type of exercises & brief description             

• Minimal pairs for speech sound discrimination in flashcard format
• Discrimination and phrase completion tasks
• Targets 20 speech sounds in initial position (700 target words)
• Option to present symbol, word or word & symbol

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues: None

Record results: Yes, but can’t consult previous results

Comments/N.B

• Words always presented in same order
• Can email results at the end of each exercise set

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 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

Type of exercises & brief description             

• Practising conversations
• e.g.
•     turn-taking
•     listening to conversation partner
•     staying on topic
•     communication aid use
• The ipad starts a topic of conversation and you can practise your responses by replying, commenting, asking questions.

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues:

• Written phrases or pictures
• Spoken words or phrases
• The ipad prompts when it is your turn to respond

Comments/N.B

• Can customise conversation topics and content
• Would need someone to customise the topics and vocabulary to be most useful for someone with aphasia

Type of exercises & brief description    

• Auditory memory and basic sequencing with adjectives.
• Can also be used for reading comprehension of adjectives and position.
• A verbal and/or written description is given (e.g. the red one is bigger than the green one), user must select the corresponding picture from a choice of 12.
• 60 items in total

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues: None

Comments/N.B

• American accent