Other App

Bitsboard

SLT Summary

App designed for creating therapy exercises

Create 'boards' of vocab to practise and incorporate these into spelling games (anagrams, missing letters, word search, cross words) or semantic exercises (odd one out, sorting exercises) or sequencing exercises.  Set up easy familiarisation activities for the user to familiarise themselves with the vocab items

The user can also record their speaking attempts

Suggested photos and voice recordings are provided but you can choose your own if you prefer

Aphasia Summary

App designed for SLTs to create personalised therapy exercises

Platforms
Price
Area Targeted
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

App for creating customised therapy exercises (spelling, semantics, sequencing)

Access
Record Results
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
Yes
Free trial
Yes

Inference Pics

SLT Summary

Exercises to encourage inference making from photos of real-life situations (places, events, feelings, situations etc.)

200 pictures are included in 7 exercise formats: what happened? Jobs, places, seasons, feelings, conversations & thoughts.  For each photo, the user is asked to make an inference about the picture (the user can request 3 multiple choice options if they are struggling to make the inference). They are then asked 'How do you know?' (no prompts are given for this part of the exercise).

Could be used to ellicit spoken or written responses

Could be useful when working with people with TBI or as conversation topics

Results are not stored in-app but can be emailed each time an exercise is completed. 

Results are reliant on the user correctly self-rating whether they were correct or not (if they are using the app independently)

 

 

 

Aphasia Summary

Explain what is happening in a photo and why (inferences)

Platforms
Price
Area Targeted
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Explain what is happening in a photo and why (inferences)

Access
Record Results
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
Yes

TouchChat HD

SLT Summary

7 vocabulary sets are provided:

4 Basic: 4 cell basic vocabulary set

Communication Journey Aphasia: 12 cell  vocabulary set with adult & aphasia orientated vocab

MyCore: 108 cell categorised word bank for those with some literacy & good cognition & semantics

Spelling: 40 cell QWERTY keyboard with word prediction & phrase bank

VocabPC: 12 cell vocab set with activity vocab, category based vocab, carrier phrases

Multichat:15 cell vocab set in 3 versions: adult, adolescent, student. Contains activity vocab, category based vocab, questions & keyboard with word prediction

My Quickchat: 4, 8 & 12 cell layouts designed for AAC users. Adult & child versions available for each layout

3 versions available: Lite, full & full version with WordPower. Lite version doesn't speak & personalised pictures cannot be added - it's for evaluation purposes & couldn't really be used as a communication support

Other features:

Can be personalised with user's vocab & phrases. Pre-progammed vocab is American (e.g. purse for handbag)

User's photos can be used in place of symbols

Can use recorded or synthesised speech.  UK voices can be downloaded

Easy & intuitive to program

Word prediction on the keyboard is not the best available

Aphasia Summary

Use your own photos and vocabulary. Click on a picture/word to speak out your message

Keyboard with word prediction to support spelling

Easy to program

 

Platforms
Language
Price
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Site Icon
icon Summary

An AAC app with vocabulary specifically for people with aphasia & keyboard with word prediction

Click on a symbol/photo to  speak out your message

Use your own photos, phrases & voice recordings

Access
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
Yes
Free trial
No

Say it: English Pronunciation

SLT Summary

Name of app

Say it: Pronunciation from Oxford

 

Type of exercises & brief description

 

  • Type a word and the app will pronounce it with a human voice
  •  Record your own spoken attempt and compare with the model using audio visual touchscreen analysis
  • Score your attempt according to how you think you did
  • Save your scored words into a personalised word list
  • 2 modes: ‘Look up a word’ to practise specific words or ‘Test mode’ (Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced/Random)
  • Bank of 30,000 British English words to practise in purchased app

 

Error handling

None

Prompts/cues

None

 

Record results

No but speech attempts can be emailed to your speech & language therapist

Developer

Oxford University Press & Phona limited

Supplier

App store

Comments/N.B

·      This is an EFL app designed for foreigners to improve their pronunciation of English

·      Requires good spelling to find the words (or a word list could be provided by a therapist for the user to copy)

·      Using the ‘Look up a word’ mode, the user could practise specific words they wish to practise

 

 

Aphasia Summary

Practise speaking words

Type a word and the app will pronounce it

Record your own speech, compare it & send results to your speech therapist

Score your speech according to how you think you did

Look up a word to practise or use the ‘Test mode’ 

Language
Price
Area Targeted
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Practise speaking words and comparing to a model. Rate your own attempts

Access
Record Results
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
Yes

CommunicAide

SLT Summary

Adult appropriate, photo based AAC app. Easy to edit and add own vocabulary. Favourites & history links so the user can readily find a message they recently constructed.

Immediate access to Yes/No messages and to a body chart with a pain scale.

When an item is selected, it moves into the message window where it appears only as text.  For someone with no reading this could be frustrating and difficult to use.

 

Aphasia Summary

AAC app for speaking out words and phrases by pressing on photos

Platforms
Price
Area Targeted
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Site Icon
icon Summary

AAC app for speaking out words and phrases. Photo based.

Access
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
Yes

Main Street Memory

SLT Summary

3 high street scenarios are offered (sweet shop, pizza restaurant & a jewellery shop) where the user must order what they are told to via the auditory instruction

Up to 5 levels with increasing number of items & modifiers and also temporal directions. Includes an option to include background noise & adjust the volume of the environmental noise

Designed for children and very American voice . The reward activities can be turned off. However it may be useful for users wishing to work on listening tasks with added levels of distraction

Error handling: none

Prompts/cues: none

Record results: results can be accessed within the app by activity or by date

Aphasia Summary

Listen to  instructions in a sweet shop, jewellers or pizza restaurant

Platforms
Language
Price
Area Targeted
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Exercises for following auditory instructions within real-life scenarios

Access
Record Results
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
No

Memory Exercises

SLT Summary

Exercises for working on short-term memory, working memory, attention and processing.  There is an added function of adding in background noise

 

Exercises have 2-3 levels of difficulty with 240 exercises in total

 

·       Recall of visual scenes: 2-6 questions about what the scene depicted. The user must provide a verbal response & decide whether or not it was correct

·       Recall of visual objects: the user must provide a verbal response about the 5 objects seen or the items missing & decide whether or not their attempt was correct

·       Visual/auditory recall of written/spoken words & sentences: read or listen to words/sentences and select from written selection or verbalise the items & decide whether or not it was correct

·       Recall of personal information: verbalise answers to spoken questions or repeat lengthy sentences back & decide whether or not it was correct

·       Recall of recent information: very lengthy auditory information is presented for the user to then verbally respond to questions relating to the information

If using independently, the user must monitor whether their spoken attempts were correct. There is no facility to record own spoken attempts.  There are only a few exercises where the answers are selected from written options

Error handling: none

Prompts/cues: none

Record results: Results are recorded by exercise or by date within the app and can be emailed

Comments:  The results recorded are reliant on the user self monitoring and knowing whether they named the item correctly or not. There is no facility for recording speech attempts and the app itself does not determine level of accuracy. This app would therefore not be appropriate for independent use by someone with poor self monitoring

Aphasia Summary

Exercises for working on short-term memory, attention, processing and working memory

The user speaks their answers for most of the exercises and judges whether or not their spoken response was correct

Platforms
Language
Price
Area Targeted
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Exercises for working on short-term memory, attention, processing and working memory using spoken responses

Access
Record Results
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
No

Verbal Reasoning

SLT Summary

Exercises to practise speaking at a sentence or conversation level.  The topics are all around problem solving situations

50 problem solving scenarios where the user must identify the problem, cause and solution in the photo.  The user can record their spoken responses and/r  they can choose from a selection of 3 written choices 

16 exercises providing written scenarios or questions to which the user must respond with a spoken response which can be recorded

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues: the written scenario is also spoken aloud, on the multiple choice exercises, 3 options are provided to choose from

Record results: spoken attempts can be recorded. On the multiple choice exercises, results are recorded. On the exercises where the user is invited to provide spoken responses, the user must judge for themselves whether their response was correct however the fact they attempted the exercise is logged in the reports section of the app so they can look back at previous exercises completed. It is also possible to organise results by date. Results can be sent by email

Comments: after successful completion of tasks, the user is given a jigsaw to solve as a reward.  This option can be disabled

By turning off the audio, the  exercises could be used as  reading exercises

Aphasia Summary

Exercises for practise speaking at a sentence or conversation level

Exercises to work on problem solving

Platforms
Language
Price
Area Targeted
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Exercises for practise speaking at a sentence or conversation level

Exercises to work on problem solving

Access
Record Results
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
No

A+ spelling test

SLT Summary

Personalised word lists for spelling practise

Create your own, personalised spelling lists & record the associated spoken word

2 functions:

Spell to dictation

Unscramble anagrams (spoken word also provided)

Results are recorded & errors are highlighted. Can select to correct errors at the end of each exercise

Results can be emailed

No prompts or cues

 

Aphasia Summary

Practise spelling your own, personalised word lists

Platforms
Price
Area Targeted
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Practise spelling your own, personalised word lists

Access
Record Results
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
Yes
Free trial
Yes

AlphaTopics - AAC

SLT Summary

Cueing app

Keyboard and topics list to help cue a conversation partner into speech by providing context through topic area and/or initial letter(s)

24 topic areas 

Numbers & keyboard (ABC/frequency layouts)

Laugh button to express pleasure, "huh?" button to express surprise/confusion

No message window so user cannot build a message, they are simply using the keyboard and topics to cue someone into their speech

 

Supplier: Tactus

 

Aphasia Summary

Keyboard and topics list to cue conversation partner into topic of conversation 24 topic areas

Evaluation
Price
Type of Software
Easy to use independently
Number of exercises
Site Icon
icon Summary

Cueing app

Keyboard and topics list to help cue a conversation partner into context of spoken conversation

Access
Prompts/cues given
No
Theory Based
No
Can author/customise
No
Free trial
No