Speech & language therapy software

Rudy's Story
I think I could do this at home

Rudy* was constantly fuming with frustration.   A relatively young man for a stroke, he had a home business to run.  His wife was serving as his translator as best she could, but even she could only guess at his meaning when he wildly pointed around the room and shouted out dangling phrases:   "You need to check on..."  and then "oh, dammit, just forget about it."  "Yes" often came out "no," and vice versa.  He couldn't retrieve names of common household items, let alone business accounts and contacts.  Five minutes into each therapy session, he would just shut down in exasperation.  He knew that his insurance would only pay for 10 treatment sessions, and he wasn't going to regain sufficient language skills in that time to get back to work.  His wife was overwhelmed, trying to pick up the pieces, while at the same time constantly supervising Rudy.  He was  paralyzed on his left side, and had taken several falls at home, trying to get to things he couldn't ask for by name.

During a typically frustrating session, his therapist suggested trying some computer activities.  She hoped he could learn to do them independently, so that he could be working on his speech while his wife attended to the business.  With any luck, it might solve two problems: it would provide therapy beyond the 10 allotted sessions, and hopefully keep Rudy safely seated in his wheelchair.   Rudy resisted at first:  "I hate those things."  But he agreed to try.  He started out with Aphasia Tutor 1, and quickly learned to use the keyboard to choose answers in a picture-word matching task.  He was delighted by his independence with the program. He then tried Sights and Sounds, and again quickly learned to use the program himself.  

He began naming pictures, and delighted in hearing himself pronounce words correctly.  When his first try wasn't perfect, he would practice over and over until he could get it right.  Suddenly, he turned to the therapist, beaming, and said, "I think I could do this at home."  His wife was trained in how to adjust different options of the software, to gradually increase the challenge.  For example, in Sights and Sounds, Rudy found it pretty easy to read printed words out loud, but needed  to progress to naming the picture without the word displayed below.  At the last session, Rudy's wife was excitedly planning to take pictures of all their business contacts and projects to make custom drills for Rudy...

* not his real name 

For more information about the programs that Rudy used (and a free trial), click here.

Norm's Story (from the Stroke Connection)

"He's never going to leave, he's going to need institutional care for the rest of his life."

Jayne Quigley remembers exactly what the doctor told her after her husband's second stroke--and her reaction. "That made me so mad. I told him that's not what I need to hear: that my husband is going to live out his life in an institution." Norm had made an amazing recovery from his first stroke in 1988, and along the way Jayne had learned her most important lesson--to never give up hope.  Norm's second "bleed" was the size of a quarter and was much more serious.  He received speech therapy in the hospital for two weeks and then was sent home.   Eventually, the speech-therapy sessions ended, but Norm's recovery was not complete...

Norm's insurance-covered speech-therapy (10 sessions) had expired.  The family couldn't afford to pay for additional therapy.   Luckily, Norm's speech-therapist provided some free demo disks of Bungalow Software's speech-therapy programs. 

The software was perfect for Norm.  The Quigley's live far out of town and Norm can't drive, making it difficult to get to therapy.  In addition, insurance had long since run out, so the cost of a speech therapy professional was an issue.  According to Jayne", The therapy program was just what Norm needed to give him some new goals".  Norm uses the programs regularly with good results.

For more information about the programs the Quigleys used (and a free trial), click here.

Would you like more speech therapy?

I'm sorry, but you've reached a plateau

How many caregivers and survivors have heard this?
Speech therapists  want to give patients all the therapy they need, but...

A therapy-plateau requires drill practice to get past the it.  Insurance companies want to see results, and that means quantifiable improvement each week.  Sometimes what a survivor needs is weeks of extended practice at the same level (the definition of a plateau).  

Insurance companies won't pay for "drill work"  because, it does not require the skills of a licensed therapist.  So the therapist is obligated to discontinue therapy.  And some types of insurance arbitrarily limit the number of sessions of therapy they will pay for.  The  survivor needs "drill work", but insurance won't pay for it.  The family can't afford $150 an hour for drill work. 

There is a solution...
Computer-assisted speech therapy can help you get past the therapy plateau so you can get more therapy.  It can also help

Aphasia software

Free trial

How it can help