Free Speech Therapy Apps for Aphasia
Updated: Oct 16, 2020
Over the past ten years, the use of speech therapy apps by speech-language pathologists and people with aphasia has increased significantly. There are now so many wonderful speech therapy apps available.
There are also many free in-built iPad apps and other mainstream apps that can be hugely of benefit too. We've compiled a list of some of our favourite free speech therapy apps for aphasia.
Photos
A picture can speak a thousand words, as the saying goes. So for people with aphasia, taking photos and showing them to others can be a wonderful way of communicating where they have been, what they have done, who they have seen etc.
The Photos app will automatically make albums of photos, sorted by date, location etc. Google Photos is another great option. It has even more features, including making photo collages, such as the one to the right.
Notes
In the Notes app, you can write text and use Predicative text. You can also write or draw on the whiteboard. You can email what your write/draw, send it as a message or post it on Facebook.
Messages
The Messages app on iPhone/iPad is ideal for practising writing functional messages. People with aphasia can send messages to friends and family which is usually very motivating.
The predictive text feature can be very helpful for those with more intact reading skills. If reading is impaired, Speak Selection can be used to read text aloud.
If writing/spelling is very difficult, sending an emoji can be a great way of expressing emotions and even making requests without writing any words.
Find more tips for supporting the communication of people with severe aphasia in our AAC in Aphasia blog post.