Memory Exercises vs SentenceShaper Speech Therapy

Memory Exercises app was designed to help improve and maintain short-term memory, attention, processing speed, and working memory of those adults who are either challenged due to the aging process or have been diagnosed with mild dementia, or suffered from a stroke and other related brain injuries. The app includes a variety of tasks that use auditory and visual processing of written and pictorial stimuli. These functional tasks such as, visual/auditory recall of written and picture-based information, delayed recall, and retrieval strategies are geared toward day to day activities. Also, the app has multiple levels for each task that can be used for challenging cognitive flexibility and mental agility of clients based on the literature available on evidence-based practice (e.g., Moro et al., 2012; Olchik et al., 2013) Memory Exercises app includes the following tasks: Visual recall of scenes Visual recall of objects Visual/auditory recall of written words and sentences Auditory recall of paragraphs Recall of personal information Recall of recent information Matching memory card game Memory Exercises app is easy to navigate and allows users to employ several tools to perform the following tasks: • Enter multiple clients • Change settings and use randomization • Adjust delay of stimuli and time of presentation • Select different types of background noise • Track correct and incorrect responses • E-mail and print results at the end of the session References: Moro, V., Condoleo, M.T., Sala, F., Pemigo, S., Moretto, G., & Gambina, G. (2012). Cognitive stimulation in MCI: An experimental study. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and other Dementias, 27, 2, 121-130. Olchik, M.R., Farina, J., Steibel, N., Teixeira, A.R. & Yassuda, M.S. (2013). Memory training (MT) in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) generates change in cognitive performance. Archives of Geriatrics and Gerontology and Geriatrics, 56, 3, 442-447.

SentenceShaper has been studied and used successfully for over a decade. Research studies* have shown that the program's unique support allows many people to record more grammatical and content-rich speech than they could produce on their own. These effects can be quite striking, and often lead to improvements in spontaneous speech. FOR LANGUAGE THERAPY: A set of built-in workbooks helps users practice sentence structures ranging from simple to complex. There are also workbooks to elicit speech on different topics such as family, likes and dislikes, memories, and advice. Or use the program to create speech on ANY topic of interest to the user. FOR SOCIAL CONNECTIVITY: SentenceShaper allows you to share your enhanced speech productions from within the program. Your speech and pictures are turned into videos that you share via email, messaging apps, Facebook, Instagram, or other options in the iOS Sharing Menu. SUMMARY OF FEATURES: -- Sentence-building tool, to create sentences from speech fragments -- Built-in workbooks -- Ability to insert your own personal photographs -- Sharing tool: turns your speech and photos into a video, and lets you share it from within the program -- Text area to add your own text, in any language -- Editing tool to create personalized materials -- Export/import feature to share treatment materials you create. WHO CAN USE IT? SentenceShaper was developed for people with non-fluent aphasia, but the rich support it provides for speech production may be helpful with fluent aphasia, children's language disorders, or even speech intelligibility disorders. The integration of text makes it an excellent tool for reading programs. *RESEARCH-BASED SentenceShaper was studied in over a decade of research funded by the National Institutes of Health and other organizations, with internationally recognized neuropsychologists. The idea behind the program: There is a lot of evidence that people with aphasia still know their language. Unfortunately, however, their language processing is slowed down – it takes them longer to think of words, and words vanish from memory before they can be combined into sentences. SentenceShaper can help you tap into these hidden language abilities. How? By letting you hold words and phrases in memory long enough to combine them into sentences. Once you record a word, you will not have to keep it in memory — just click its icon and it will be played back. And when you are creating sentences, you can play back the sentence in progress to make sure it is correct and to activate more words and phrases. While we recommend the guidance of a language therapy professional, SentenceShaper can be used on your own at home. SentenceShaper’s unique ability to help you create and share your own speech encourages practice, which is crucial to the recovery process.