Comprehension is a very important skill that so many of our patients struggle with. Virtual Speech Center, Inc. created an app called, Comprehension Aphasia to target that skill. This app was created by a speech language pathologist and is intended to be used with both children and adults that exhibit Aphasia, cognitive deficits, Central Auditory Processing Disorder, receptive language disorders, and/or Autism.
Disclaimer: Virtual Speech Center did provide me with a copy of this app, however, the opinions expressed are mine.
To get started, choose START on the main page. You then will be prompted to add or choose an existing student. From there, you can choose what type of activities and questions you want to be presented during the session. You can choose from a variety of tasks involving yes/no questions and following directions.
This app includes more than 1,700 pre-recorded audio instructions in these goal areas:
- Yes/No Questions (6 levels of difficulty)
- Basic Directions with 1 Element (12 levels of difficulty) *elements are: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and function of objects
- Basic Directions with 2 Elements (12 levels of difficulty) *elements are: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and function of objects
- Temporal Directions (18 levels of difficulty) *uses terms before and after
- Conditional Directions (9 levels of difficulty)
This is an example of a a yes/no question that targets verbs.
"Is the baby sleeping?"
You also have the option of answering yes/no questions without the picture cues.
The screen shot above is a sample question from the following conditional directions- nouns category.
"If we should drink water everyday, touch the corn. If not, tap the hose."
This app also includes a report section that keeps tract of student data and progress.
I like that this app includes so many different activity choices and different levels. One thing that this app includes that most do not is background noise. This is great for working on a student's ability to focus on a task and ignore distractions. I also love an app that includes a recording option. The only thing that I would change with this app is the ability to mix the questions up a bit. If you choose more than one category, the app runs through 30 questions before switching the question type. Other than that, this is a great app to use when targeting comprehension goals.
