Article

Self-delivered speech therapy provides an opportunity for individualised dosage
as a complement to the speech-therapy regime in the long-term rehabilitation
pathway. Few apps for speech therapy have been subject to clinical trials,
especially on a self-delivered platform. In a crossover design study, the
Comprehensive Aphasia Test (CAT) and Cookie Theft Picture Description (CTPD) were
used to measure untrained improvement in a group of chronic expressive aphasic
patients after using a speech therapy app. A pilot study (n = 3) and crossover
design (n = 7) comparing the therapy app with a non-language mind-game were
conducted. Patients self-selected their training on the app, with a recommended
use of 20 minutes per day. There was significant post-therapy improvement on the
CAT and CTPD but no significant improvement after the mind-game intervention,
suggesting there were language-specific effects following use of the therapy app.
Improvements on the CTPD, a functional measurement of speech, suggest that a
therapy app can produce practical, important changes in speech. The improvements
post-therapy were not due to type of language category trained or amount of
training on the app, but an inverse relationship with severity at baseline and
post-therapy improvement was shown. This study suggests that self-delivered
therapy via an app is beneficial for chronic expressive aphasia.

Langue : ANGLAIS