For speech-language pathologists

In short

• This is practice material.
• It makes no claim of effect.
• It does not measure speech or language, and it does not screen for anything.
• It places nobody at a step. The person or the practice partner chooses the step and can change it at any time.
• Nothing leaves the device. There is no account.

This is practice material. It is not medical advice and it is not speech therapy. It does not replace a speech-language pathologist.

What it does

• It offers short sets of 4, 8 or 12 items, one item on the screen at a time.
• Each activity has three steps. A step describes the material, never the person.
• Some items offer two to four choices. For the others the person responds aloud or on paper and then selects Next. The tool does not know or ask what the response was.
• Cues are shown one at a time, and only when someone selects Show a cue.
• Read aloud is off until someone switches it on. It uses a voice installed on the device.
• A partner view shows, for each item, the words to say, the cues in order and the intended word. It is off until chosen.
• Any set prints in large type, with the partner sheet on a separate page.
• Nothing is timed. Stop for now is on every practice screen and ends the set at once, with no question asked.
• The tool never starts contact. It sends no reminder and no message.

The activities

A step describes the material. You can change it at any time.

Everyday phrases

You say, with your practice partner if you like, a phrase for an everyday situation: a phone call, a store counter, an appointment.

• Step 1: Short phrases of two to four words.
• Step 2: Short sentences for everyday situations.
• Step 3: Longer sentences that ask for or give details.

About this activity: Everyday phrases

Find the word

You read or hear a short description and give the word it describes.

• Step 1: Single everyday words. Short descriptions. Two choices.
• Step 2: Longer or less common everyday words. Three choices.
• Step 3: Words and names for less common things. An open answer, with cues.

About this activity: Find the word

Finish the sentence

You read or hear a sentence with its last word missing and give the word.

• Step 1: Short sentences that end in an everyday word. Two choices.
• Step 2: Longer sentences. Three choices.
• Step 3: Longer sentences with an open answer, with cues.

About this activity: Finish the sentence

Follow directions

You read or hear a direction and choose the words it names, in order. It can be done again as often as you like.

• Step 1: A direction with one part. Two tiles.
• Step 2: A direction with two parts. Three tiles.
• Step 3: A direction with three parts. Four tiles.

About this activity: Follow directions

Match

You see a word and choose the word that goes with it: its partner, its group or its meaning.

• Step 1: Everyday words that go together. Two choices.
• Step 2: A word and its group, or a word and its meaning. Three choices.
• Step 3: Words close in meaning. Four choices.

About this activity: Match

Read

You read a word, a phrase or a short text aloud. At step 3 you then choose the statement that matches the text.

• Step 1: Single everyday words and short phrases.
• Step 2: Short sentences.
• Step 3: Short texts, each with two statements to choose between.

About this activity: Read

How the items are written

• Topics come from adult life: home, family, food and cooking, money and bills, appointments, getting around, work and trades, weather, news, sport, gardening, faith and community, the telephone.
• No words from early childhood, no school tasks, no baby talk, no jokes at anyone's expense, no trick questions.
• Some topics are left out: death, disability as a theme, driving bans, incontinence, politics, and anything about the stroke or injury itself.
• Each item has one clearly intended word or response. Other words a partner can reasonably accept are listed with it, such as sofa and couch.
• Every choice is a real, everyday adult word. None is absurd. The intended word is in a varied position.
• Spelling, money, dates and everyday terms are those used in the United States.
• People in items have fictional first names only.
• No item asks about symptoms, names a medicine, or says what to do when unwell. Medicines appear only as general words such as tablet and pharmacy.
• At step 1 a prompt has at most 8 words. At step 2 it has at most 14. At step 3 a text has at most 60 words.
• No item contains praise or blame.
• Every item is original. Nothing is copied or adapted from another workbook, a clinical instrument or a published protocol.

The cues for each activity

The cues are listed in the order the tool offers them.

The last cue on every ladder gives the intended response.

A cue that needs three or more choices is left out for an item that has two.

The tool never shows a cue on its own, including after a choice other than the intended one.

Everyday phrases

1. The first word
2. The phrase in full
3. Say it together

Find the word

1. A sentence to finish
2. The first letter
3. The word with a letter missing
4. The word

Finish the sentence

1. What the word means
2. The first letter
3. Two words to choose between
4. The word

Follow directions

1. The direction again
2. One part at a time
3. The words to choose are outlined

Match

1. One choice is taken away
2. What the word means
3. The pair

Read

1. Read aloud slowly
2. One phrase at a time
3. Read it together

For the practice partner

When a choice other than the intended one is selected

That choice dims, takes a dashed border and stays readable. A screen reader announces it as set aside.

The other choices stay available, and Show a cue is offered.

Nothing else happens. There is no mark, no change of color, no sound and no word about the choice. Nothing is spoken.

When the intended choice is selected, the word is shown larger and Next is offered. If read aloud is switched on, the word is spoken. There is no mark and no other sound.

What is counted

• For each day, three whole numbers: items, items without a cue, and items with a cue.
• An item is counted when the person leaves it, by Next or by selecting the intended choice.
• An item counts as with a cue if any cue was shown for it.
• An item that is on the screen when Stop for now is selected is not counted.
• The list also shows the names of the activities practiced that day, and the number of days this week on which something was practiced.
• The list can be switched off. Then nothing is added to it.

This is a count of what was practiced. It does not measure speech or language.

What is never derived from the counts

• No percentage, average or total over time.
• No chart, arrow, trend or comparison between days or between people.
• No word about change, and no word about ability.
• No step. The counts never alter what the tool offers, and no step is attached to a person.
• No message about practicing more or less.

What is stored

Settings, last choices, the list of days and the items already shown are kept in the browser on the person's own device. Nothing is sent to us or to anyone else.

The person can see all of it, save a copy and erase it.

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