Building Functional Communication at Home with Kinephonics
Individual
Overview
- Client: Mr A (Male, 75 years old)
- Location: Home-based intervention
- User Type: Speech-Language Pathologist & Adult Client (Apraxia of Speech and Aphasia)
- Timeframe: Ongoing, (1-2 sessions per week) with observable progress across sessions
The client, a 75-year-old male with apraxia of speech and aphasia, has reduced intelligibility in daily communication, both in person and during phone calls. Clinicians used the Kinephonics® Platform as an aid with traditional speech pathology intervention to optimise client engagement, provide biofeedback (audio, visual, tactile) and monitor client progress.
Impact
Carer (daughter) has reported improvements in intelligibility during face-to-face conversation and over the phone. She has also noted improvements in his comprehension in conversation.
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Goals
- Improve intelligibility in conversation, especially with familiar communication partners
- Use functional phrases to self-advocate and request
- Implement and generalise multi-modal communication strategies into everyday contexts.
- Improve breath support for communication
Solution
The client worked with speech-language pathologists (SLP) at home using the Kinephonics® Platform as an aid. Traditional speech therapy for apraxia often involves the use of a mirror and audio feedback (biofeedback loop). The Kinephonics® Platform digitalises this feedback through the mirror, K button and text box. It also serves as a digital record of the client’s progress, which can be viewed by his speech pathologists and carer.
Key features used
- Entrainment tool The client can type target phrases, listen back to his writing using the K button and practice his speech using the mirror.
- Content library Included therapy tasks such as functional phrases and 2–3 syllable non-words tailored to the client’s goals.
- Personalised content Custom tasks have been created to support independent home practice (e.g. diaphragmatic breathing with visual cues and instructions).
- Review space The client recorded and reviewed their productions, building insight and encouraging self-evaluation.
- Village The client’s family is actively involved in his care and has the opportunity to view progress using the review space.
Results
- Produced 3 word functional phrases with 100% intelligibility (e.g. “I choose sushi,” “I like beer”) with clinician support.
- Improved prosody (rhythm of speech)
- Improved speech accuracy for both non words and real words.
- Family members reported clearer speech on phone calls and improved comprehension in conversation.
Outputs
Insights & Learnings
- Kinephonics® supported practice with immediate feedback and structured progression, facilitated by a speech pathologist.
- The Review Space helped build awareness and insight, with positive impacts on speech accuracy and intelligibility.
- As the client’s skills become more generalised in everyday contexts, clinicians can record instructions of how to complete certain tasks (e.g. demonstrations of diaphragmatic breathing). This promotes home practice and ensures agency for the client.
- The Kinephonics platform provides a digital record of the client’s progress through video and allows the client’s family to view his progress in their own time.
- The platform tracks a client’s body movement and the readability score of the content in the text box. This provides additional insight and metrics into how the client develops over time and across different session goals and outcomes.
Waiting for a speech therapist?
Start practicing now & share your data with your therapist
Getting access to a speech pathologist can take weeks or even months. Kinephonics can help bridging that gap.
With therapist-approved tools and built-in tracking, the platform helps individuals begin learning straight away. And when your appointment arrives, your speech pathologist will have detailed reports and insights to hit the ground running.
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