4 Fun Aphasia treatment activities for adults

The best speech therapy games (for adults and teens) online, offline, and apps, especially useful for stroke survivors with aphasia.

1. Family Feud

Remember this classic TV game, originally with Richard Dawson?

And the Research says...

This is similar to a therapy approach called Generative Naming, where the goal is to generate as many words in a category, such as What are thing you use for camping?   (tent, flashlight, sleeping bag). There is a fair amount of research suggesting that generative naming helps the patient to generalize better.

Where to play:

• Buy the home game on Amazon (or Walmart, etc.)
• Play it online or
•  "watch and play along"  on YouTube and pause the video after the question.

 The only way I can think to handicap this is to give the survivor more time.

 

2. Scrabble

There are lots of great ways you can use a Scrabble game.

Where to play:

• You can get this at Walmart, if you're one of the 7 families that don't already have it.  
• You can play Words with Friends online in Facebook. (I've never played but have friends who do)
• Word with Friends is another social scrabble game on the computer.
• Wordfeud for ipad or Android 

 

How to make scrabble "fair" for the stroke/TBI survivor:

1. Survivor chooses new tiles at the end of their turn (so they get to look at them during everyone else's turn.
2. Everyone else picks their tiles at the start of their next turn and are given limited time (maybe 1 minute, etc.)
3. Survivor gets extra tiles.
   But, they still earn a BINGO if they use up 8 tiles (the standard maximum number of tiles a player has). (Or you could say no one is eligible for a BINGO)
   
   
   1. Start off with giving them 3 extra tiles.
      If they win two games in a row, you could reduce the number of extra tiles.
   2. Every game they lose, add one extra tile. So if they get 8+3=11 tiles in their first game and lose, they'd start with 12. If they lose again, they'd get 13. If they won twice, they'd go back to 12.
4. Let the survivor use a dictionary. No one else gets to use one.

 

3.  Wheel Of Fortune

Can you solve this puzzle (see right) ?

It's a TV show. It's a game! It's Both! Players compete to guess the mystery phrase. 
You can :

• Play it online (or in an app on the iPad or Android)
• Play the board game

 

4. Pictionary + Charades

This is for high-functioning survivors.

The goal is to convey a word or phrase without speaking or writing it. You could play this as a combination of Pictionary (where you draw the clues) and Charades (where you act out the clues), and  let the survivor use whatever method they want to communicate. They could:

• Draw a picture
• Pantomime
• Act it out

 However, take great care that the survivor isn't embarrassed or "put on the spot".

1. Written instructions and printable word lists
   or watch this How-To video
   
   
2. Free online charades on any device, or get the  free app for ipad/iphone (with pictures)  or Android device
3. Printable word-lists by category

Caution:

Pay attention to how the survivor is feeling (how they react) while they play.  In a group setting like this they may  feel very vulnerable or embarrassed.  Make sure the group is accommodating the survivor. Also, you may find the survivor prefers only Guessing or Presenting.

Read how to make charades fair for the survivor

How to level the playing field for the survivor

The game will probably work better if you give the survivor an advantage in Charades or Pictionary.

When the survivor is guessing:

• Let them write their guess(s) down
• Limit everyone else to one guess for each one the patient makes.
• Give them a head start (30 seconds or so) before anyone else can guess.
• Let the survivor guess first.  Everyone else waits until the survivor gets their first guess.
• Give them an extra minute at the end, after everyone else stops guessing.
• Show (only them) the first letter of the the target word and the number of letters in the word.
• Show (only them) the category or properties of the target word. (If the target is tree, you might show them "has leaves, part of a forest". You could even have several clues like this that you slowly give out (only to the patient) during the guessing. These are the types of clues (hints) you'll see our speech therapy software. So, in normal Pictionary the guessers know the category ( movie, etc.).  If handicapping, only the survivor would know the category.

 

When the survivor is presenting:

• Let them use any communication modality they like (other than saying the word!). So they could speak a clue like "I want to climb up a ___" (for tree). 
• Give them extra time.

 

Have you played these or other games have you played for speech & language?
Chime in below and let me know!

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5. How to do Melodic Intonation Therapy with YouTube
6. How to make your own communication board
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8. Aphasia simulator