Digital tools in speech therapy: how the tablet enriches your rehabilitation sessions
📑 Summary
- Why digital technology is revolutionizing speech therapy
- 5 concrete advantages of the tablet in speech therapy sessions
- Which language functions to work on with a tablet?
- Relevant pathologies: from children to seniors
- How to integrate digital tools step by step
- The 5 mistakes to avoid with digital technology in speech therapy
- Case studies: 3 profiles, 3 concrete results
- Focus: MY DICTIONARY, the alternative communication tool
- Telecare and home exercises
- How to choose the right digital tool?
Speech therapy is undergoing a profound transformation. As language, speech, and communication disorders affect an increasing number of patients — from children struggling in school to adults with post-Stroke aphasia, and seniors with neurodegenerative diseases — speech therapists are seeking tools capable of extending the impact of their sessions beyond the office.
The digital tablet meets this need. It offers a motivating support for the patient, exercises adaptable to each profile, and above all objective tracking data to measure progress. But how to integrate it effectively into your practice? Which language functions to target? And what pitfalls to avoid?
This comprehensive guide will assist you, step by step, to enrich your speech therapy practice with digital tools tailored to your entire patient base.
1. Why digital technology is revolutionizing speech therapy
The speech therapist traditionally has a rich therapeutic arsenal: picture books, card games, phonological lotteries, written materials, manipulation tools. This material remains essential. However, it has limitations that digital technology can significantly address.
The first limitation: the repetition necessary for consolidation. Language rehabilitation requires daily practice that weekly sessions alone cannot provide. The patient needs to train between appointments, but paper exercises often lack feedback and motivation. The tablet transforms this repetition into a playful activity, with immediate feedback on each response.
The second limitation: the objective tracking of progress. It is difficult to precisely quantify improvements in verbal fluency or naming time with traditional materials. Digital tools record each performance, allowing for rigorous longitudinal comparisons. This data is valuable for assessments and reports to prescribing doctors.
The third limitation: the fine adaptation to the patient's level. The same paper support is used identically for patients at very different levels. The tablet automatically adjusts the difficulty, the number of distractors, the response time, and the complexity of the stimuli. Each patient works at their optimal level, without being set up for failure or under-stimulated.
💡 Did you know? A meta-analysis published in the International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders shows that technology-assisted speech therapy interventions produce effects comparable to traditional therapies on naming and comprehension, with the advantage of better adherence at home. The key factor identified is the regularity of practice, which digital tools promote through their motivating aspect.
2. The 5 concrete advantages of the tablet in speech therapy sessions
- Patient motivation and engagement. The playful aspect of the tablet transforms repetition exercises into games. Dyslexic children, often facing academic failure, rediscover the pleasure of manipulating language. Aphasic patients, confronted with the daily frustration of not finding their words, are more willing to repeat exercises when the medium is appealing and the feedback encouraging.
- Sensory multimodality. The tablet combines visual, auditory, and tactile stimulation in a single exercise. A naming game can present the image, play the target word in audio, and ask the patient to touch the correct answer. This multimodality reinforces encoding and promotes retention, a fundamental principle in language rehabilitation.
- Objective and measurable data. Naming time, reading success rate, number of phonological errors: each performance is recorded. You can track the progress curve over weeks or months, identify plateaus, and adjust your therapeutic strategy based on concrete data rather than clinical impressions.
- Therapeutic continuity between clinic and home. Speech therapy requires regular practice. By prescribing daily tablet exercises (10-15 minutes), you maintain stimulation between sessions. The monitoring platform allows you to check adherence and adjust the program remotely, without waiting for the next appointment.
- Diversity of resources in a single tool. The same software covers phonology, vocabulary, syntax, oral comprehension, reading, and writing. You switch from one exercise to another with a few taps, without changing materials. This fluidity optimizes session time and allows for working on multiple language components in a single session.
3. Which language functions to work on with the tablet?
Digital tools in speech therapy are not limited to simple naming of images. They cover all components of oral and written language, with specific exercises for each function.
Oral language: phonology and articulation
Auditory discrimination, phonological awareness, and sound manipulation exercises allow for working on the audio-phonatory loop. The patient listens to a sound, identifies the target phoneme among distractors, and validates their response. Immediate feedback corrects errors in real time. For children in the acquisition phase, these exercises reinforce essential pre-reading skills.
Vocabulary and naming
Access to vocabulary is one of the most frequently impaired functions, whether in developmental disorders in children or in adult aphasia. Categorization games, semantic association, naming from description, and timed verbal fluency offer intensive and scalable training. The tablet allows for varying semantic fields, gradually increasing the number of distractors, and measuring access time to the word with precision.
Oral and written comprehension
Exercises for understanding instructions, matching sentences to images, and answering questions on short texts train comprehension at different levels of complexity. Difficulty progresses from isolated words to complex sentences, then to short texts. This fine progression is difficult to calibrate manually but natural on a tablet.
Written language: reading and spelling
Word recognition games, flash reading, spelling completion, and visual dictation stimulate reading and writing pathways. For dyslexic children, these exercises allow for specifically working on deficient pathways (blending or addressing) with sufficient repetition to automate procedures.
Executive functions and prerequisites for language
Language relies on transversal functions: auditory attention, working memory, mental flexibility, inhibition. Many speech therapy patients present associated executive deficits that hinder pure language rehabilitation. Cognitive games on the tablet allow for working on these prerequisites in addition to linguistic exercises.
🎯 Key functions to target in speech therapy
- Phonological awareness and auditory discrimination
- Access to the lexicon and naming
- Oral comprehension (word, sentence, text)
- Reading: assembly route and addressing route
- Spelling and written production
- Verbal fluency (semantic and phonemic)
- Verbal working memory and span
- Functional and pragmatic communication
4. Relevant pathologies: from child to senior
Speech therapy covers a very wide spectrum of pathologies and populations. Digital tools on tablets adapt to this diversity thanks to the modularity of exercises and levels of difficulty.
| Population | Pathologies | Targeted functions | Recommended application |
|---|---|---|---|
| Children 5-10 years | Dyslexia, dysorthographia, language delay, articulation disorder, stuttering | Phonology, reading, lexicon, phonological awareness | COCO |
| Adults | Post-Stroke aphasia, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, brain tumor | Naming, comprehension, fluency, reading | CLINT + MY DICTIONARY |
| Seniors | Alzheimer's disease, related dementias, presbycusis, communication isolation | Lexicon, evocation, functional communication | SCARLETT + MY DICTIONARY |
The major interest is transversality. A semantic categorization exercise serves both a 7-year-old child with a language delay and a 60-year-old aphasic patient in the recovery phase. Only the parameters change: vocabulary complexity, response time, number of distractors, visual support.
This versatility is a considerable economic asset. Instead of investing in specific equipment for each pathology, a single subscription covers your entire patient base. And each new patient immediately benefits from the tool, without additional purchase.
5. How to integrate digital tools step by step
The integration of the tablet into your speech therapy practice does not happen overnight. It follows a progressive logic that guarantees therapeutic effectiveness and patient adherence.
Step 1: Assess the needs of each patient
Not all your patients will benefit from digital tools in the same way. Identify those who lack practice between sessions, those whose motivation is fragile, and those for whom you need objective data on progress. These are your priority candidates.
Step 2: Select relevant exercises
Do not offer the entire catalog of exercises to the patient. Choose 3 to 5 targeted activities that exactly match your therapeutic goals. A dyslexic child will work on phonological awareness and flash reading exercises. An aphasic patient will focus on naming and understanding sentences.
Step 3: Introduce in supervised sessions
Dedicate the last 10-15 minutes of 2 to 3 consecutive sessions to the use of the tablet in your presence. Observe the patient's reactions, calibrate the levels of difficulty, and explain the operation to the accompanying person if necessary. This appropriation phase is essential to ensure correct use at home.
Step 4: Prescribe home training
Prescribe a short and targeted program: 10 to 15 minutes per day, 5 days a week. Explain to the patient and their family that regularity is more important than duration. Show them how to access the exercises and how to interpret the feedback. Provide simple written instructions if necessary.
Step 5: Monitor and adjust remotely
Check your patient's statistics before each session. Identify well-performed exercises (to complicate), exercises that are difficult (to adapt), and overall adherence. Adjust the program between sessions via the platform, without waiting for the next appointment. Integrate this data into your renewal assessments.
"Since I started using the tablet with my dyslexic patients, I see the difference in less than a month. The key is the 10 minutes a day at home. Before, no one did the paper exercises I prescribed. Now, the children ask for more."
6. The 5 errors to avoid with digital tools in speech therapy
The integration of digital tools is a great opportunity, but some common mistakes can limit their effectiveness or even harm the treatment. Here are the traps to be aware of.
Giving the tablet to the patient in the waiting room or at the end of the session "to keep them occupied" without a specific therapeutic goal. The patient plays random exercises, with no connection to the rehabilitation plan.
Each prescribed exercise must correspond to a therapeutic goal identified in your assessment. Select activities as you would select physical materials: with intention and precision. The tablet is a therapeutic tool, not a toy.
Many applications focus on written language (reading, spelling) because it is easier to evaluate digitally. In speech therapy, oral language is often the primary target.
Choose tools that integrate exercises for oral naming, verbal fluency, listening comprehension, and auditory discrimination. Complement with oral production materials during sessions (the tablet cannot assess articulatory quality). The ideal tool works on both aspects.
Out of enthusiasm, prescribing 8 to 10 different exercises per day. The patient or their family feels overwhelmed, session time increases, and abandonment occurs within a few weeks.
Prescribe a maximum of 3 to 4 exercises per session, for a total of 10 to 15 minutes. Renew the program every 2 to 3 weeks to maintain motivation without overloading. Short daily regularity is more effective than an occasional long session.
Not training the parent, partner, or caregiver in the use of the tool. Result: the patient is alone with the tablet, without encouragement or technical help in case of difficulty.
Systematically train the main caregiver. Show them how to start the exercises, how to interpret feedback, and what role to play during the session (encouraging without giving away answers). The caregiver is your therapeutic relay between sessions.
Seeing the tablet as a replacement for physical materials, or on the contrary, rejecting it by principle in the name of tradition. Both extreme positions harm the quality of care.
Think "complementarity". The tablet excels in motivating repetition, objective tracking, and continuity at home. Physical materials excel in concrete manipulation, direct interaction, and oral production work. Combine both for optimal care.
7. Case studies: 3 profiles, 3 concrete results
How does digital technology integrate into the speech therapy care pathway? Here are three concrete situations encountered by speech therapists using DYNSEO tools.
Context: Théo has been followed since 1st grade for mixed dyslexia (affecting assembly and addressing pathways) associated with severe dysorthographia. He is in 2nd grade and the gap with his peers is widening. Despite two sessions per week, progress in reading is slow. Théo is starting to develop performance anxiety regarding writing.
Digital protocol: The speech therapist introduces COCO with a targeted program: phonological awareness exercises (manipulation of syllables, identification of rhymes), flash reading of common words (addressing pathway), and semantic categorization games to strengthen spelling vocabulary. In sessions, the tablet is used for 10 minutes for flash reading exercises. At home, parents supervise 10 minutes a day of phonological exercises and reading.
Result after 10 weeks: Théo approaches the exercises with a smile — the "game" format has defused performance anxiety. He spontaneously asks to "play reading" in the evening. Parents report that he accepts reading signs in the street, a behavior he systematically avoided before. The speech therapist uses progress curves for the renewal assessment.
📊 Measured results: isolated word reading speed improved by 28% (from 35 to 45 words/minute), phonological awareness success rate increased from 58% to 82%. Home adherence was 90% thanks to parental involvement and the playful format.
Context: Philippe suffered an ischemic Stroke 6 months ago. He presents with Broca's aphasia with severe word-finding difficulties, reduced verbal fluency, and relatively preserved oral comprehension. He is followed 3 times a week in speech therapy. His wife reports increasing frustration at home: Philippe tries to communicate but gives up in the face of repeated failures.
Digital protocol: The speech therapist combines CLINT (naming exercises on description, semantic categorization, categorical fluency) and MY DICTIONARY (alternative communication tool for blocking situations). In sessions, CLINT is used for 15 minutes for naming and categorization, with associated oral production work. At home, Philippe uses CLINT for 15 minutes a day (naming and comprehension exercises) and MY DICTIONARY as a daily communication support with his wife.
Result after 12 weeks: Philippe has regained confidence in communication. MY DICTIONARY allows him to be understood in daily situations, significantly reducing frustration. Naming exercises show a gradual improvement in word access time. The speech therapist identifies through statistics that the categories "food" and "everyday objects" are better retrieved than abstract categories, which guides the continuation of rehabilitation.
📊 Measured results: improved naming score of 35% (from 42/80 to 57/80), average naming time reduced from 8.2 to 5.1 seconds. MY DICTIONARY is used daily by Philippe and his wife, restoring functional communication. Adherence at home on CLINT was 78%.
Context: Jeanne has been diagnosed with mild Alzheimer's for 18 months. She lives at home with her husband. The speech therapist intervenes once a week as part of a program to maintain language abilities. Word-finding difficulties are increasing, conversations are becoming more difficult, and Jeanne tends to isolate socially.
Digital protocol: The speech therapist implements SCARLETT with adapted exercises: large buttons, no stressful timer, systematic positive feedback. The activities target lexical evocation (categorization, semantic intruder), semantic memory (word-image association), and temporal orientation. The husband is trained to accompany Jeanne in a 10-minute session every morning, transforming the exercise into a sharing moment rather than an evaluation.
Result after 16 weeks: The goal here is not improvement but the slowing of decline. Statistics show maintenance of lexical scores over the period, whereas a decline was expected. The husband reports that morning sessions have become a cherished ritual and that Jeanne participates more actively in family conversations for the rest of the day. The speech therapist notes that word-finding difficulties are less pronounced during sessions that follow days of regular training.
📊 Measured results: stabilization of lexical evocation scores over 16 weeks (no significant degradation), improvement of 15% in temporal orientation. The husband reports a subjective improvement in Jeanne's mood and social engagement.
"With Jeanne, the goal is not to 'cure' but to maintain. And the data proves it to me: her scores have been stable for 4 months. Without daily training, I am convinced that the decline would have been faster."
8. Focus: MY DICTIONARY, the alternative communication tool
Among the digital tools usable in speech therapy, MY DICTIONARY holds a special place. It is not a rehabilitation exercise but a tool for alternative and augmented communication (AAC) that supports the patient in their daily life.
The principle
MY DICTIONARY is a customizable visual dictionary on a tablet. The patient or their entourage creates cards associating an image, a written word, and an audio file. In situations of communication blockage (lack of the word, aphasia, severe articulatory disorder), the patient navigates through their cards to find the word or image that expresses what they want to say.
For whom?
MY DICTIONARY is particularly suited for patients with a severe reduction in oral expression: global or Broca's aphasia, severe dysarthria, cerebral palsy with speech disorder, autism spectrum disorders with limited verbal communication. It also serves as a transitional support during the post-Stroke recovery phase, while waiting for oral production to be reestablished.
The speech therapy interest
MY DICTIONARY is not just a compensatory tool. It also has an indirect therapeutic effect. By reducing the frustration related to communication failure, it preserves the patient's desire to communicate. Studies show that patients who have an AAC tool paradoxically attempt more to produce words orally, as the pressure of failure is lower. MY DICTIONARY thus becomes a springboard towards the recovery of oral language, rather than a hindrance.
💡 Practical advice. Involve the patient and their family in creating the MON DICO sheets. The process of selecting words, taking personal photos, and recording audio is in itself a therapeutic exercise that works on lexical access, categorization, and the pragmatics of communication.
9. Telehealth and home exercises: extending the impact of your sessions
Telehealth in speech therapy is now regulated and reimbursed. It offers valuable flexibility for remote patients, post-hospitalization follow-ups, and situations where in-person attendance is difficult to maintain.
The combination of video + tablet + monitoring platform creates a complete ecosystem for remote care. During the video session, you guide the patient through the exercises, observe their strategies, and adjust parameters in real-time. Between video sessions, the patient practices independently with the program you prescribed. The monitoring platform informs you of adherence and results, without the patient needing to travel.
This organization is particularly relevant for patients in rural areas (speech therapy deserts), elderly patients with reduced mobility, children whose parents have time constraints, and patients hospitalized or in rehabilitation who benefit from continuity of care between the service and home.
Home training is the multiplier factor of your intervention. Studies converge: patients who practice daily between sessions progress significantly faster than those who limit themselves to in-office sessions. For language rehabilitation, the dose of exposure is a determining factor. The tablet allows reaching this dose without burdening your schedule.
🏠 Organize teletherapy in speech therapy
- 1 follow-up video call per week or every 2 weeks depending on the profile
- Daily program on tablet: 10-15 min, 3-4 targeted exercises
- Consultation of statistics before each video call to prepare the session
- Adjustment of the program remotely between video calls if necessary
- Training of the caregiver during the first session
- Interim assessment based on the platform data
10. How to choose the right digital tool?
The market for "health" applications is vast, but not all tools are suitable for professional speech therapy use. Here are the essential criteria that distinguish a therapeutic tool from a simple educational game.
| Criterion | Why it's essential in speech therapy |
|---|---|
| Specific language exercises | The tool must cover phonology, vocabulary, comprehension, and reading — not just general cognitive stimulation |
| Professional tracking platform | You need to access detailed statistics for each patient for your assessments and reports |
| Unlimited patient profiles | With an active queue of 30 to 50 patients, limiting the number of profiles is a major obstacle |
| Fine adjustment of difficulty | The same exercise must be suitable for a 6-year-old child and a 70-year-old aphasic patient |
| Multiple modalities (visual, auditory, tactile) | Multimodality is a fundamental principle of language rehabilitation |
| Offline use | For homes without WiFi, nursing homes, and sessions in schools |
| GDPR compliance and health data | Legal obligation for any tool handling patient data in France |
Beyond technical criteria, also assess the ergonomics of the tool for your patients. A 6-year-old child and a 70-year-old aphasic patient do not have the same needs in terms of interface. The ideal is an editor that offers several applications tailored to each age group, with a common tracking platform for the professional.
Finally, test the tool in a real situation before adopting it. A free trial with your own patients, on your own therapeutic goals, is the best decision criterion. Feedback from your patients in concrete situations is worth more than all marketing demonstrations.
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