To the point!

Next up in the Speech Production category is Precise Sentence. This exercise is all about precise, concise expression. So, in the spirit of the task, let's keep this post short and simple too.

First post with the new look!

Precise Sentence is a good fit for clients who tend to be verbose or go off on tangents, leave out key words, or drift off topic. A defined constraint  like “use as few words as possible” structures the idea and sharpens the message and guides towards structured language processing.

The task is straightforward: show the client a picture and ask them to form a short, informative sentence based on what they see. You can add structure by specifying a word count, for example: Create a sentence from this picture using three words.

There is a black bar at the bottom of the screen. Tapping the bar reveals a sample sentence for the image. Note that this is not the only acceptable answer, just an idea of what a sentence could look like. together. You can use them when reviewing sentences together to demonstrate precise and simple language and ask “Can you try again and aim for something even more simple, like this example?”

This can be a great task for clients who are just moving to sentence-level expression and find it a bit intimidating. A clear and concrete goal lowers the threshold and gives the process a starting point. You can scaffold the sentence structure with simple questions, for example:

Where? → "At the hairdresser"

Who? → "She"

Where is she? →

“She is at the hairdresser.”

Who? → "a boy"

What is the boy doing ? → ”building"

What is the boy building? → "a sandcastle"

“A boy is building a sandcastle.”

When working on this task, I recommend writing the sentences down. I like to have the client work through a few pictures while I write the sentences down, and review them together. You can also ask your client to do the writing if they are able. Multimodal work supports neuroplasticity, and the combination of writing and speaking can lead to some genuinely surprising moments in language processing and planning. For some clients this can be a great starting point for a discussion on  symptom awareness.

There you go, a straightforward task to work on precise and informative expression. Next post will look very similar in terms in task structure, but with almost opposite goals. Stay tuned!

summer season, fresh look

In Finland, there is an expression about shedding your “winter fur” when you take the first swim of the summer. It is a small seasonal reset after the long, dark winter months and a playful transition into the summer season full of light and color.

Midsummer is a popular time for that first swim. This year, SanapsisPro joined on the fun!

As midsummer rolled around, SanapsisPro jumped into the deep end and a whole new visual look emerged - fresher, lighter, and more energetic. The new design brings brightness and ease to the app while keeping the core experience familiar: clear tasks, simple navigation, and practical support for everyday speech therapy. Dive in and take a look!

As you can see, the language switcher now sits in the top corner. The same look applies across all languages, and below you can see a few examples from each language.

What do you think? Let us know in comments or send us a note!

🌸☀️Happy Midsummer! ✨

🌼🌿 Hyvää juhannusta! ✨

🍃🌻 Glad midsommar! ✨

We have questions

Questions are a powerhouse for everyday communication and connection. They help us show interest, seek information, clarify meaning, repair misunderstandings, and take a more active role in conversations overall.

Working on questions can be especially important for many people with communication difficulties. As we discussed in the previous post, some challenges can partly stem from difficulty getting started: not only with speech, but with the whole action of initiating communication. And asking questions requires a lot of initiative!

A question begins with curiosity: noticing that there is something we want to know. Then we narrow our interest down to a specific piece of information and make the decision to initiate an action to ask. And this happens in the background before we get to the more visible part: formulating the question itself and taking the conversational turn to ask it.

The Build a Question task provides a tool for familiarizing the client with different types of questions and constructing them in a structured way.

On screen, you see a picture, a sentence frame, and several possible question words. In this first example, the picture shows some cows in a field. Under the picture, the sentence fragment says:

… do cows eat?

The options presented are: What? and Which?

And you guessed it — the task is to select a suitable question word to complete the question. The number of options can be adjusted according to the client's needs, as shown in the next examples.

Task with a wrong answer selected

Task with the correct word selected

In these examples you may also notice that selecting a question word simply changes its color to orange, regardless of whether it is a suitable or unsuitable word for the sentence. So no feedback from the app? How is this helpful? How will they know if their selection is correct?

Glad you asked! No automated feedback means that the task does not end with the selection. After your client makes a selection, you have the freedom and flexibility to evaluate and discuss the task together.

You can start by asking them to read the completed question aloud. For example: What do cows eat? vs. Which do cows eat? This makes the task nicely multimodal: the client looks at the image, reads the sentence and options, makes the selection, and hears the completed question, all of which support the processing of information and meaning as well as self-monitoring and correction. After making their selection, they can verify the answer themselves with your support, or try again if needed to get it right.

Your job as the therapist is to support the process. You can guide the client by asking questions: Does the question sound right? Does it make sense? You can also ask: Is the question easier to understand when you see it on screen with the picture, or when you hear it out loud? How about when the question is written on paper? Is it easier to process when you also see it as a full sentence?

This is where you can make connections to real-world situations. What kind of support does the client benefit from the most? How can they seek that support in their everyday life?

If they are ready for a challenge, you can continue with questions like: What information are we seeking with this question? What kind of answer would it lead to? What is the answer?

So. Many. Questions. All of them provide an angle for supporting the client and help them think about and start formulating questions in various scenarios. This is the versatility of SanapsisPro at its best.

So, although the task format is simple, it can open the door to many useful therapy moments: reading, listening, reasoning, self-monitoring, and conversation. More importantly, it gives the client supported practice in one of the most active parts of communication: noticing that something is missing, becoming curious, and taking the initiative to ask.

That is a powerful skill to build — one question at a time.

I Want To…

Next task in our SanapsisPro Production category is a task called I want to… This task has two to four action pictures on screen and a prompt that says “I want to…”

Hmm. It seems a lot like the Naming - actions exercise we talked about in the previous post. So what is going on? Actually, quite a bit! In this task, you ask the client to:

• Examine the pictures

• Determine the action taking place

• Select the one they prefer

• Start the phrase

• Complete it with their preferred action word or phrase.

In the example shown here, the client may just looove gardening and be very clear on the selection they make. The answer becomes “I want to… work in the garden.”

A different client might not enjoy gardening, but they are not too keen on photography either. They end up selecting the image for taking photos through the process of elimination. “I absolutely do not like working with dirt, but I guess taking photos is not that bad. So, I would prefer the camera.” The answer becomes: “I want to… take photos.” Both are excellent answers!

Completing the task requires a vast array of useful skills: actively working on making a choice, formulating and expressing an opinion, and using verbs in sentence-level expression that is rooted in their preferences. And very importantly, thinking and expressing what they like to do.  A meaningful and communicative way to work on action words; not as isolated vocabulary, but as part of personal expression.

As clinicians know, many people with aphasia experience difficulties with initiation. The difficulty may not be limited to finding the right word or initiating speech. It may also include initiating the whole action arc: thinking about preferences, independently making a selection based on those preferences, shifting from looking to expression, and generating and sharing required information.

This task format provides scaffolding for the whole process of generating informative expression. The beginning of the sentence is already there to prompt you. What do I like to do? Visual options provide ideas and a limited number of choices, reducing the pressure and overwhelm of initiating an idea from scratch. The task creates a small, supported bridge that links personal experience and intent to sentence formulation. Nothing more powerful than that!

When the task goes smoothly, it naturally grows into a conversation exercise. When they select, for example: “I want to work on my car,” ask them to tell you more. Beyond the rather abstract question “Why?” or “Tell me more”, you can continue by asking: Have you always enjoyed working on cars? Where did you learn? Do you have a specific memory or a story related to fixing a car?

Now, we are not just drilling vocabulary verbs. We are working on personal, meaningful information, preferences, opinions, memory, narrative language, and supported conversation. Sometimes communication starts with a small nudge of finding a way to express: I want to…. And sometimes that is all you need.

Need variation? You can adjust the number of images on screen in task settings. Two is a good starting point. As your client becomes more familiar with the concept, you can introduce more images for added complexity.