JCPSLP Vol 19 No 2 2017

Shaping innovative services: Reflecting on current and future practice

Resource review

The developers offer a free trial and different purchasing or subscription options ($24.95 per month) for either individuals or professionals. Each program can also be purchased individually at a cost of $100 per program. Item photo quality was average and the same set of images are used across all activities. Item selection is based on the American context which means that some items may not be relevant to an Australian context (e.g., San Francisco trams, quarter [coin], green pepper, cantaloupe, candy bar). There were a few instances where more than one response could have been correct; however, the cues to assist self correction were not always easy to use. I was pleased to see that in addition to testimonials by users (e.g., “ within 8 months I was able to improve 78.7%”); the website also offers research evidence from four studies conducted since 2012. Unfortunately, only one has been published in a peer-reviewed journal and this was also the only study that considered the use of Parrot Software for people with aphasia. Promising results were reported in the single-treatment crossover design study after a 4-week treatment period (2-hour sessions at 4 to 5 sessions per week). A significant improvement in confrontation naming and oral discourse was reported for 4 of the 6 participants (mean age 52 years) with chronic aphasia (6 to 85 months post-onset). Improvement was also reported for untrained targets with maintenance at 4 weeks for some of the participants. The intensity of the program was acknowledged as one possible reason for improvement. No information was available on transference to everyday conversational discourse. Although an additional three studies are referenced in support of cognitive rehabilitation, concerns about author affiliations and limited information about participant characteristics created challenges in reviewing some of these studies. One of the studies acknowledged the challenge with cognitive rehabilitation that gains may not translate into functional performance in real-world situations – a very real concern for speech-language pathologists. Parrot Software adds to the growing number of software programs available for people with communication impairments; however, it is this author’s view that “effective treatment” is likely best achieved if cognitive rehabilitation is used in conjunction with client-centred and task-specific therapy.

Parrot software: Effective treatment for aphasia and brain injury. www.parrotsoftware.com Ronelle Hewetson “Effective treatment” is a significant statement in our profession and I will admit that when I was asked to review Parrot Software: Effective Treatment for Aphasia and Brain Injury , it was this statement that caught my attention and is the lens through which I have considered my appraisal. Parrot Software, developed by an American speech pathologist, consists of over 100 computer-based programs for people with communication and cognition deficits. Supported by Windows and Mac environments, the user may type or use speech to respond, for which a low noise unidirectional microphone is recommended. Programs cover a range of linguistic, memory and reasoning tasks, and each program contains a series of lessons. After completing a lesson, a percent correct and time required to complete the activity is provided. The same lesson can be repeated to improve the score. Verbal reinforcers (e.g., “That is correct, John”) are provided, and while these are a positive feature, they do at times interfere with verbal responses provided by the person using the software.

112

JCPSLP Volume 19, Number 2 2017

Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology