In 2018, a large randomised clinical trial*** of iReadMore demonstrated significant improvements in word reading accuracy after four weeks of training and this treatment effect was still present 3 months after participants had stopped using the therapy. It also gives users immediate feedback on their performance and has regular reading tests with results fed back to users with easy-to-understand graphs so they can track their own progress and stay motivated. This also means that iReadMore can be used by people with different types or severity or reading impairment. The app helps train single word reading ability, improving both reading accuracy and speed and adapts the difficulty of the therapy to each user’s reading abilities to keep the therapy relevant and challenging without being so difficult that it becomes frustrating. Both conditions affect speech and comprehension. IReadMore has been designed for and with people with acquired reading disorder (alexia) or aphasia due to a stroke, brain injury or dementia. “Even after doing speech therapy at home, almost every day for nine years, it’s good the app stimulates a positive response and a willingness to continue – it gives him hope.” “Especially during lockdown, there’s been a bit of collateral damage from it all and I know Peter’s confidence has dropped, but by doing the app, he’s getting positive feedback, and at the end of a level, I’d hear him go ‘yay!’ when he’s got it all right.” “I think iReadMore is good because it gives Peter something for himself, something he can complete and be in control of, and I think that gives a big boost to his confidence,” she said. His wife, Carol, has been supporting him through his rehabilitation and spoke about Peter using iReadMore independently at home during lockdown. Peter McGriskin, 70, had a stroke in June 2012, which affected his speech and he has been using the iReadMore app for five months. “I believe iReadMore will help both reduce the burden on the NHS and lead to more people being helped." The use of digital delivery makes it easy to use and entertaining.” “The iReadMore app has allowed me to work on my recuperation at home and at my own pace. “Without UCLH's innovative approach to stroke rehabilitation, I would probably still be waiting for help.” My illness has spanned the entire lockdown period after developing Covid in March last year, then followed by multiple strokes,” he said. "The iReadMore app has been a godsend for me. While recovering at home, he has been using the iReadMore therapy app to improve his reading speed and accuracy. The strokes have caused Paul to develop a reading impairment called alexia causing slow and effortful reading.
Paul Mylrea, aged 64, had Covid in March 2020 and during his time in hospital he went on to have two post-covid strokes caused by the coronavirus infection and was transferred for specialist care at the NHNN.
STROKE AFFECTING SPEECH FOR ANDROID
To give as many people access to the app as possible, UCL has now added iReadMore to the Apple App and Google Play stores, making it publicly available** for android and apple smartphone and tablet users. In addition, the app can be used by patients with other neurological diagnoses, which cause reading impairments, including certain types of dementia. The iReadMore app has enabled stroke patients including those with Covid-induced strokes at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neuroscience (NHNN), Queen Square, London, to have limitless hours of SaLT at the hospital and while rehabilitating at home. Stroke patients typically need around 100 hours of Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT), to see a marked improvement, NHS therapy is already significantly less than this and due to the pandemic NHS provisions* have been limited further.
IReadMore, developed by the Neurotherapeutics Group at UCL’s Queen Square Institute of Neurology, provides mobile or tablet-based reading therapy using a gamified therapy involving written and spoken words and pictures, and aims to improve word-reading speed and accuracy.
A UCL-developed smart app, which improves the reading ability of people who have suffered a stroke, has been a ‘godsend’ for patients asked to rehabilitate at home during the pandemic.
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