STAP: System for Training of Afasia Patients

The project

The first versions of STAP were developed by De Hoogstraat (a Dutch rehabilitation centre) and the Technical University in Delft, the Netherlands. This happened at the end of the eighties. rdgKompagne has brought the program on the market.
In June 1996 a fully renewed version of STAP was released. By order of rdgKompagne, Handicom developed a totally new version of Stap. Based on the feedback given by users, many improvements were carried through with respect to the content. Furthermore, Handicom converted the DOS version into a Windows program.

The software

STAP consists of two parts: STAP Instellen (Tune) and STAP Oefenen (Practise)

STAP Instellen

STAP Instellen is a program with which speech therapists can put exercises together. They can make exercises fit for the individual rehabilitation program of every afasia patient. The program contains a large amount of material and demo exercises.
Stap offers the speech trainers maximum flexibility for the composing of new exercises. Letters, words, phrases, sounds and helpcues can be combined and varied in many different ways.

There are a few clusters of exercises. Every cluster aims at a certain task. One cluster aims at recognizing words, with an image to match; another cluster aims at generating words that satisfy certain conditions; and so on.
The speech trainer decides how the program should react to everything that the patient does, for instance when he has been asked to type a word. The patient can take his or her exercises home and perform the exercises without being supervised.

STAP Oefenen

STAP Oefenen is the part of the software with which the afasia patient can practise on his own, at home or in the institution. He can ask help and gets feedback on his answers. The results of the exercises are stored automatically. Because many afasia patients have difficulties with using the mouse, there are various alternatives available.