Speech Recovery through AAC Devices and Therapy Apps

Speech recovery after a stroke can be a very intimidating process. When you lose the ability to communicate, your entire life revolves around getting your thoughts understood by the people that need to hear them. Recovering your speech after being inflicted with aphasia  can happen through many different channels - flash cards or communication boards are very popular. However, the higher tech options such as AAC devices and speech therapy apps for smart phones and tablets can be much more effective in speech recovery. Speech therapy apps allow you to practice speech exercises whenever and wherever you are most comfortable and extend your speech language pathologist's practice to your home. Many people may not believe that AAC Speech-Generating devices can actually help you recover speech because they speak for you, however, connecting the words you want to say to the way they sounds allow you to repeat words and sentences, leading to a slow and steady speech recovery. The high tech path to speech recovery, in my opinion, really is the way to go.

AAC Devices for Older People

AAC devices are a huge leap forward for stroke and aphasia patients. They allow people to communicate when they otherwise would only be able to use hand signals or mumbling, if that. AAC devices (or Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices) are a very growing field in the speech language pathology world, however, many of these AAC devices are on very high tech platforms. Most people who have had strokes and are affected by aphasia are in a much older demographic than people that are what you would call "tech savvy". I worry that people who would normally never use these devices can learn to effectively use them to help get their speech back. has anyone had any experience with this? I know that if i was having this problem at the age of 75, the last thing I would want to do is try to learn to use some high tech AAC device that will be complicated and add to my frustration of not being able to communicate. I understand that for stroke patients who cannot talk, AAC devices are definitely the way to go, however, I don't know how to navigate the waters of a computer based device targeted to older individuals.