Struggle Less this Alzheimer’s Awareness Month: How Speech Assistance Apps are Changing the Game for Caregivers of Those with Early-Stage Alzheimer’s

It’s a common scene in households all across America. A family member of someone with early-stage Alzheimer’s sits across from their loved one, trying to communicate. Their loved one tries to respond, but they search for words they can’t quite find.

The caregiver tries again—this time slower, softer, clearer—but the response is often just a shake of the head, a confused shrug, or a frustrated gesture. Silence hangs in the air, heavy and unrelenting, and both people feel the ache of distance where once the relationship was so close.

These moments are the daily battles faced by caregivers of those with early-stage Alzheimer’s, where communication falters and understanding often feels out of reach.

But what if there was a way to bring clarity and connection back into these interactions? What if a simple tool could make all the difference, restoring communication and reestablishing connection?

Believe it or not, such a tool exists, and it just might be the answer you’ve been looking for.

 The Challenges of Early-Stage Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s Disease, a degenerative brain disease, is the most common cause of dementia, affecting nearly seven million Americans. It’s also the fifth-leading cause of death among people aged 65 and older. By 2050, the number of people affected is projected to rise to nearly 13 million.

Alzheimer’s disease typically progresses slowly in three stages: early, middle, and late (sometimes referred to as mild, moderate, and severe in a medical context). Since Alzheimer’s affects people in different ways, each person may experience dementia symptoms—or progress through the stages—differently.

In the early stages of Alzheimer’s, the person may still be able to function independently in many ways. They may still be able to drive, go to work, and participate in social activities. To someone who doesn’t know them well and doesn’t interact with them frequently, they may appear just fine.

But in other ways, they’re struggling, and family members and close friends will surely take notice. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, some common difficulties include:

• Coming up with the right word or someone’s name
• Remembering names of people they’ve just been introduced to
• Having difficulty performing tasks in social or work settings
• Forgetting material that they’ve just read
• Losing or misplacing objects frequently
• Experiencing increased difficulty with planning or organizing

It’s a confusing, frustrating experience for the person with Alzheimer’s, and it’s also scary because they understand that their condition will slowly get worse.

But it’s also a difficult situation for caregivers:

• There’s an emotional toll for caregivers, who often feel frustrated, helpless, and heartbroken when their loved one struggles to communicate even simple needs or thoughts.
• Everyday conversations that used to be effortless become fraught with misunderstandings, leading to emotional disconnection and tension.
• Without a reliable way to facilitate communication, caregivers bear a heavier load in every interaction, often relying on guesswork to figure out what their loved one needs.

As Alzheimer’s progresses, the person experiences ongoing cognitive decline. For most people, language processing and memory are the first capabilities to deteriorate, making it harder for them to express themselves, leading to frustration.

In this situation, caregivers often try to keep the connection alive by relying on verbal communication or handwritten notes, but these methods may not align with their loved one’s changing abilities. As a result, such traditional communication methods often fall short. And most caregivers aren’t aware of other resources that exist for support.

The Solution: Modern Speech Assistance Apps for Nonverbal Communication

While it’s a tragic situation when anyone receives a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, there’s at least some good news. Today’s technology offers tools that can help ease the burden on the person with early-stage Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.

Speech assistance apps provide an intuitive, tech-based way to facilitate conversations, bridging the communication gap between you and your loved one. For example, photo-based apps can act as memory aids for adults who have trouble finding the right word during conversations.

Many of these apps allow the user to customize the photos shown on the app’s interface, so the Alzheimer’s sufferer can include personal photos and photos of people and everyday objects from their environment. Words, phrases, or even complete sentences can be linked to these photos, so the person can simply touch the appropriate photo, and the app speaks for them.

This functionality allows your loved one to continue to communicate and participate in discussions where they might not otherwise be able to. And such apps can be used on handheld devices like mobile phones or iPads.

I’ve had real-life experience with Alzheimer’s patients in my Speech Language Pathologist work, and I’ve seen how apps that talk for you can be an indispensable aid to early-stage patients.

For example, one of my patients, John, was diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s and began having trouble finding the right words for everyday items and expressing his needs. I showed him how to use APP2Speak, the speech assistance app I developed, and it provided him with a helpful solution by allowing him to communicate through relatable photos. Whenever his speech and thoughts were incomplete, APP2Speak allowed him to fill in the gaps, making communication easier and more effective.

 APP2Speak: One of the Best AAC Apps for Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Patients

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices and systems provide ways for people to communicate without talking (verbal speech) and are helpful for those who sometimes have difficulty finding the words they want to say (as in the case of early-stage Alzheimer’s patients), have difficulty being understood when they speak (as might be the case with someone with MS or cerebral palsy) or who are completely incapable of speech (as with someone who has had a laryngectomy).

AAC runs the gamut from the most basic nonverbal communication strategies such as making gestures, writing, and drawing pictures all the way up to sophisticated, high-tech devices that can cost thousands of dollars.

Speech assistance apps such as APP2Speak sit in the middle of this range, offering the simplicity and mobility of communicating using a hand-held device like a mobile phone or iPad at an affordable price.

In addition, APP2Speak offers many benefits to the user, including:

• Four preset pages with real-life photos and accompanying words
• The ability to create and save one or more phrases per photo for additional convenient conversation
• The ability to customize pages to include photos from your own library or the internet
• Use one of the preset voices (male or female) in the app or record your own voice for speech output
• Text-to-speech capability
• …and much more (see the How It Works page for more details)

This unique combination of features allows you and your loved one with early-stage Alzheimer’s to communicate easier and keep the lines of communication open longer as their disease progresses. And you can’t put a price on that.

Implementation: Getting Started with APP2Speak

If you’ve been struggling, trying to communicate with a loved one with early-stage Alzheimer’s and you’d like to make life easier for both of you, here’s your step-by-step action plan:

1. Evaluate Their Needs: Identify the specific communication challenges your loved one faces and what you need from a speech app.
2. Experience a Demonstration: If APP2Speak looks like it could be the solution you’ve been looking for, reach out to us on the Contact page and fill out the form to schedule your personal APP2Speak demonstration. We’ll walk you through all of the app’s functionality and answer all of your questions.
3. Download the App: If you’re excited about the possibilities of how APP2Speak can improve communication between you and your loved one, head over to the Apple app store and download the app.
4. Customize the App: Help your loved one add personalized photos, phrases, and categories to reflect their preferences and routines.
5. Integrate Into Daily Life: Share practical tips for using the app during meals, appointments, and leisure activities. The more your loved one uses the app, the more comfortable they will become with it and the more it will help them communicate with those around them.

By taking just one small step toward better communication, you can reclaim moments of connection and joy you’ve been missing with the person you love. Why not start today?