yApp

Description

Speech therapy patients face a critical challenge in maintaining consistent practice routines between clinical sessions. While some patients benefit from strong family support systems, many navigate their recovery journey independently, leading to inconsistent practice and slower recovery outcomes. This disparity in support systems creates an accessibility gap that directly impacts treatment effectiveness.

The impact of practice consistency on recovery is significant:

1. Regular practice (3-4 times per week) can lead to measurable improvements in speech clarity

2. Gaps in practice can lead to regression in progress, requiring additional sessions to regain lost ground

3. The emotional toll of slow progress can further decrease motivation, creating a negative feedback loop

4. Healthcare resources are used inefficiently when patients arrive at sessions without having practiced, turning what should be progress reviews into repeat training sessions

It is thus critical to ensure that we plug the gap in helping patients maintain consistent practice routines and have their sessions be accessible to their therapists to review.

Vision and Goals

A speech therapy app that turns daily practice into an engaging journey, with clear progress tracking to celebrate patient improvements.

• Key Features:

  • Gamification features (e.g. streak counts, virtual plant-growing) incentivise users to complete their daily assigned exercises. In addition, the fact that users’ exercise videos are recorded for their therapists to watch and review also served to encourage consistent practice.

  • Video recordings also serve as a way for speech therapists to have a consistent visual record of users’ adherence to assigned exercises, and to track their progress over time, which will better inform the next face-to-face session they have with the user.

Research and Approach

Through field research at Singapore General Hospital, we gained valuable insights into speech therapy delivery and patient needs. This included observing live therapy sessions and engaging with speech therapists to understand clinical challenges.

We conducted in-depth interviews with patients and support group leaders to identify key barriers and opportunities for improvement. Our analysis extended to existing speech therapy solutions, enabling us to identify service gaps and innovative approaches.

This ground-up approach ensured our solution addresses real needs in Singapore's healthcare landscape

Our Solution

• This solution bridges the gap between clinical sessions, ensuring patients maintain proper technique and regular practice while enabling therapists to provide timely, informed guidance. Key features include:

  • Personalised Exercise Programme: Therapists curate the daily exercise routines tailored to each patient's needs. Each exercise includes clear instructions and video demonstrations, with audio guidance for timing and repetitions.
    

  • Guided Process

    • yApp will record the user's camera during the session, to capture their execution of the assigned exercises.

    • Each exercise is accompanied by step-by-step instructions and a video demonstration. yApp will audibly keep track of each exercise to be done, the duration of each exercise, and the number of repetitions completed.
      

  • Progress Monitoring: The platform records exercise sessions, enabling therapists to review technique and progress through a comprehensive dashboard. Patients provide self-assessments after each session, giving additional information for the therapist that informs their next session with the patient.
    

  • Engaging Practice Experience: We encourage consistent practice through an interactive rewards system. Patients nurture a virtual bougainvillea plant that flourishes with regular exercise completion, creating a visual representation of their commitment to recovery.