SentenceShaper^® Software

What is SentenceShaper 2?

SentenceShaper® is an innovative, patented software program that helps people with aphasia to communicate in their own voices. It can be used as a communication aid or as a highly flexible therapy tool. SentenceShaper 2 is designed to make the program more interesting to use, and to let clinicians target a wide range of linguistic structures. Pictures and prompts are used to elicit spoken utterances created with SentenceShaper's unique support. The program contains over 800 therapy exercises in workbooks designed to elicit different grammatical structures and/or to help users produce speech on topics of personal interest. Blank workbooks without pictures allow the program to be used for completely open-ended speech creation.The recording interface has also been modified to make it easier for users to record their speech. The Pro with Editing version of the program also includes tools to allow clinicians, family members, or possibly the person with aphasia to create new or personalized materials by importing their own images (photographs, images taken from the internet, therapy materials, etc.), customizing the word-finding support, and creating or editing workbooks. Finally, the program now includes an "Export" feature to make it easier to use speech created on SentenceShaper in different contexts...email, internet postings, the phone, video creation, and so forth.

The idea behind SentenceShaper

SentenceShaper is based on a very simple fact: People with aphasia may still know a lot about their language but their language processing is slowed down. It takes these individuals longer to think of words, and words often vanish from memory before they can be combined with other words. They may not even be able to create simple sentences.

This aphasia software taps into their hidden language abilities by "turning off the clock." The person with aphasia can record words or short phrases, play them back, and build them into sentences by manipulating icons on the computer screen. The system requires no ability to read or type in text, and can be customized for different people, and for languages other than English.

SentenceShaper was developed and studied in over a decade of research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other organizations. These research studies have shown that many people with aphasia can use this computer program to create much more grammatical and informative speech, in their own voices, than they are normally capable of. Using the program, they are more likely to speak in sentences and to use the right words. And, for some people, using the program for a period of time can also improve spontaneous speech -- that is, their speech becomes better even off the computer.

See the section "For professionals" for more information about this research. Or click here to read examples of how speech created with SentenceShaper can be better than speech without the program. Studies have also shown that SentenceShaper can be very effective in language therapy for aphasia, helping some people to improve their spontaneous speech after they have used the program for a while. See treatment research to learn more about these studies.

SentenceShaper runs on Windows (click here for system requirements). Spoken messages created with the program are saved on the computer and can be used in many ways: they can be loaded onto portable devices (assistive aids, handheld computers, or cell phones), sent as email attachments, played over the telephone, posted on websites, used in language therapy, and played for family or friends.

You may also come across other people's mentions of the software as "Sentence Shaper" and in scholarly publications it was originally referred to as "CS."

On this website, we offer information for professionals -- such as clinicians and speech therapists working with aphasia treatment and other language disorders -- and for aphasia survivors and their families. SentenceShaper can be downloaded as a demo or purchased on this site. Do explore our website by clicking the links on the left.