User experience and product design: Add a bio to personalize the cards
Make Broca work just for you. Add a bio to give it context about your life, and the suggestions will be smarter.
If you have any experience with AAC apps, you know personalization makes all the difference. A grid of generic words or auto phrases can only help so much—we needed something that was personalized to us, with names of grandkids, their ages, schools, and sports teams, local restaurants and foods we like, doctors, and all of the little details that make for richer conversations with family and friends.
From a design perspective, there are a lot of ways to create an experience that retains individual details and personalizes the suggestions. Lots more to come here. For our first iteration, we created an editable bio under Account Settings.
To personalize your Broca experience, go to your username in the upper lefthand corner and select Account Settings.
Your Personal Bio is an open-ended text box for you to add whatever detail you like. In our example, we’ve included information about family members and spouses, grandkids, work and coworkers, doctors, our city, and some favorite restaurants.
Remember to hit the Save Changes button when you’re done. Edit, add, or remove details from your bio anytime. Your bio is only visible to you.
The details you include here will help give the experience context. The next time you start a conversation, if a topic comes up that references some of the people, places, or things in your bio, the suggestions on the cards should reflect that. Update and personalize this experience as new life events come up, and make changes anytime.
To help you get started, here are some details we’ve included to personalize our own Broca account:
Important people in our life: Family members, friends, caregivers, speech language pathologists, doctors
Pets
Office: Coworkers
Places: Restaurants, doctor’s offices, hair salon, dentist, massage therapist, physical therapist office
Things we like to do
Education and career background
Now when we ask Broca something about the people in our lives, it has personalized suggestions based on the context we’ve added to the bio.
New feature release: Emojis ❤️ 🥳 👏
We heard from multiple people that images and icons would make the experience more user-friendly. Good news, the day is here!
I asked Gemini (Google’s AI) why iconography telegraphs so well for people recovering from traumatic brain injuries, and this was its response:
Iconography works well for brains after a traumatic brain injury (TBI) because it bypasses language-based communication difficulties by relying on visual, emotional, and non-verbal processing. A TBI can damage the brain's circuitry, especially in areas responsible for executive functions like processing speed, attention, and verbal communication. Because iconic communication is simple and direct, it helps circumvent these damaged pathways.
Which comes as no surprise, really. The reason we waited to introduce visual elements into the Broca design was that we were reluctant to complicate the interface with imagery that could quickly become overstimulating and overwhelming.
There’s a principle in design called Jakob’s Law, which states that users spend most of their time on other sites, and that they prefer your site to work the same way as the ones they already know. This design philosophy prioritizes user comfort and convenience over novelty in order to minimize the learning curve and reduce cognitive load.
Basically, familiarity is comfortable. Enter: emojis. The easy shorthand that most people already have some familiarity with. Give it a try, and tell us what features you’d like to see implemented next. ✅
AI and aphasia: How to use AI to help write emails and texts
Depending on where you are in your aphasia recovery, you may be able to type a few words. If you’re able to write a few words down, this new feature from Claude (Anthropic’s version of ChatGPT) might help you write by expanding on your words and turning them into fuller sentences for you.
Previously, after typing a few words and generating a message, you’d still have to copy and paste the message into your Gmail, Outlook, or other email provider. Now it’s possible to send your message directly from Claude.
Video and step by step instructions below.
Step 1: Go to Claude.ai and sign up. (Like most digital products, AI products do require you to create an account and sign in with an email address in order to try them out.)
Step 2: Select “Chat with Claude” (not “Code with Claude”), then select the free option from their product lineup.
Step 3 (optional): Toggle off the “Help improve Claude option” for better privacy. Pictured below at the very bottom above the button that says “I understand.”
Step 4: It asks for your name. I used my initials. You can probably change this later in a setting somewhere. Then it asks for a few of your interests, to help “get to know you” better. This is completely optional.
Step 5: Select “I have my own topic”
Step 6: If you don’t want your chat history saved, use the Incognito Ghost in the upper righthand corner. Letting Claude store a memory of your chat history will help make its answers more personalized and unique to you, simply because it will have more context about you over time. However, it’s always good to be mindful about your privacy and online footprint. Totally up to you—it will work either way.
Regular mode, where your conversation history will carry over into each time you chat and make the responses feel more personalized
Incognito mode, chats won’t be saved or stored
Step 7: We’re almost there. At this point, if you’re using your computer, you’re going to need to download the Claude app on your phone and sign in.
To send text from the Claude app to other applications like Messages or Mail, instruct Claude to draft the message, and then tap the message card to open it in your default messaging or email app, where you can review and send it normally. This "one-tap" feature works with your built-in messaging and mail apps, and avoids the need for manual copy-pasting.
Here's how to use the feature:
Open the Claude app: on your iOS or Android device.
Start a new chat: or open an existing one.
Tell Claude what you want to communicate: by drafting a message or email. For example, you could say: "Help me write a text to my daughter about a flight time" or "Draft an email to my friends about dinner plans next week in Scottsdale"
Review the drafted message: in the preview.
Tap the message card: to open your default or supported app.
Review the pre-filled content: in the new app.
Send the message: as you normally would.
Prompt: Help me write a text to my daughter about a flight time
Text entered on the left (“Draft an email to my friends about dinner plans next week in Scottsdale”), AI generated writing on the right.
If you’re on your phone, you’ll see an option to send these messages via text or email, directly from the app. If you’re on a computer, you’ll still need to copy and paste the message into an email using the Copy button in the upper righthand corner of Claude.
AI and aphasia: How to use ChatGPT or Claude to help with aphasia
Use ChatGPT to help you write, practice, and recover.
Aphasia—a language disorder caused by brain injury, often from stroke—can make speaking, understanding, reading, or writing incredibly difficult. There’s no easy solution, but artificial intelligence is opening up new avenues for recovery, support, and communication that were unimaginable just a few years ago.
Speech and Language Therapy
AI-powered tools can deliver personalized language exercises, adjusting difficulty in real time based on the user’s progress. Some systems even use speech recognition trained on atypical speech patterns to give instant feedback and encouragement.
Tip: To try it, go to chatgpt.com and ask it to give feedback on your pronunciation, plus tips for how to improve.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
Apps like Broca AI Speech are using AI to autocomplete phrases, allowing someone with limited speech to participate in real-time conversations. Predictive text, voice generation, and adaptive phrase suggestions make communication faster and less frustrating.
Tip: Ask ChatGPT to polish an email, finish a thought, or write a text message for you, then copy and paste it into your email or text messages.
Personalized Progress Tracking
AI can analyze therapy usage and highlight trends—like plateaus or improvements—so caregivers and clinicians can fine-tune recovery plans. It’s like having a digital co-therapist always watching and learning.
Tip: Ask ChatGPT to create an aphasia recovery program for you, based on your own experience and progress. Example prompt:
Create an aphasia recovery curriculum for someone who had their stroke 3 years ago. Tailor it for Broca's aphasia, plus include word games and homework to make it fun.
ChatGPT’s response:
🗓️ 12-Week Broca’s Aphasia Recovery Curriculum
Focus: Expressive language, grammar, functional phrases
Stage: Chronic recovery (3 years post-stroke)
Style: Hybrid (SLP-guided + self-practice + family support + tech tools)
Schedule: 4 sessions/week (30–60 mins) + daily mini homework
📚 Weekly Breakdown + Word Games + Homework
Weeks 1–2: Building a Foundation
Goals: Reintroduce simple phrases; reduce frustration; get comfortable speaking.
Activities:
Phrase repetition: “I want...,” “I need...,” “Let’s go...”
Use Broca AI Speech to autocomplete during structured talk
Naming common objects with visual support
Games:
🧩 “Category Blitz”: Name 5 things in a category (fruits, clothes, etc.)
🎲 “Yes/No Showdown”: Ask silly yes/no questions to practice quick responses
Homework:
Daily mirror practice with 3 target phrases
Record 1 audio clip/day saying your name, mood, and a phrase (use phone or app)
Weeks 3–4: Naming and Word Retrieval
Goals: Expand word access; strengthen associations.
Activities:
Semantic feature analysis: describe before naming (“It’s red, sweet, round → apple”)
Word webs with caregiver
Word prediction tools (Broca AI Speech, Tactus Therapy)
Games:
🧠 “What’s the Word?”: One gives clues, the other guesses (like Taboo)
🔠 Letter Ladder: Say words that start with the same letter
Homework:
Picture naming journal (5/day)
Practice explaining an object to a friend/family member (with or without naming it)
Weeks 5–6: Sentence Building
Goals: Move from words to full ideas.
Activities:
SVO drills: “I eat apple,” “She drives car”
Sentence completion using AI phrase suggestions
Role-play routines: ordering coffee, greeting someone
Games:
🧩 “Sentence Scramble”: Reorder words to make sentences
🎭 “Act & Say”: Act out and say action words (“I cook,” “I brush teeth”)
Homework:
Make 3 daily SVO sentences using photos or daily activities
Use a sentence-building app (Tactus Therapy “Apraxia” or Broca AI)
Weeks 7–8: Functional Conversation
Goals: Strengthen real-life speech confidence.
Activities:
Practice phone greetings, weather talk, small talk phrases
Use AAC or AI assistant to participate in conversations
Simulated calls with caregiver
Games:
📞 “Call & Respond”: Scripted pretend calls with changing scenarios
💬 “Chat Bubbles”: Fill in missing parts of conversations with sticky notes
Homework:
Make 1 phone call per day (real or pretend)
Practice 3 functional phrases (repeat each 5 times)
Weeks 9–10: Storytelling
Goals: Rebuild longer expressive output.
Activities:
Tell a story from a photo (childhood, vacation, etc.)
Journaling with visual prompts + reading aloud
Use Broca AI to autocomplete longer ideas
Games:
📖 “Picture Prompt Pass”: Pass around a photo and add a sentence
🎲 “Story Cubes”: Roll dice with icons and create a story together
Homework:
Record 1 short story per week using phone or AI tool
Tell a story to family (they help when needed)
Weeks 11–12: Confidence & Progress
Goals: Celebrate growth, identify next goals, reinforce routine.
Activities:
Re-test language with baseline tools
“Teach-back” exercise: explain something you know
Group conversation with therapist/caregiver
Games:
🏆 “Then & Now”: Compare performance on same word game from Week 1
✍️ “Two Truths and a Lie”: Create and say short sentences—others guess
Homework:
Make a personal “phrasebook” for everyday life
Write a thank-you note or letter to self
🧠 Recommended Tools
Apps: Broca AI Speech, Tactus Therapy, SmallTalk Aphasia, Constant Therapy
Materials: Visual flashcards, dry erase board, sentence strips, storytelling dice
Caregiver Support: Teach “Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia” (SCA™ techniques)
Cognitive Engagement Through Games
Gamified AI therapy apps make practice feel less like work. From naming objects using computer vision to sentence-building challenges, these tools keep users engaged and challenged at just the right level.
Tip: Ask ChatGPT to come up with word games that help you practice your aphasia exercises at home.
Prompt example: Let’s play an aphasia game
Great! Let's plan a fun, structured game for someone with Broca’s aphasia that supports language recovery through expressive speech, word retrieval, and sentence formation—all in an engaging, low-pressure format.
🎯 Game Overview:
Name: Say & Play: Picture Story Builder
Type: Language + storytelling + visual support
Level: Ideal for moderate Broca’s aphasia
Players: 1–2 (can be solo or with caregiver/therapist)
Time: ~15–20 minutes
Goal: Build simple sentences and short stories using picture prompts
🧩 Materials Needed:
6–12 picture cards (photos of people, places, actions, or objects)
A sentence strip or board (with subject–verb–object slots)
Optional: Dice, timer, or Broca AI Speech app for autocomplete support
📝 How to Play:
Setup:
Shuffle the picture cards and lay them face down.
Set up the sentence strip board:
___+___+___(Subject – Verb – Object).
Step-by-Step Instructions:
🔹 Round 1: Simple Sentences
Player draws 3 cards (e.g., “man,” “eat,” “apple”).
Arrange them on the board to form a sentence: “Man eats apple.”
Player says the sentence aloud—use Broca AI Speech if needed for support or autocomplete.
Repeat for 3–5 rounds, changing up the cards.
🔹 Round 2: Build a Story
Draw 4 cards and place them in a row (e.g., “dog,” “run,” “park,” “child”).
Player builds a short 2–3 sentence story:
“The dog runs in the park. The child laughs. They play together.”Caregiver/therapist can support with gestures, cueing, or sentence starters.
🔹 Bonus Round: Guess & Act
One player picks a card and acts it out (e.g., “cook” or “sleep”).
The other guesses the action and says the matching sentence:
“You are cooking.” → “I cook dinner.”
🏆 How It Helps:
Reinforces subject-verb-object structure
Builds confidence with familiar vocabulary
Provides visual and contextual support
Encourages use of functional everyday phrases
Works with AAC tools or apps like Broca AI for support