One skill video app helps friends and family learn how to interact with a loved one who is living with a speech and language difficulty. Communication issues often follow stroke, brain injury, dementia, aphasia and a range of other conditions.

Each video is less than 3 minutes long and includes tips for more productive conversations.

Benefits: Each video highlights one issue that can make interaction difficult for a person with speech & language problems. Then it explains how to overcome that issue so that you can communicate more effectively.

There are 9 videos, each one addresses a different communication problem:

Use simple sentences
In everyday speech we often combine two or more ideas without realising that we have done so. Some people find these complex sentences difficult to understand.

Give time to respond
People with communication difficulties often need extra time to process what you are saying and come up with a response.

Background noise
We can become accustomed to background noise so that we don’t notice when it is making communication difficult.

Ask one question at a time
We frequently ask several questions at once in everyday speech. This is a common barrier to understanding for people living with communication difficulties.

Offer Written Choices
It may be difficult to choose between spoken options, it can help to write down each alternative.

Don’t Pretend You Understand
It may be tempting to pretend that we understand what someone is saying but it is better to admit when we don’t.

Write Down Keywords
You can make interactions easier by writing down key words during a conversation.

Don’t Patronise
We may not realise that we are speaking in a patronising manor. It is important for everyone to feel respected.

Ask What Helps
There are numerous strategies that may help some people but not others. It is important to ask each person what helps them.