A banking app for people with brain injuries: Co-designed by a person with aphasia and a speech and language therapist

Abstract

We describe the process where a stroke survivor, his wife, and a speech language pathologist participated together to design and implement a new piece of software to help patients with brain injury recover skills needed to manage their finances. Each person provided a different perspective that led to a successful collaboration. The stroke survivor, a computer scientist, has experience with aphasia apps that he used in therapy. His wife, also a computer scientist, has experience with participatory design techniques and agile software development methodologies. The SLP understands the requirements needed for software to be useful for patients in a clinical setting. Together the team created an app that is currently being used in two rehab centers.