Aphasia is a language disorder that affects one’s ability to remember words. It’s usually caused by brain damage but has also been linked to other disorders like cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. For most who have it, it makes it hard to have conversations and be social. In order to try and help those who live with the disease, researchers at the University of Northern Iowa have developed an app called “Name That!”which aims to help people improve their naming, word-finishing and describing abilities through a series of picture quizzes.
During this Talk of Iowa interview, Angela Burda, a professor who helped create the app, and Stephen Hughes, a part of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at UNI talk with Charity Nebbe about aphasia, how it affects those who have it and how this app could help.