How I Created a Treatment App for SLPs, Step-by-Step

I walked into the opening ceremony at the 2016 ASHA Convention in Philadelphia like everyone else—eager to hear the speakers tackle the theme “Everyday leadership. Leadership every day.” My idea that leadership is reserved for a few changed as keynote speaker Drew Dudley explained how we all can show leadership in our daily actions. After Dudley’s talk, I knew it was time to take a shot on a wild idea I’d been considering for two years—creating an app for speech-language pathologists to show patients, clients, or students images of what happens inside the mouth when speaking. My wild idea for an app had hit me during a swallow study I administered at Pullman Regional Hospital in my hometown of Pullman, Washington. I thought, “What if I could see what I could hear?” Could videofluoroscopy provide the answer? After working with an Institutional Review Board and my hospital’s imaging department, we collected a treasure trove of visually stunning videos depicting speech-sound formation. But to turn these images into a useful mobile application, I needed to become a leader and take my idea to the next level. I work for a small but progressive critical access hospital that includes a Center for Learning & Innovation. Among other functions, the center supports hospital employees who want to act on ideas designed to positively affect health care. Once the center accepted my proposal, I jumped into creating an app! My first step involved figuring out how to f...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Academia & Research Health Care Private Practice Slider Speech-Language Pathology Speech Disorders Swallowing Disorders Technology Source Type: blogs