WebLisling: A Web-based Therapeutic Platform for the Rehabilitation of Aphasic Patients

A new trend in medical therapy aims to take advantage of information technologies and, in particular, the Internet to provide home rehabilitation. In case of the aphasia treatment, which involves long and numerous sessions with a speech and language therapist, the implementation of Web-based software for rehabilitation appears to be a key issue. This is the purpose of WebLisling, a Web application developed to be a complementary aid in the process of rehabilitating aphasic Portuguese speaking patients. The article describes the platform's architecture and the group of exercises designed by therapists to enable the user to train different linguistic modalities (written and spoken comprehension and expression). Web3D technologies are used in order to present tasks that take place in the tri-dimensional representation of a flat, where the user can interact with domestic objects with the aim of promoting a treatment as ecologic as possible. This ultimate version of Lisling tools offers a user-friendly access to the therapeutic exercises (even for people with low computational skills) and a remote monitoring of patient's performances, which are recorded in a Web-based database. Preliminary testes carried out on a population of patients and therapists show promising results regarding usability and therapeutic potential of the application.