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FinchBridge communication support

Communication support
for people with aphasia

FinchBridge is designed for people with aphasia. It supports everyday communication with practical tools such as Speak Now and My Tools, including phrases that can be spoken aloud. The free Self-Directed service offers structured Speech & Language practice at your own pace, without a FinchBridge therapist.

Create your free account See communication tools
  • Everyday communication tools
  • Phrases spoken aloud
  • Self-directed practice stages
  • Progress tracking
YOUR PROGRAMME 9 STAGES
  1. 1 Start simply Start here
  2. 2 Simple recognition
  3. 3 Finding words
  4. 4 Understanding everyday language
  5. 5 Thinking with words
  6. 6 Sentences and everyday talk
  7. 7 Longer language and everyday meaning
  8. 8 Conversations and independence
  9. 9 Keep communication strong

Each completed stage opens the next.

Speak Now and My Tools

Your words, your way

Communication tools help people with aphasia say what they need in everyday life. Speak Now and My Tools give you a way to build sentences and keep a personal collection of useful words, people and messages.

Create and practise the phrases, messages and situations that are unique to you — with help from a carer, partner, friend or family member.

Everyday speech

Speak Now

Speak Now helps you put words together when you need them. Tap or type to build a sentence, including your own words and phrases, so the things you most need to say are ready to speak.

Your collection

My Tools

My Tools is where you keep your own collection of useful words, people and saved messages. Choose the phrases that matter to you, and use them for practice or everyday situations.

Have your phrases spoken aloud

Saved phrases and sentences can be spoken aloud, making it easier to communicate something important when you already know what you want to say but need a little help getting the words heard.

Carers, friends and family can help build the collection too — adding the phrases and situations that are most useful in everyday life.

Try it for yourself — press any phrase below to hear it spoken aloud.

Self-directed practice

Nine stages. One clear pathway.

The free Self-Directed service is FinchBridge’s independent Speech & Language practice programme, without a Centre or FinchBridge therapist.

Progress through the programme one stage at a time. Completing a stage opens the next stage.

  1. 1

    Stage 1

    Start simply

    Yes or no, and choose a picture.

  2. 2

    Stage 2

    Simple recognition

    Match pictures and make simple choices.

  3. 3

    Stage 3

    Finding words

    Name everyday words, then early reading and writing.

  4. 4

    Stage 4

    Understanding everyday language

    Short phrases, instructions, and listening/reading for meaning.

  5. 5

    Stage 5

    Thinking with words

    Functional talking in small steps.

  6. 6

    Stage 6

    Sentences and everyday talk

    Constrained sentences and short everyday messages.

  7. 7

    Stage 7

    Longer language and everyday meaning

    Complex language, problem solving, and social use.

  8. 8

    Stage 8

    Conversations and independence

    Community, independence, and work or study goals.

  9. 9

    Stage 9

    Keep communication strong

    Real-world confidence and long-term maintenance.

What users practise

Real activities from the FinchBridge programme

Practice changes as the stages progress, moving from clear picture and meaning activities towards words and everyday language.

  • Match the picture
  • Meaning groups
  • Object understanding
  • Everyday choices
  • Building the word
  • Finding the word
  • Word practice
  • Everyday phrases
  • Words in context
  • Short instructions
  • Listen and understand

Find & Discover

Seek & Find

Look around everyday places. Find familiar things. No clock. No rush.

Seek & Find is optional extra practice. You look at a busy adult scene, read a short written word, and find the matching picture. It can feel more like a calm looking game than a quiz.

For people with aphasia, or after a stroke, this informal kind of brain training is simply looking, noticing, and linking a word to a picture — in a low-pressure way. It is optional practice, not a medical intervention. Finishing a game is not a clinical result.

A warm high-street bakery with a marble counter, pastry trays and bread on the shelves.
High Street Bakery
  • A warm village post office with a wooden counter, letter cubbies and a service window.
    Village Post Office
  • A traditional village newsagent with a wooden counter, sweet jars and a street window.
    Village Newsagent
  • A warm charity shop with wooden shelves, a clothing rail and household goods on a table.
    Charity Shop
  • A traditional country pub with a wooden bar, round tables and a stone fireplace.
    Country Pub
  • A small traditional hotel reception with a wooden desk, staircase and warm lamps.
    Hotel Reception
  • A traditional barber shop with leather chairs, mirrors and a marble work counter.
    Barber Shop

Everyday places such as a bakery, post office, newsagent, charity shop, pet shop, barber, bicycle shop, country pub, hotel reception and launderette — plus kitchens, cafés and harbours. There are many more scenes to explore.

Included with the programme

Included with your free registration

These games come with the FinchBridge Self-Directed programme. Your validated registration also gives you access to Speak Now and My Tools.

Seek & Find is included with your free validated registration.

  • Calm visual search
  • Everyday written words
  • No time pressure

Evidence-informed design

Why structured practice?

Speech and language rehabilitation can involve repeated practice. Independent digital practice can provide extra opportunities to practise, alongside conventional rehabilitation when that is available.

Self-directed practice can complement rehabilitation by making more practice possible at a time and pace that works for the person using it.

How FinchBridge is used

Self-directed practice, and Centre support

FinchBridge is used in two distinct ways. Public registration is for the self-directed programme. It is not therapist-supervised.

Free registration

Self-directed programme

Create and validate a free private account to use communication tools and structured Speech & Language practice. There is no Centre membership and no FinchBridge therapist relationship on this service.

Existing accounts

Therapist and Centre

Some people use FinchBridge through a rehabilitation centre, with therapist oversight of their programme. That is a separate service from Self-Directed registration. If you already have a Centre or therapist account, use Sign in.

FinchBridge digital practice does not diagnose, replace professional assessment, or constitute a complete episode of speech and language therapy. It does not replace a qualified speech and language therapist.

Clinical context

Evidence and research

National Clinical Guideline for Stroke · 2023

More opportunity to practise

People with aphasia after stroke should be given opportunities to improve their language and communication as often and for as long as they continue to make meaningful gains. The National Clinical Guideline for Stroke also discusses access to appropriate practice-based digital tools.

This emphasis on regular, graded practice opportunity informed FinchBridge’s structured practice design. The guideline does not name or endorse FinchBridge.

NICE · Stroke rehabilitation in adults

Personalised practice

NICE guidance discusses computer-based speech and language therapy, particularly for word finding, and adapting support to the person’s needs and goals.

These ideas informed FinchBridge’s personally relevant practice. That is not NICE approval or endorsement of FinchBridge.

Aphasia rehabilitation research

Structured word-finding practice

Large-scale aphasia research has shown that tailored computerised word-finding practice can improve retrieval of personally relevant words. The Big CACTUS programme demonstrated the value of substantial opportunities for structured language practice. It did not show improvement in functional conversation or quality of life.

This evidence helped shape FinchBridge’s approach to word retrieval: practice is structured, repeated and progressively supported, with cueing designed to help people access words. Big CACTUS was not a study of FinchBridge.

FinchBridge programme design

How the programme is organised

FinchBridge brings together current stroke rehabilitation guidance, aphasia research and established rehabilitation principles to inform its design.

That work informed a structured progression from early recognition and understanding through word access, language comprehension and increasingly functional communication.

Across that progression, FinchBridge applies active processing, graded difficulty, cueing and cue fade, meaningful repetition and functional communication.

Why FinchBridge

Everyday communication, and a clear way to practise

Everyday tools

Speak Now and My Tools help you build sentences and keep useful words, people and messages.

Spoken phrases

Saved phrases and sentences can be spoken aloud when you need help getting the words heard.

Structured practice

Nine self-directed stages provide a clear Speech & Language practice pathway.

Progressive

Complete one stage before progressing to the next.

Free Self-Directed registration

Register, validate, and begin

Register free, validate your email, then use communication tools and structured Speech & Language practice.

  • Simple private account
  • Stages open in order
  • Your progress stays saved
Create my free account

First name, last name, email and password. Validate your email before signing in.