The COMunicazionE Aperta – A Vocabulary for Aphasia (COME) project aims to provide more effective communication support for people with aphasia, helping individuals affected by this condition to interact and communicate with their external environment, thereby avoiding social isolation and exclusion. To address these communication barriers, the project partnership proposes a training pathway focused on skill acquisition and the provision of digital tools to support operators, educators, families, and those close to individuals with aphasia.

The project seeks to achieve a higher level of social inclusion for people with aphasia by removing a series of obstacles. The first obstacles identified stem from a lack of awareness regarding the condition. Aphasia often presents without any physical signs, making it difficult for family members and acquaintances to recognize that they are interacting with someone with aphasia. To address this need, the partnership will develop a project guide and thematic content to better understand the condition and basic communication methods for interacting with individuals with aphasia.

Project Objectives

– Address the lack of complex digital tools for communicating with individuals with aphasia, which creates difficulties for family members and caregivers.
– Develop and adapt an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app to facilitate more effective and autonomous communication for people with aphasia.
– Integrate the AAC app into the COME Web Platform, enhancing it with language and symbols to better address complex communication needs.
– Build a comprehensive training pathway for operators and family members to ensure the effective use of these tools.

Planned Activities

– COME Guide: A vocabulary guide for aphasia
– COME Web Platform: Interactive content connected to the AAC app
– Training Course for Operators: Designed to test the guide and platform with experts
– Local Activities with Families and People with Aphasia: Focused on testing the guide and platform with non-expert users

Project Results

– Creating vocabulary for aphasics, supported by the CAA App to enable users to improve communication
– Creation of an online space for all practitioners and close people, with concrete resources and tools
– Organizing a series of local activities to disseminate the project results and enable users to get in touch with the tools COME