Free aphasia exercises you can do at home or online

Seven exercises a family can start today with nothing but a kitchen table, plus a free online lesson that needs no account. They are the same kinds of tasks used in speech therapy.

By Frederick F. Weiner, Ph.D., speech-language pathologist. Former Professor in Charge of Speech Pathology, The Pennsylvania State University. Last reviewed November 5, 2026.

Before you start

  • Aim for mostly right. About seven or eight correct out of ten is the right level. All wrong is discouraging; all right is too easy to build anything.
  • Keep sessions short. Ten to twenty minutes, once or twice a day, beats one long session a week.
  • Wait before helping. Count to five silently before offering a hint. Finding the word without help is the practice.
  • Check with the therapist. If the person is seeing a speech-language pathologist, show them this list. They can say which exercises fit and at what level.

Seven free exercises, no equipment needed

  1. 1. Name things around the house

    Walk through one room and name what you see: cup, chair, window, remote. Start with common objects and move to less common ones (colander, thermostat) as it gets easier. Photos on a phone work just as well.

    Tip: If a word is stuck, the helper can give the first sound ("It starts with k…") or a sentence to finish ("You drink coffee from a…").

  2. 2. Describe instead of naming

    Pick an object and talk about it without needing the name: what it is used for, where it is kept, what it looks like, what it feels like. Describing often brings the word itself out, and it is a strategy the person can use in real conversation when a word will not come.

    Tip: This is the idea behind semantic feature analysis, covered in more detail in our word-finding guide.

  3. 3. Name as many as you can in a category

    Set a timer for one minute and name as many animals, foods, or things in a kitchen as possible. Write down the count and try the same category again next week.

    Tip: Easier: give a narrower category (fruit rather than food). Harder: use a letter (words starting with "s").

  4. 4. Finish the sentence

    The helper says the start of a familiar sentence and the person finishes it: "Peanut butter and…", "Salt and…", "Brush your…". Familiar phrases are often easier to get out than single words, which makes this a good warm-up.

    Tip: Move from very predictable endings to sentences with several possible answers ("I like to eat…").

  5. 5. Answer questions about the day

    Ask simple questions with real answers: What did you have for breakfast? Who called today? What is on TV tonight? Start with yes/no questions if open questions are too hard.

    Tip: Give choices when needed: "Did you have eggs or cereal?"

  6. 6. Read aloud

    Read headlines, recipe steps, or the captions under photos aloud. Short is fine. Reading aloud gives the support of print while practicing speaking.

    Tip: If reading is the main difficulty, match single words to pictures first.

  7. 7. Practice a few useful phrases

    Choose three to five phrases the person really needs ("I had a stroke, please speak slowly", a phone number, an order at a favorite restaurant) and practice them every day until they come out easily.

    Tip: Practicing the same short script repeatedly is an approach with research support; our conversation practice guide says more.

For more on why words get stuck and how to cue them, see word-finding exercises. For practicing real conversation, see conversation practice for aphasia.

A free online lesson: no account, no download

The exercises above need a helper. For practice a person can do on their own, we have put three lessons from our Action Verbs program online for free:

  • Hear an action word, such as “digging” or “climbing.”
  • Watch three short animations and pick the one that matches.
  • Ten actions per lesson, about five minutes, with a score at the end.
  • Works in a web browser on a computer, tablet or phone.

There is no account to create and no email address to give, and nothing is saved. Come back and repeat it as often as you like.

Try the free lesson

What free practice cannot do

Free exercises are worth doing, but two things are hard to get from them. The first is the right level, adjusted over time. A speech-language pathologist chooses tasks that match the person and changes them as they improve. The second is volume. Research on aphasia recovery points to many hours of practice on most days, and that is hard to sustain when every session needs a helper. How much practice is enough covers what the research says.

That is the gap therapy software is meant to fill. Parrot Software has 94 programs covering speaking, understanding, reading, writing, memory and attention, and many of them listen to spoken answers. The first week is free with no credit card. See aphasia therapy software compared for how it stacks up against other options.

Common questions

Are there free aphasia exercises online that need no account?
Yes. Parrot Software has a free Action Verbs lesson at app.parrotsoftware.com/try/action-verbs. A person hears an action word, watches three short animations, and picks the one that matches. There are three lessons of 10 actions, each about 5 minutes. There is no account, no email address and no download, and nothing is saved.
Can free exercises really help with aphasia?
The exercise matters less than how it is done. Practice helps most when it is at the right level of difficulty, happens on most days, and adds up to many hours over time. Free exercises done that way are worthwhile. The exercises on this page are the same kinds of tasks speech-language pathologists use; what they cannot provide is a clinician choosing the right level and adjusting it.
How hard should the exercises be?
A useful rule of thumb is that the person should get most items right, roughly seven or eight out of ten, but not all of them. If nearly every answer is wrong, the task is too hard and practice becomes discouraging. If every answer is right and quick, it is too easy to build anything.
How long should a practice session be?
Short and frequent works better than long and occasional. Ten to twenty minutes, once or twice a day, is a reasonable starting point. Stop before frustration or fatigue sets in, even if that means a shorter session.
Should a family member help, or should the person practice alone?
Both have a place. A family member can give hints and encouragement, but should wait several seconds before helping and avoid correcting every error. Practicing alone, with software that responds, lets a person put in many more attempts without anyone else needing to be there.