Assistant Professor Regina Jokel speech-language pathologist and researcher at Baycrest, collaborated with colleagues Susan Romeril, Penina Ackerman, and Maria Piccini as well as web developer Imran Somji (LibreTek), to develop an interesting and fun way to battle the tip of the tongue phenomenon (TOT).
Everyone over the age of 40 experiences so called TOT, which is a frustrating instance of an inability to retrieve a desired word. The frequency of these instances increases with age. Even though, literally millions experience it, there is very little information about TOT available to a lay person. Professor Jokel examined the first 100 websites randomly selected from the Internet that were devoted to word retrieval problems and did not find a single one that would offer free of charge content. In particular Jokel was looking for:
1. Evidence-based information on word finding challenges in healthy aging;
2. Self-assessment with 20 randomly selected items requiring efficient word retrieval;
3. Various strategies for word- finding problems;
4. Selection of activities for practicing word retrieval in various contexts.
Recognizing that there was a need for a free resource, professor Jokel applied for and received funding from the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation. The team then created a powerful online tool for self-management of word-finding difficulties. The website called “Word Finding: Words at your Fingertips” is intended for users who are healthy older adults, who wish to educate themselves about age-related word finding problems and train their word retrieval skills. Research has found evidence that being pro-active may reduce the occurrence of bothersome and often embarrassing moments of forgetfulness
Word Finding: Words at your Fingertips has just launched and is available to the public free of charge at
wordfinding.ca. |