VA Patients Granted Free Access to Cognitive Therapy App

While the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) faces a nationwide staffing shortage, military members suffer cognitive and mental health conditions at higher rates than the general population. Because of these factors, mHealth and telehealth solutions are becoming increasingly vital to veterans’ health.

The Learning Corp. today announced that it is making its Constant Therapy application available at no cost to all members of the VA health system who require speech or cognitive therapy.

The app is designed for cognitive rehabilitation and speech therapy following traumatic brain injury, aphasia, and stroke. Soldiers are at an elevated risk of injury from concussive blasts during combat, and the VA also estimates that it treats 15,000 veterans per year for stroke.

Available on most mobile and tablet platforms, Constant Therapy consists of evidence-based reading, writing, speaking, memory, math, and attention tests meant to improve those skills while providing motivation. Constant Therapy and its underlying design theory have both performed well in studies, and the American Heart Association and AARP have both officially recognized the app.

Debra Gleeson, PhD, is a speech language pathologist at the Battle Creek VA Medical Center in Michigan. In the statement, she described the app as “invaluable” to one of her stroke patients. “He works at home one to two hours a day on the tasks assigned. As a patient with severe apraxia, this has been a difference-maker. He's making major gains," she said

The move will benefit the technology, since Constant Therapy is dependent on user data to continually shape its therapies. The Learning Corp. co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Veera Anantha, PhD, said that more than 50 million unique patient exercises have already been completed on the platform, allowing the company to learn and personalize therapy for each individual patient.

The company instructs veterans to ask their VA doctor to contact The Learning Corp at 1-888-233-1399 or got to constanttherapy.com/contact-us to ask about the VA NO COST Program.