Boy invents software to help his grandmother regain cognitive functions

Matthew and his grandmother were close. After the stroke, the inventor’s grandmother was having trouble in communicating and understanding things. After noticing that, in therapy, the grandmother was failing to respond to flashcards of stick figures and random images of houses and cars, Matthew developed a PowerPoint computer program that included pictures of his grandmother’s home, family members and dog. This ended up being a good idea and the beginning of Grey Matter.

“After making it very personal, she was starting to progress”, the boy explained.

Matthew kept improving this software so that it could be ran in a computer and also on tablets, enabling it to include personal information to help other patients with brain injuries. This solution allows loved ones to upload personal photos, music and customize the background, so that this tool for rehab is more individualized.

According to Matthew, his grandmother is now able to respond to questions and speak sentences.

“And before I knew it, she’d tap on the right picture and be able to say stuff for me to respond”, the inventor said.

Matthew is trying to make this program useful for other patients, beyond stroke victims. He and his family are talking with a patent lawyer so that they can trademark Grey Matter.
The boy was a semifinalist at the 2014 Intel Science Talent Search competition.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2DaNpI7