What is Aphasia?
Aphasia is when a person has difficulties with their language (understanding, speaking, reading and/or writing) typically as a result of a stroke or brain injury.
What is Aphasia therapy?
Typically, Aphasia Therapy starts with an assessment of your language. Language can be complex so its important for us to identify your strengths, in order to improve the areas you find difficult. We used standardised communication Aphasia assessments that assess understanding, talking, reading and writing. We discuss the results of these assessments to help you and your loved ones understand your communication difficulties. We provide advice on the best ways to support communication.
Why is Goal setting important in Aphasia therapy?
Many of us set goals in our lives. It might be on new years day when we set a goal to stop eating quite so much chocolate, during sport or part of our working lives. Following a stroke, goals are shown to improve motivation and mood.
Goal setting is a process when we get to know what is important to you as a person, what you might be finding difficult and the impact of your Aphasia. We can involve partners in this process to make it easier. These goals might be remembering family names, using the phone to order a taxi or writing emails. We are all individuals and our goals are unique to each of us.
What is the best therapy for Aphasia?
There are two types of Aphasia Therapy – Impairment and Functional therapy. Impairment based therapy is usually repeated exercises based on your goals, using paper resources or apps. Functional therapy is the focus on real life goals that reflects your everyday communication interactions with others. This might involve training family members in supportive communication skills. It is important to work on both aspects to support your communication.
Does Aphasia improve with therapy?
The treatment for Aphasia is with Speech and Language Therapy. Research shows that Speech Therapy is effective for people with Aphasia following a stroke, compared to no therapy. Research also shows that Aphasia Therapy Online is as effective as face-to-face Aphasia Therapy. You or your family member need to understand to be able to engage in online therapy - we can discuss this further in the free consultation.
How can you help someone with Aphasia?
After an assessment, a Speech Therapist will be able to give you specific advice about the best ways in which to communicate.
Below is some general guidance:
Give the person plenty of time to respond. If a person with Aphasia feels rushed or pressured to speak they may become anxious, which can affect their ability to communicate.
Use short, uncomplicated sentences.
Do not change the topic of conversation too quickly.
Avoid finishing a person's sentences or correcting their errors.
Reduce distractions.
If you don't understand something a person with Aphasia is trying to communicate, don't pretend you understand.
Use visual references, such as pointing, gesturing and objects, to support their understanding.
If they're having difficulty finding the right word, prompt them – ask them to describe the word, think of a similar word, try to visualise it, think of the sound the word starts with, try to write the word, use gestures, or point to an object.
Our Speech and Language Therapists are Clinical Specialists in Aphasia. Arrange a free 15 minute consultation or email thespeechnetwork@hotmail.com