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Partial Review by -Susan Robinson, MBA, MA, CCC-SLP of Moss Rehabilitation Hospital Philadelphia, PA

The scope of the booklet is exceptional. The detailed information includes discussions of pensions and benefits, rights as a hospital patient and as a person with a disability, services available, vocational issues, relationship issues, and maintaining or establishing interests as well as the more basic explanations of what is occupational therapy, physical therapy, etc. On almost every page, resources are listed with phone numbers and/or Web sites as appropriate for that section. Although normally, this could be seen as repetitious, for this book it is not because it highlights the resources for that particular issue. Each section can be read as needed without the need to have read previous sections.

Overall, this is an excellent resource guide on aphasia. The structure and content of the book emphasize how to maximize communication for persons with aphasia. It is one of the few aphasia resources dedicated to the person with aphasia versus the family or professionals. While this resource will be most useful to persons with aphasia and their families, there is substantial material that is relevant to traumatic brain injury. Clinicians working with persons with stroke or traumatic brain injury will want to check out this user-friendly handbook.

Purchase this book from Amazon .

While rewarding, caregiving requires tremendous emotional, physical and spiritual stamina. Chicken Soup for the Caregiver’s Soul offers a much needed dose of inspiration and support, not only for professional caregivers, but the more than a quarter of the adult population worldwide who help care for ailing family members or friends. These stories celebrate the singular contributions of caregivers and reminds us all of the difference they make everyday in people’s lives…and the world.

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A stroke can alter two people’s lives in an instant. For the person who has had a stroke, simple tasks suddenly become difficult or impossible. For that person’s partner, life seems to revolve mostly around the stroke survivor’s needs. Such a drastic change naturally requires making many, sometimes taxing, adjustments. In this book, two experts in stroke recovery help couples deal with the impact of stroke on their lives and their relationship. Drs. Sara and Jeffrey Palmer explain how to overcome three major challenges: providing quality care for your partner? maintaining or rebuilding your relationship? caring for yourself as an individualThe book invites you into the lives of real couples who are themselves coping with these challenges. Their experiences model how you can improve essential aspects of your relationship, including communication, roles and responsibilities, and sexuality. A list of practical tips summarizes each chapter, providing a handy reference guide to meeting each day’s challenges. Order from Amazon .

There’s more to life after a stroke than therapy! See how much fun you can have with your favorite hobby in this little easy-to-read book, with 50 tips,16 how-to-do-it photos, bonus tips, shopping list, resource guide, and more! For people who can only use one hand, this book shows easy craft tips for any hobby. Creative expression is too important to give up after a stroke. Paul Berger, stroke survivor, and award winning author of “How to Conquer the World With One Hand…And an Attitude,” credits his model train hobby as a key part of returning to a fulfilling life. If you don’t have a hobby, follow Paul’s tips to see why you need one, and how to find your own fulfilling hobby. Print version is 30 pages.

Now available on your Kindle .

In January 2006, Lee and Bob Woodruff seemed to have it all–a happy marriage, four beautiful children, and marvelous careers. Bob had just been named co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight, but then, while he was embedded with the military in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. He and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were hit, and Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him.

In an Instant is the frank and compelling account of how Bob and Lee Woodruff’s lives came together, were blown apart, and then were miraculously put together again–and how they persevered, with grit but also with humor, through intense trauma and fear. More than a dual memoir of love and courage, In an Instant is an important, wise, and inspiring guide to coping with tragedy–and an extraordinary drama of marriage, family, war, and nation. Amazon

This is a personal account written from the perspective of a carer. Huw’s wife suffered a brainstem stroke and he looked after her. This book is about how he coped with this and how he looked after himself during this time.

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For the person with aphasia, being able over time to act in one’s own behalf is an essential ingredient in making life work again for both the survivor and the caregiver.

Getting back a sense of self comes from participating in life – not from being isolated and pitied for what is or isn’t present or working.

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From back cover: The foremost book on cutting edge medical advances and opportunities for traditional treatment in China today!

Read Article about Ruth and her experience in China by clicking on Aphasia Hope.

Order Hope Help & Healing.

Alison Bonds Shapiro had two debilitating and nearly fatal brain stem strokes in her early fifties. She was profoundly disabled and, she believed, without a productive future. Today, after a remarkable recovery, she is a motivational speaker, a recovery skills teacher, a business consultant, coach, and non-profit leadership mentor. Alison is also a published artist and author.

From the Foreword by Dr. James Gordon
“Healing into Possibility is Alison Bonds Shapiro’s account of her remarkable recovery from two life-threatening, life challenging bleeds into her brain stem, the part of the nervous system that governs our most vital functions, including breathing and heartbeat. It is an enormously inspiring and deeply practical guide for anyone who has been affected by a stroke, an accident, or any other form of cataclysmic injury……

Alison shares with us, without fanfare or self-importance, lessons that we can apply in lives as yet untouched by physical calamity. There are many of them, and because she is so candid about her own struggles, so unaffected in offering them to us, they are easy for us to read, believe, assimilate, and perhaps even live by……

‘My strokes happened,’ she tells us toward the end of the book, ‘I healed, and now it is my privilege to live out the lessons I learned from them.’ It is our privilege, and our delight, to learn the deep psychological and spiritual — and human — lessons she is teaching, and, perhaps, to learn with her to live them out in our own lives.” Order Book

Sonya’s Story
Sonya Rulli, Creator of “The Miracle Mind Program”

My husband Bob and I were preparing to send our youngest (of seven children) to college in 1992. For the first time in 38 years we were going to be on our own. We were looking forward to an “empty nest” and some time to ourselves.

But alas, our plans were brought to a screeching halt when my mother-in-law had a debilitating stroke. We immediately transitioned from adolescent care to eldercare. She had global aphasia and was paralyzed on the right side of her body. Her long term outlook was not good. We decided to bring her into our home, but found ourselves charged with a responsibility we had underestimated. Going from being a full-time parent to caring for a parent full time was unlike anything we could have imagined. We could not afford to hire a live in caregiver, so I developed a plan to bring harmony back into my life and my home.

Over time I saw the benefits of my plan. Our home ran very smoothly. I stopped the chaos of managing Mom’s life with my organizational system and occasionally hired home health caregivers to stay with Mom to give me time for myself. However, the worksheets I developed that allowed family and friends – ages 6 to 75 – to break her isolation and assist her in regaining her memory and reconnecting to life were the innovation that changed everything. The worksheets brought her the much needed socialization and repetition that are key to recovering from a brain injury.

Interacting with others was something Mom began to look forward to. Her memory, cognitive skills and aphasia began to improve rapidly. Best of all, through our new approach, we learned things about Mom that we hadn’t known before. She was able to share what she did for fun as a child, who her favorite singer was as a teenager, what she felt when women were granted the right to vote, and many other things we had been too busy to ask about before.

Even if Mom had never regained a single skill or single memory, every second of effort we spent on her was worth it. Her life was too precious to for us to have given up on her.

To create your caregiving path to success read Sonya’s Story.