EMPOWER: Living Well with Aphasia. DVD, 5 minutes. This DVD was created by people with aphasia at the SCALE Center in Baltimore, MD to encourage their peers to fully participate in life. The acronym, “EMPOWER” is used to provide seven recommendations for re-engaging community. Great DVD for you support group or program! Order

Carol Schultz suffered an aphasic stroke that left her completely without words. She could neither speak, read nor write, and understood spoken words only with great difficulty. “Crossing the Void” is the story of her courageous journey back.

With the language part of her brain permanently damaged, in a different approach to re-learning speech and writing, Schultz taught herself to picture individual letters to prompt the sounds that would become words. Her book describes the painstaking process that led her from wordlessness to book author. Order .

Have you ever wondered why some golfers stare at the ball for so long before they actually swing? Or why some basketball players seem to zone out just before shooting a free throw? And some track and field athletes seem to be in a trance right before they line up to race? Chances are, these athletes are tapping into the amazing potential of the human mind.

No, there’s nothing supernatural or weird going on at that free throw line. I’m not suggesting that he’s trying to mentally levitate the ball toward the hoop. (Although that probably couldn’t hurt Shaquille O’Neal’s free-throw percentage!) I’m talking about the use of mental practice….also known as visualization, or imagery.

For many years, great athletes have used mental training as well as physical training to achieve their maximum performance. When performing mental practice, a person visualizes the entire task or skill they are trying to improve, imagining every specific movement of that activity. From start to finish, the athlete will mentally rehearse the movement or skill, and can actually improve his/her physical performance of that movement or skill through mental practice.

In his book “Mental Training for Peak Performance,” Steven Ungerleider, PhD, reports of a study conducted on Olympic track and field athletes regarding mental practice. Out of 633 athletes surveyed, 83 percent reported using mental practice as part of their training. Some mentally practice their performance right before the sport or event, but others set aside time for mental practice as part of their daily training regimen.

Obviously I didn’t write this article to encourage you in your golf game, or prepare you for the next summer Olympics. Mental practice is a not just a widely used training technique for athletes, but also a valuable treatment option in stroke recovery.

Consider the research below on the effectiveness of mental practice in stroke rehab.

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Brain Games – by aarp
Have fun working your memory, problem-solving and language skills with these new online games. Adjust the game to your skill level and see how you rate next to top players. Have a favorite? We’d love to hear what you think. Cast your vote using the poll at the lower left. aarp brain games

Games For The Brain: : Games For The Brain

Check more websites for brain health by going to Google

Games for Purchase:

Writing classes:
Scrabble: Scrabble

Scrabble Slam (cards): Scrabble Slam

Scattergories: Scattergories

Boggle: Boggle

Speech classes:
Catch Phrase!: Catch Phrase

Guestures: Guestures

Likewise: Likewise

Name 5: Name 5

One day Ackerman’s husband, Paul West, an exceptionally gifted wordsmith and intellectual, suffered a terrible stroke. When he regained awareness he was afflicted with aphasia-loss of language-and could utter only a single syllable: “mem.” The standard therapies yielded little result but frustration. Diane soon found, however, that by harnessing their deep knowledge of each other and her scientific understanding of language and the brain she could guide Paul back to the world of words. This triumphant book is both a humane and revealing addition to the medical literature on stroke and aphasia and an exquisitely written love story: a magnificent addition to literature, period.”

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Schultz suffered an aphasic stroke that left her completely without words. She could not speak, read nor write and had difficulty understanding words spoken to her. “Crossing the Void” is the story of her courageous journey back.

With the language part of her brain permanently damaged, in an unorthodox approach to re-learning speech and writing, she taught herself to visualize words to prompt her speech. Her book describes the painstaking process that led her from wordlessness to book author.

In a masterfully crafted narrative, the author brings the reader into her aphasic mind enabling them to better understand what it is like to be aphasic. She provides fascinating insight into the workings of a damaged brain driven to regain normalcy, as well as a frank appraisal of the resources available to help aphasic victims. Hers is the inspiring story of a woman determined to overcome a major disability and, now, to help others do so as well.

“Crossing the Void” is a compelling read for everyone. But especially, it begs to be read by every professional and lay person working with aphasia and language learning disorders.

Order this book through www.crossingthevoid.com or through your local book store.

Designed for people with aphasia, an impairment in the ability to use language, these apps provide a vocabulary of pictures that talk in a natural human voice.

Our New SmallTalk Apps:

SmallTalk Conversational Phrases: words and phrases commonly used in conversations, such as greetings, responses, requests, and statements about well-being.
SmallTalk Daily Activities: words and phrases related to the activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, grooming, and leisure.
SmallTalk Pain Scale: pain descriptions and images from the Wong-Baker FACES pain scale.
SmallTalk Intensive Care: words and phrases patients can use to communicate with medical providers in the ICU.
The Rest of the SmallTalk Family:

Other Lingraphica apps available on the Apple App store are SmallTalk Aphasia Female; SmallTalk Aphasia Male; SmallTalk Dysphagia; SmallTalk Oral Motor Exercises; SmallTalk Phonemes; SmallTalk Consonant Blends; SmallTalk Common Phrases; SmallTalk Days, Months, Dates; and SmallTalk Letters, Numbers, Colors.

Lingraphica’s chief executive officer, Andrew Gomory, is delighted to be offering additional SmallTalk apps for use on the iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad. “These SmallTalk apps provide affordable communication solutions,” said Mr. Gomory. “We are pleased to be able to offer our growing family of apps to aid people with their day to day activities.”

Lingraphica-The Aphasia Company™ is the leading provider of speech-generating devices for people whose ability to speak or understand words has been impaired by a stroke or brain injury. With the Lingraphica they can communicate with picture icons that speak words and phrases in a natural human voice, or they can practice speech using videos and language exercises. The Lingraphica is Medicare reimbursable. It is available for a no-obligation trial. For more information call 888-APHASIA (888-274-2742) or visit www.lingraphica.com

This is a concise, clearly written story of one young woman’s “triumph over the disabilities of a severe stroke.” The author is currently the Chief of Staff of the National Stroke and Quality of Life Medical Education Institute at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York.

The book is “user friendly,” including a brief Appendix that gives relevant facts about the occurrence, clinical features, and economic costs of stroke. There is also a reading list and a list of resources available for stroke patients and their families. To order .

Anna Basso has run an aphasia rehabilitation unit for more than thirty years. In this book she draws on her considerable experience to provide researchers, clinicians, and their students and trainees in speech-language pathology and therapy, aphasiology, and neuropsychology with comprehensive coverage of the evolution and state of the art of aphasia research and therapy. To order .

• Take stock of your abilities, needs and concerns.  Ask yourself: Am I able to be a caregiver?
• Ask yourself what you need to do tomorrow, next week, next month and next year to get through this illness.  If the time frame is too large, make smaller time assessments of your needs.
• Determine if your loved one understands and accepts the demands of the illness.
• Develop a care coaching team – and make a list.  Include doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers, financial advisors, attorneys, family members and friends.  Make sure the list includes phone numbers and e-mail addre3sses and is never far from your phone.
•  Learn to laugh at the little things.  Time is precious.
•  Find time to talk, cry, laugh, discover, give, take, inspire, hope and dream
• Protect your own health.  That means eating a good diet and getting regular physical activity and respite care.  Get the sleep you need and visit your doctor regularly.
• De-stress:  Implement stress reduction techniques such as exercise, massage, meditation, journaling or support group.
• Make sure your hoe is set up to provide safe care.
•  Use appropriate technology, such as smart phones, medication reminders, life alerts, drop-foot therapeutic devises.
•  Know your limits and set appropriate boundaries.