Author: University of Arizona Aphasia Clinic

1. As soon as you can speak at all, ask people in your hospital room or rehab center — or your home — not to speak about you as if you are not there.
2. We believe that we didn’t really start recovering until we became acquainted with other persons with aphasia.
3. Ask doctors to explain fully what happened to you, what they are doing to help you and what you should expect in the future. They need to do this repeatedly — even every day if necessary. Your memory may have been affected, or medications may make things fuzzy. You need to hear the story over and over again.
4. Doctors do not necessarily know how much or how little you may recover. There is no arbitrary limit. All of us who had strokes five years ago or more continue to get better. Don’t give up!
5. Start therapy right away. Speech, physical, occupational therapy — all can be vitally important for you.
6. You may have to start slowly — perhaps just relearning the alphabet. But there is nothing you can’t improve if you help yourself.
7. It’s OK to cry. For those of us who have had strokes, depression and frustration “go with the territory.” People who are achievement oriented are especially likely to get depressed. But of course they also are the kind of persons most likely to overcome the problem of aphasia.
8. As soon as you can, find out what therapy services are available. In the Tucson area, there are many places where you can find helpful individual therapy sessions. And as soon as possible, do find a place for group with persons like yourself.
9. Good health habits are all the more important for a person who has had a stroke and wishes not to have another. No smoking, of course. Get lots of exercise. Monitor your medications very, very carefully.
10. Know when you need a break. Therapy may fatigue you far more than you know. Take a nap every afternoon. Give yourself time to disengage. Relax!
11. You can’t do the same things you used to do in the same way. You probably won’t be able to do any two things at one time.
12. You are a new person. In spite of the stroke, and in spite of aphasia, you can be in fact a better person — more relaxed, not so hard on yourself, more committed to helping others.
    

Author: Judi Stradinger

• A card is in John’s wallet which states he is aphasic and give hints to talk slowly and wait for his answer. Please contact the Stroke Connection at the AHA @ 1.800.553.6321
  
• A good way of recalling proper names (such as family) is by praying for each of them every morning.
  
• Reconstructing a sentence: We ask John a sentence and then he must say “yes” or “no” and then use the rest of the sentence which we modeled.
  
• Ask your librarian where the developmental reading books are located. These books are written on a 7th to 8th grade reading level but on topics to interest adults. They are abridged.
  
• Concerning eating out: Ask the waiter to cut the food up in the kitchen.
  
• Say the Lord’s Prayer or any other prayers he has memorized.
  
• Read books like you enjoyed reading before the stroke. Set aside a certain time each day to read and keep reading when it does not make “much” sense. Eventually, according to Roger Ross, “things” will begin to click and you can enjoy reading again.
  
• Get out of your home and back into normal activities like church, Wednesday night eating and Bible Study, Rotary, and movies.
  
• Encourage other friends to come by and take them to lunch, etc.
  
• Establishing new household duties after your stroke: feed the dog, wind the grandfather clocks, check and lock the doors at night, etc (anything they can now do with only the use of one hand)
  
• Purchase items to help stroke survivor develop every day functions: special shoe laces for one hand (available from Ali-Med 800-225-2610), toothpaste squeezer, wash-mit, etc.
  
• “News for Today” is a newspaper written on an 8th grade level and has a good crossword puzzle.
  
• Flash cards: (suggestion of Ed Snapp, “Futures Unlimited”) Make flash cards about 12″ long, 3 l/2″ high. Letter lines at least 1/4″ wide. Black on white with no capital letters. Say the word before you show it. Flash the cards from the bottom up. John should immediately say the word loud and clear. If he fails, you say the work and flash it again. John should immediately say the word loud and cleaar. Nouns at first. Doing this twice a day will help John say the words that he wants to “intentionally say”.
  
• Praactiace basic sounds with the mouth opened wide: ah—gah—mah—dah—nah—bah. Maintain each sound about 2 seconds. Repeat each sound 4 or 5 times.

Author: JackQue Day

Taken form JackQue Day’s booklets “Oh my Gosh! I Had A Stroke!”

Ten Commandments for the Stroke Survivor

Thou shalt love thyself exactly where thou are, and love thyself with all thy heart.
Thou shalt smile all thine day, whether thou feel like it or not.
Thou shall honor thyself in the midst of one of thine tantrums.
Thou shall love thy caregiver with all thine heart.
Thou shall rest thine self with at least one nap per day.
Thou shall put all thine heart into thine therapy, and honor thy therapist.
Thou shall abstain from all forms of food that causes grief into thy stomach and therefore provoke thy heart into weakness.
Thou shall abstain from swearing upon thyself, as well upon thy caregiver.
Thou shall find joy in laughing often. Thou shall belly-laugh at least three times per day and play fun games daily.
Thou shall love thyself and thy caregiver as thyself and love God above all.

Ten Commandments for the Family, Friends, and Caregivers of Stroke Survivors

1. Thou shall love thyself with all thy heart.
Thou shall plan to have time all to thineself, no matter what demands thy Stroke Survivor puts upon thyself.
Thou shall smile at thine Stroke Survivor when they are in their tantrum.
Thou shall love thy Stroke Survivor with all thine heart, even when they are crotchety.
Thou shall make time to rest thyself with at least one nap per day. Their demands are great, therefore thy rest is required of thine.
Thou shall take thine Stroke Survivor to their therapy, and assist in any way possible with love.
Thou shall prepare wholesome food that brings love, health, and balance to the heart of thy Stroke Survivor as well as thyself.
Thou shall abstain from allowing thy Stroke Survivor from swearing toward thyself, and thou shall abstain from swearing toward thy Stroke Survivor, as well as thyself.
Thou shall play fun games with thy Stroke Survivor, and assist in finding things in joy to laugh about together. Thou shall belly-laugh at least three times per day as well.
Thou shall love thyself and thy Stroke Survivor as thyself and love God above all.

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If you would like to order either of JackQue Day’s booklets or any of her other material you can contact HappyStances at:

HappyStances, Inc.
P.O. Box 6638
Scottsdale, AZ 85261-6638
Phone: 602.348.9657.
Fax: 602.248.2036.

Author: Judith Russo

My husband loved the music from the 1950″s, and country music. We had a lot of old tapes and we began to play them. We found that the words came quite naturally, and he was able to sing them very well, despite his inability to “speak fluently”. TRY IT. IT MAY WORK FOR YOU, TOO! Also, you can go on the internet to Aphasia.Org and find a site in your area where there are support groups. If you live near a University, call the Speech/Hearing Department. Many of them have clinics where their graduate students needing training/experience will give speech therapy to your Aphasic on a very low cost, or sliding scale.

Author: Pelagie M. Beeson, PhD., CCC-SLP

I. Create an Atmosphere Conductive to Successful Communication

• Treat the aphasic patient as an adult.


• Create an atmosphere in which the individual is encouraged to make decisions, offer comments, and communicate thoughts and desires.


• Remember that successful communication is the goal, regardless of the modality or quality of the response.


• Ignore the grammatical errors and poor articulation if you understand the message.


• Do not turn “conversation” into “therapy” by correcting or requesting repetition unnecessarily.


• Really listen, give undivided attention.


• Keep distractions and background noise to a minimum.


• Try to keep the communication situation relaxed, thus facilitating reactive utterances.


• Seek and appreciate humor to lighten the communication interaction.