Hello,

I am a librarian, and I have a patron who is suffering from aphasia. He is desperately seeking resources that will aid him in recovery.

We tried two books:
1)Life After Stroke: The Guide to Recovering Your Health and Preventing Another Stroke (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book) by Joel Stein MD, Julie K. Silver MD, and Elizabeth Pegg Frates MD
2)Family Guide to Surviving Stroke & Communications Disorders by Dennis C. Tanner

Neither of these books were easy enough for him to read (frankly, even I found them difficult to read).

Are there any books or other resources that can help him with recovery, especially in relation to day to day tasks like check writing?

Many thanks!

It sounds as though your library patron is looking for speech-language therapy related resources that he would be able to use at home. I’m not sure how long ago he sustained his stroke, but it would be helpful for him to receive a current speech-language evaluation. At that time, he can ask the therapist to help him create a home program. Each stroke survivor with aphasia has different language strengths and weaknesses and some therapy techniques or strategies will be helpful for one person but not for another. There are unlikely to be ”off the shelf” books or materials that will be effective without the assistance of an experienced therapist to start things off.

If your patron is interested in learning about first person accounts of stroke and aphasia, or if he is interested in reading other literature, he may find that books on tape are usually much easier to follow. Depending on where he lives, there are various aphasia groups or Aphasia Centers that have started Aphasia Book Clubs. He may find participating in a book club a wonderful way to connect with other people with aphasia at the same time as he is reconnecting with literature. I am the Executive Director of the Aphasia Center of California, and our website has information about our Aphasia Book Connection (TM) program as well as examples of the materials: http://www.aphasiacenter.org

Best, Roberta Elman

If you could let me know in which community your patron lives, I will try to make some recommendations re: low cost or free aphasia groups/services.

Best,

Roberta Elman