Back in January, my Mom had a stroke. As terrible as strokes are, she was extremely lucky. The only thing affected by the damage to her brain was her speech. She is alive, with no paralysis, and is completely mobile. Thank the Lord!
Aphasia is a communication disorder that results from damage to the parts of the brain that contain language. These individuals may have additional difficulties beyond speech and language issues, such as difficulty listening, reading, and writing. However, aphasia does not affect intelligence.
Patients with aphasia know exactly what they want to say, but there is a disconnect between the brain and getting the words to come out of their mouth. It's frustrating. What was once second nature, requires a lot of patience, practice, and hard work. Ordering dinner at a restaurant, saying thank you at the grocery store, asking your loved ones how their day was, expressing your feelings, no longer just happen.
My Mom has been working hard to recover her communication skills. She had therapy a few times a day while she was hospitalized, entered an outpatient therapy program at Orlando Health, then was finally admitted into UCF's Aphasia House. All of the therapists my Mom has worked with have been so wonderful. Every one of them has truly had her best interest at heart and have encouraged her speech recovery every step of the way.
It amazes me how things happen in our lives for a reason. A Speech Language Pathologist Mom from my kid's school ran into me at the hospital and gave me advise. She continued to check up on my Mom, in the weeks following the stroke. A former student of mine was a grad student at the UCF Aphasia House and was one of my Mom's therapists. Then, a Speech Language Pathologist friend from high school just published a book aimed at helping the recovery of aphasia patients. God's timing is impeccable!
Connie Guarneri has sixteen years experience as a SLP, working to rehabilitate adults with speech and language disorders. She recently partnered with artist Adrienne Yorinks to collaborate on a workbook for patients with aphasia. Connie posted information about her new book shortly after my Mom was released from the hospital. Connecting Language and Art: Facilitating Speech & Language Recovery arrived and my Mom loved it.
The book uses art as a way to draw words out of patients. This book caters to any patient with aphasia, but as a retired elementary art teacher, it was especially fun for my Mom. She enjoys view the artwork in the book and answering the questions, completing the tasks, reading the descriptions, and describing the art.
We make copies of the pages for my Mom (or she just uses plain paper), so that she is not writing in the book and can continually reuse it. She uses it when she has time off from structured therapy. Sometimes she sits and works on it by herself and other times, we work with her. The visual images really invoke increased communication from my Mom and for that I am truly grateful.
My Mom continues to work to regain her speech and language abilities. I don't know if she will ever fully recover, but this book and her therapists, along with patience and encouragement from her family and friends has helped her improve drastically. My gratitude, prayers, and blessings go out to all who have helped in this process. Thank you!
If you or someone you know suffers from aphasia, you can purchase this book HERE.
