"If I had a walking stick you'd slow down to walk with me, why won't you do the same with my talking?"

Why an almost full recovery isn't always as good as it seems

The quote from the title is something that has stayed with me throughout my first week at placement. I have had a brilliant opportunity to meet all sorts of clients- aphasia, dysphagia, voice, cancer, long term neurological conditions...the list goes on. It's been a bit scary but I've survived, loved every second and am looking forward to the remaining four weeks.

I have observed and assessed aphasia in acute, neuro-rehab and outpatients settings. Beforehand I thought the acute setting would be most difficult, from a client and family point of view.

However, it has been really surprising to see how the people that have made amazing progress and appear typical communicators on the surface seem to have found it just as difficult. When you have a communication difficulty that is invisible to the non-SLT it can be easy for the family and other communication partners to forget, not notice how the person with aphasia feels or just ignore the problems because it is the easiest, least upsetting thing to do.



By continuing to talk how they've always talked - interrupting each other, talking loudly, talking quickly, using complex language.. the person with aphasia is at risk of becoming socially isolated and feeling upset, frustrated and overwhelmed.

The need to educate and work with communication partners has been highlighted more than ever this week - it has really shown how even at a high level of recovery, the person with aphasia needs the support from their family to access the community and enjoy communication again. Impairment based therapy can seem like the most appropriate thing for an SLT to do, but sometimes a simple 'you know what, your family member has done amazingly well but now they just need you to just slow down and wait' can have more effective results.


Lauren