Caring for a person next to aphasia

At one time or another, we've all have trouble thinking of a word we wanted to right to be heard. Often it's someone's name--even a name we know well. Sometimes, especially when we most want to, we can't remember the pet name of a common point or concept.
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Doctor determined to overcome injury

By CYNTHIA HUBERT
THE SACRAMENTO BEE

last updated: December 31, 2007 11:58:06 AM

SACRAMENTO -- It is a shimmering autumn morning, and Cathy Liu is venturing out into the world.

Just outside the door of her apartment, there are two concrete steps between her and the driveway.

A couple of yards ahead, a tree branch stops her in her tracks.

In front of her, a car roars menacingly down the street.

Cathy takes careful, quiet steps in her neighborhood in the shadow of the bustling UC Davis Medical Center complex, where a few months ago she was a newly minted doctor in training. A thick plastic and metal brace cradles her right leg; her right arm hangs limply at her side. Her bright yellow rain jacket threatens to swallow her small frame. Her dark, bottle-brush hair is starting to grow over the scar that curls across the left side of her head.

Her physical therapist, Susan Matthews, walks beside her, keeping watch the way a tigress might eye her cub. Cathy's mother, Pam, walks a few paces behind them.

At her therapist's request, Cathy pauses now and then to identify everyday things.

"Do ... you ... see ... the ... water?" Cathy asks haltingly, pointing to a puddle.

"Do ... you ... see ... the ... pumpkin?"

"Do ... you ... see ... the ... truck?"

"Great job, Cathy!" Matthews says. Cathy smiles.
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American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology

Purpose: The Kentucky Aphasia Test (KAT) is an objective measure of language functioning for persons with aphasia. This article describes materials, administration, and scoring of the KAT; presents the rationale for development of test items; reports information from a pilot study; and discusses the role of the KAT in aphasia assessment.

Method: The KAT has 3 parallel test batteries, KAT-1, KAT-2, and KAT-3. Each battery contains the same orientation test and 6 subtests, each with 10 items, assessing expressive and receptive language functions. Subtests for KAT-1, KAT-2, and KAT-3 systematically increase in difficulty so that it is possible to assess individuals with severe, moderate, and mild aphasia, respectively. The KAT was administered to 38 participants with aphasia and 31 non-brain-damaged (NBD) participants.

Results: Results with the KAT clearly differentiated the language performance of individuals with and without aphasia. NBD participants made few errors, and overall scores on the test for individuals with aphasia were rarely within 1 SD of the NBD group. Performance of the participants with aphasia administered KAT-1, KAT-2, and KAT-3 suggested that the 3 versions of the test represent a hierarchy of difficulty.

Veteran to recount war story that earned France's 'merci'

On Sunday, Nov. 4, just before heading to Washington for the ceremony, Bernie Rader will recount the harrowing adventure that led to his receiving the honor. He and his wife will show a documentary, For One English Officer, and answer questions about his experience at the Jewish Community Center of Central New Jersey at 10:30 a.m. The Raders talk is being cosponsored by Temple Emanu'El of Westfield.

The Raders have given their presentation on the POW exchange about 60 times at JCCs, libraries, and other venues throughout the region, working together since a stroke nine years ago left him with aphasia, a language impairment that can make it difficult to speak.

Aphasia

Yesterday, I saw P. She is in her seventies. She saw another physician, who had diagnosed her with Alzheimer's. Actually, she doesn't have that. She has progressive aphasia. Aphasia is when you lose language. She can't find the words that she wants to use. Alzheimer's patients also develop aphasia. But they develop other thinking issues. They have "global" cognitive decline. So this is different. Words that we need get put into a filing cabinet. Then, when we need them we go and retrieve them. P has lost the Next...

Games for Word Retrieval Therapy

Matching games, such as the one on this site, are fun, simple ways of learning the identification of words and pictures. But they can also have a much higher purpose - - helping those with word retrieval difficulties. Speech and language pathologists often use matching games in their therapy to help patients with specific word retrieval disorders - - particularly aphasia.

Aphasia is a word-retrieval disorder characterized by the inability to think of the right word to say or write, or an inability to name common objects. The disorder is often a side affect of a stroke, or other brain injury and is a result of damage sustained to one of the areas of the brain responsible for language. Aphasia can also include difficulty understanding spoken words, speaking aloud, reading, or writing. Next...................

Aphasia victims find a voice in UA group

April R. Ford

Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: News

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Stroke and disease can sometimes cripple a person's ability to use and understand basic language. But a UA communication group offers a way for people with aphasia, a severe communication disorder, to re-establish who they are on their own terms.

"Aphasia is a language disorder, meaning it affects our ability to understand or use our words, vocabulary, grammar and all the pieces that go into framing a message," said Barbara Shadden, a professor at the College of Education and Health Professions.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke estimated that about a million people across the U.S. are affected by aphasia, which results from damage to the language parts of the brain.

Every person has their own sense of who they are, Shadden said, but the problem for victims of aphasia is that the idea of a self depends on how you use language.

For people who have suffered stroke or other disease, aphasia can hinder their ability to tell the world who they are, Shadden said.

"We all believe in our sense of self," Shadden said, "but the problem is it depends on others, and communication is the key."

A communication group was created at the UA's Speech and Hearing Clinic in 2004 to provide therapy to individuals having trouble telling their story because of aphasia. The group's focus centers on recreating the individual's sense of self through the development and communication of a life story, Shadden said.

Telling that story on their own terms is a crucial part of the communication group, said Patricia Koski, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice.

"People recreate a self," Koski said. "Although, if they don't have the tools to recreate that self, they are in danger of losing it in the sense that somebody else decides for them who they are or what they are capable of."

Members of the UA communication group use tools such as beliefs, gestures or words to share their life story with others.