Aphasia Support Group

I'm aphasic also, although mine worsened as years passed. But NO it will never be consistent. It has to do with how the brain is functioning, where the damage is, etc., etc.

It also has to do with how relaxed and comfortable he is when he is talking with someone and what the conversation is about.

Maybe he is trying too hard at home? feeling that too much is expected of him. Why not just have chit chat conversations with him and not try to do "therapy." If family members learn the therapy techniques, they can incorporate it into conversations so he won't notice.

I suspect that he is more relaxed with his therapist because of techniques they are trained to use. Therapy isn't medicine, and neither are the exercises. When your dad is home, I would suspect he just wants to be included and will forget to try so hard and the words (and meanings) will come out much better.

You say "improve quickly" ... seems like a lot of pressure on him to me.

Thank you. You are right about how relaxed he is or isn't. His speech is very poor when he is agitated. We do chit chat with him, but he gets upset when we don't always understand him.

As for therapy at home: His speech therapist asked that we help him at home also so he is not limited to the 2 or 3 x's a week with her.

Tuesday at therapy was bad all around for him...speech/OT/PT, then we found out his blood pressure was very low so he was taken off the blood pressure medicine.

We are hoping todays therapy will go better.

As for improvement, I don't expect miracles, I would just like him to get better, not worse.

Yesterday he was talking to my brother-in-law about some saws he had in the shed. He drew pictures and explained where they were if he wanted to borrow them. The speech therapy Tuesday said the one area he improved was cognitive. He remembers a lot, just can't always get thru to us. I think seeing someone different than the 3 of us caretakers and being off the blood pressure medicine may improve his attitude and stamina.

Thank you so much for getting back to me.

By the way are you still going to a speech therapist? How long ago did your stroke happen? Are you also hemiplegic?

Mine is from traumatic brain injury. Took years to diagnose the aphasia and that was when I had a severe attack and babbled, my hair fell out, my skin fell off. It has worsened due to buildup of scar tissue in the brain from aging. I now speak with keyboard only, including in real life.

A couple of suggestions. One thing happening with your dad when he gets frustrated that you don't understand (at least with me) is that he's not so frustrated with you as with himself for not being able to do something that used to be so simple. Try asking a question in a different way (ask the question differently) and give him plenty of time to answer. This skill takes a lot of time to develop for him. I suggest a neuropsychologist when you can because they are excellent at teaching those types of things.

As for the therapy ... why not suggest something like, "If we do this, right after we finish we will do ... " (whatever one of his favorite things is. For me it might be a banana split outing? LOL ... I rarely get those anymore. Give him some motivation for doing the yucky thing with something he likes afterwards. Without knowing what he likes, I would try to incorporate the therapy into things he does like as much as possible. The speech therapist may have suggestions.

Just remember, any therapy gets boring and tiresome after a certain point for anyone in any circumstance. You'll do fine.

Thank you for your reply. You are so lucky that you understand your situation so well, my Dad doesn't. We try to explain, but I don't think he understands.

Yes, you are correct, he does get frustrated with himself more than us. We do re-phrase sentences and use a pad and pencil as well as pointing to different things around the room. We also encourage "Yes" & "No" answers to see if we are going in the right direction. He understood his speech was poorer on Tuesday and we told him we all believed it was due to his low pressure and that things would be better today.

I like your idea of what to do after therapy. He is not a big eater, never was. What he liked doing he cannot do anymore, but he does enjoy Court TV and True Crime shows so that may be a motivation.

Thank you for your suggestions and hope all goes well with you.

hello my name is amy. i, too, suffered a stroke.

after a stroke your brain has to reboot like a computer when the electricity goes out. this may take a year or longer depending on where the damage is located..when i was rebooting after my stroke, my long term memory is what i was processing for the first 6 months. i could not even process short term memory like "where did i put my shoes?"

there are some moments that i slurr my words and moments i can talk and never miss a beat.

word retriveal.

speech therapy, for me, always focused on the right answer and helped me find new strategies to remember things like a phone number. not how i said it, and that all in its self made me feel confident and not embarassed. i wanted to go to speech because they reinforce self confidence and a shoulder to cry on..

Thank you for your reply. I like to sit in once in a while with my Dad and his speech therapist to see how he is doing, unfortunately I work, so I can't do it as often as I like. The therapist did explain the retrieval issue. My Dad knows what he wants to say but it just doesn't always come out right.

At Tuesday's therapy, and a few days prior, his speech has gotten worse. The therapist noticed it also. All his classes OT/PT were shortened and he was very depressed. It turned out that his blood pressure was very low. We had to get a blood pressure gauge to regulate it with his meds.

I called my sister & Mom who are with him today (Thursday) at therapy and they said his Speech Therapist noticed a big improvement which I am sure will also go for his Occupational and Physical Therapy.

This made my day and his, I am sure. He wanted to know why he couldn't do anything last Tuesday...he was so upset. It seems the blood pressure was definitely the reason since things have improved.

My Dad is better during the day, than during the night. He seems a little confused at that time. Does this happen to all people with Aphasia?

Is it common for stroke victims to not sleep through the night? He does take naps during the day, but nights are hard. He falls asleep early, then wakes up a few times during the night calling us. I give him the TV remote in case he wants to watch TV when he wakes up. If it still early I stay and watch TV with him. I thought maybe a night light would help, but he wanted that off. I leave a remote for the lamp over his head tied to the bedrail and he turns that on when he wants.

Any ideas on how to get him to sleep through the night? Is this something that happens will all or some stroke victims?

i get tired in the evening. your dad does too. this makes it hard to get the words out in the correct order sometimes.
your dad sounds like a fighter and a very good thing.

Amy this is so true! Other things can do it too. Worry about something, a distraction, or anything that might take away from the concentration on the words.

My stepdad was a diabetic. Even a scratch or bruise could throw his blood sugar off. It doesn't take much with aphasia for some people too.

I may be in a conversation and catch part of one sentence someone says and then miss everything for the next five minutes (which is worth hours in verbal!). Usually because I'm concentrating so hard on that one thing that was said, I miss all the rest. I just can't put the words coming in together that fast.

I do great on anacrostics though! LOL

so true!

i know that a have mild aphasia but the agravation and fustration is not mild at all...

my brain works so fast. my mouth can't not even catch up sometimes...very stressing..

Sweetie, if your dad gets in with a good tharipist, and depending on his age and his determination, things will get better. You will ave to just give it time. My husband was 49 when he suffered 3 consecutive strokes that left him with severe speach aphasia, but that was almost 5 years ago, and with the help with a good therapist (by the grace of God and his blessings) he is almost, and I must stress, almost, stress, the almost back to normal speach.

There is no flexuachion in speach patterns, so we cannot tell when he is kidding (I am 13 years younger and my daughter is 17, so immagine the dramma) And he still has his good days and bad days. When he is tired, it is REAL quiet aroud here, or if he wakes up and it is an off day, it is extremelly quiet day. I do not push him, I have learned that it is just the way it is suposed to be. I am just tired of living in my own head by my self after 14 years of marrige.