Each year I learn more about myself and my communication disorders, but I also learn more about how I can live well with these communication challenges. Last year I only made a word cloud with words that begin with B. This year I will expand on this and explain a little bit about why these words are important for me and how they help me to live the best life I can have even with aphasia and apraxia.
BALANCE I think the most important for me is balance. While communication is vital, it’s not the only thing that is important in my life. This was hard for me to realize because communication is so important to being a social being. I still work on speaking, reading and writing every day and I also make sure I do things that improve my cognitive skills. But now I also make time for things that bring me joy like gardening, taking a walk in the woods, and listening to music (and sometimes dancing to it as well). I also make time to improve my health - making healthier meals, exercising, taking my prescription medication and multivitamins, and drinking more water each day.
BREATHE. When you have a language or communication disorder, breathing is so important. When a word doesn’t come to me and I get frustrated, I need to remember to pause and breathe. By slowing down, I am much more able to either find the word or a synonym or think of how to explain what I mean with gestures or pictures. If I don’t breathe, I get stuck in a constant loop trying to come up with the word and get very frustrated. And when I start to say a word, I need to breathe and calm down to get my mouth organized to make the movements, especially the consonants and consonant blends. And then if the word comes out in the wrong order or not articulated correctly, breathing helps me to get it right the second or third time.
BEING YOURSELF. Each one of us is a unique individual worthy for respect and love. I need to remember what makes me me. My unique quirky personality and dry sense of humor. All my strengths that help me succeed. I can't compare my progress to anyone else. It is my journey.
BENEFITS. I think about the benefits of speech therapy which helped me to be where I am today - able to use my voice. The very best way to improve with aphasia and apraxia is to have early and intensive speech therapy. I started at home with a wonderful SLP who helped me get my voice back. She wanted to give me 3 sessions per week but couldn't because of her caseload. I worked with her twice a week for about a month. I went to outpatient therapy next. There I met an unbelievably talented therapist who helped me really accept my situation and worked on honing my speech, writing, and reading skills. When I met the goals that she set for me, I had to be discharged from therapy there. I was not ready to quit so I contacted a private therapist and started working with her. I was SO appreciative that my insurance continued to pay for my speech therapy. This wonderful skilled therapist was able to help me sound more like myself. I still have a lot to work on, but I can communicate with others effectively if not absolutely fluently yet.
I am so appreciative of the mental health therapy that I finally received. I think I read that about 1/3 of stroke survivors experience aphasia AND about 50 % of people with aphasia experience depression and anxiety. This makes a lot of sense to be, not just because I have had depression after the stroke but because aphasia makes communication difficult. When you can't express what you need or want to it can cause a lot of depression and anxiety.
If you'd like to see A of the ABC's of aphasia that I wrote last year click here:
