Can music help with stroke recovery and the ability to live well with aphasia? According to this article ( https://www.neurologylive.com/view/music-stroke-recovery )
music therapy has shown early promise in enhancing physical and cognitive recovery in some patients.
I have not participated in music therapy, but music has been an important part of my life both before stroke and after stroke.j
Back in July 2022, I looked at the blog to see what themes I've written about in my blog. I thought it was interesting to compile a list of songs that matched these themes. I've expanded this list for today's post. I hope you enjoy these songs.
The Stroke Journey
“I hope you dance” by Lee Ann Womack
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
I'm still standing - Elton John
We shall overcome - drop dead Murphys
You can't always get what you want - Rolling Stones
This is my fight song - Rachel patten
You can't keep a good man down
Living Well with Aphasiaor the aphasia journey :
When you have aphasia, finding the words you want to use can be difficult to near impossible. gYou can't always get what you want, but if you try and can use different strategies, such as retrieving a synonym, drawing on paper, describing what the word does, or pantemiming, sometimes you get what you need.
Having
”you can’t always get what you want” by The Rolling Stones
Using these strategies can take a lot of time and patience on the PWA and the person who he is communicating with. But with patience, we can get where we want to go. It's a long and winding road sometimes.
"The long and winding road” by the Beatles
Dealing with Apraxia
Apraxia is a motor planning disorder. Somehow between the brain and my mouth something gets interrupted. I will write more about the difference between aphasia, apraxia of speech and dysarthria. Suffice it to say here, even though I know how the word is pronounced, my mouth has to be instructed to move in the correct way. Practice helps a lot, watching someone's mouth move helps and being super patient and breathing helps. But even with practice, I can still mess up words that I could say the day before or even just before.
Just Breathe by Pearl Jam
All Mixed Up by Hannah Montana
Motivation and Success
I have always been a cheerleader, coach, teacher and mentor to people who wanted to be more successful and increase their self sufficiency. Part of my motivation for writing this blog is to encourage those who have had a stroke and experience communication challenges from the trauma. I hope that telling my story can help.
One song for this theme is The Climb by Miley Cyrus
Rebuilding Self Esteem
Having your life turn around after having a stroke and having to deal with the long term challenges of communication disorders, can really make your self esteem take a hit. I truly believe that I needed to rebuild my self esteem in order to move on with life. All through this stroke journey, I have felt like ME! But I had to prove to myself that I could still be worthy, even if I didn't work anymore; that I could participate in community even though I couldn't talk like I did before; that I still had strengths that I could rely on, etc.
Still have me by Demi lovato
Stronger by Kelly Clarkson
I’m thoroughly impressed by you,Cheryl. I can see that you are engaged, organized and clear. You can put your posts together and have a book. It would be a great educational book not only for other stroke patients but for anyone who is going through a difficult time/set back.
Music therapy works for so many things. I had a stroke that affected my throat and as much as I loved to sing, nothing came out. My therapist told me to start singing in the shower because the warm water would help. And it did! Now I can sing somewhat between squeaking and I love that I'm getting back at it.