Studying and Treating the Communicative Dyad Essay

Aphasia is a communication disorder that affects many adults and families. Aphasia occurs as a result of damage to the language-specific areas of the brain (ASHA, 2014). Individuals with aphasia may experience difficulties with oral language, receptive language, memory, attention writing, and reading. There are a myriad of approaches designed for the treatment of aphasia. Two treatment approaches, Promoting Aphasics Communicative Effectiveness (P.A.C.E.) and Constraint Induced Language Therapy (C.I.L.T.), and their efficacy in regard to available evidence will be discussed below.

As some peoples communication can change day to day due to medical or physical conditions you can help to identify the best methods to suit them by monitoring them and reporting what you find to your manager they can then put in place aids or different methods that will best suit the individual. Also they will be able to set up meetings with the appropriate people e.g. speech therapist.

A key factor to most of the maladaptive behavior performed by individuals is the inability to get a message across for their wants and needs through language. A few of my clients were non-speaking when I first met them. Their way of communicating was by whining or directing their caregiver to the item he or she needed. Consequently, many of the client’s goals were focused on increasing communicative language. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend speech therapy with one of my clients. Being present in these therapies, I was able to learn certain techniques to increase language, as well as techniques for phonetics, to be able to understand the existing language the client had. On days the client did not have speech therapy, I implemented the programs into the in-home therapies to increase the exposure, in hopes for better results. I also utilized the skills I learned on the other non-speaking clients I worked with but, modified their usage to adapt to the necessity of each

Individuals who have communication problems need support to enable them to express themselves effectively. It is therefore important for the carer to be aware of the individuals preferred method of communication and also to support the individual to use their preferred method. Individuals have the right to communicate through their chosen method and their choice should be acknowledged and respected by supporting them. The individual’s right are particularly important when using specific communication methods

Language is an ability that many of us take for granted in everyday life. For those with aphasia, it is a daily struggle to overcome and effective communication is a goal to strive for. Aphasia patients are able to think, perhaps as well as the average person, but they simply cannot convey their ideas or thoughts easily. The Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination is an excellent examination for the diagnosis of the presence and type of aphasia, and for the location of brain damage. The Minnesota Test for Differential Diagnosis of Aphasia has been shown to be the most comprehensive assessment of the overall patient’s strengths and weaknesses in regard to language; it also allows for physicians to predict recovery accurately. Though it is no longer as popular or applicable as newer diagnostic tests, such as the BDAE, it is still an accurate assessment for aphasia. I think this is the paradox in neurological assessment: as technological advances improve, older assessments are becoming invalidated- though they are not inaccurate assessments. New advances and knowledge are being acquired in medicine every day, therefore there is always room for improvement (Holland, 2008). One of the biggest cons to the two batteries I mentioned in this paper is the fact that they are both time consuming- for both the patient and the

Sundin, K., Jansson, L., & Norberg, A. (2000). Communicating with people with stroke and aphasia: understanding through sensation without words. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 9(4), 481-488.

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that affects a person’s ability to understand oral and written language, speaking and writing. It is estimated that one third of those who survive stroke have aphasia (Department of Health, 2007). Most patients with aphasia exhibit spontaneous recovery, usually in the first 2-3 months following stroke onset (Godecke, Hird, Lalor, Rai, & Phillips, 2012). However, 30-40% of these patients may experience long-term post-stroke aphasia (Bakheit et al., 2007). Continued rehabilitative treatments with the speech and language pathologists (SLPs) are not as significantly effective due to the current high demands on limited resources (Palmer et al., 2012), which reduced the availability of face-to-face speech

The knowledge and skills that are described within this current document builds on the information from the ASHA Scope of Practice to fulfill the need for more specific procedures and protocols for serving individuals for whom speech and/or writing is precluded as a primary means of communication. SLPs who practice in this area are required to hold the

The effects of two treatments for word retrieval impairments in aphasic individuals. With the use of errorless naming treatment (ENT) and gestural facilitation of naming (GES). The effects of the two treatments that were used for a daily picture naming/gesture production probe measure and in standardized aphasia tests and communication rating scales were administered across phases of treatment. (p.235)

A contributing factor to this is how difficult it is for people with aphasia to produce sentences that flow smoothly and to connect their sentences. Computer software is helpful in speech therapy because it allows the patients to be able to record themselves speaking, replay it so they can hear exactly what they sound like, and be able to string together partial sentences. This computer program helps the patient produce sentences as they are being formulated. The goal of this program is to “investigate the utility of a two-step treatment that supplements improvements achieved from the use of the software with explicit structural treatment.” (Aphasiology 2009). The results of this study show that this specific approach improves the speech of patients suffering from aphasia, even chronic and non-fluent

Aphasia on the other hand is a communication disorder where the person struggles to understand words and speech. Patients on an aphasia ward were caught laughing at the presidents’ speech confusing staff. This is because despite not understanding words or meanings, tone is preserved and even often enhanced in aphasiacs. (Henry Head, 1926, cited in Sacks, 1998, p.86).

Another task caregivers face as the dementia progresses in the person they are taking care of is communication. The Alzheimer’s Association provides a pamphlet on the most prevalent behavior changes and recommendations on how the informal caregiver should handle such changes. Common changes in communication include a gradual loss of ability to find the right words and organize thoughts and emotions effectively, a decline in the amount of verbal communication used, and going back to one’s first language (Alzheimer’s Association, 2014b). As the disease

A third type of aphasia, global aphasia, results from damage to extensive portions of the language areas of the brain. “Individuals with global aphasia have severe communication difficulties and may be extremely limited in their ability to speak or comprehend language”. ()

Within the past two decades, the number of individuals who use AAC has increased. The use of AAC devices has been known to give a voice to the voiceless, and allow for individuals with disabilities that have restricted their speech, to express their wants and needs as and communicate with their loved ones as well as becoming an active member within society. The stigma around AAC has diminished quite considerably, one of the many reasons that this has occurred is because professionals have gained a better understanding of how to use and improve communications skills with the use of devices as well as the improvement in technology. The primary goal for AAC is to use methods, tools and theories of nonstandard linguistic and nonlinguistic forms of communication, by and with individuals without or with limited functional speech. (Loncke, F., 2014) When considering AAC intervention we need to be mindful that we need to uncover a way to strengthen, use, or rehabilitate the remaining linguistics ability of the individual. The focal point of intervention should on the learning and training of new communication strategies by the client and communication

Communication is key to any lasting relationship. This includes elements or methodical concepts that will take place in a romantic interest, past loves, or even in the workplace. “Communication has a link that affects your direct quality of life,” (Stewart, 2012). Communication comprised of interchanging and or the imparting opinions, information, or thoughts amongst individual using verbal, non-verbal (writing), and or visual signs. Paralanguage and nonverbal communication plays a significant part in applying communication theory to interpersonal communication. There are challenges and issues that arises with interpersonal communication. Those challenges tend to be: the need to always be right; fear; refusal to listen and comprehend the conversation; running away; and social conditioning and personal beliefs. In addition to the challenges there are internal