Author: Brett McCardel, MS, CCC-SLP
People with aphasia will often meet and work with several SLP’s throughout the continuum of care during their rehab journey. This may include:
-The acute care SLP who will work with them for the few days that they are admitted to the acute care floors of the hospital following their injury
-The inpatient rehab SLP who will work with them for a few weeks in an intensive therapy setting at the hospital
-The outpatient SLP who will provide services once they are discharged from the hospital
Given the limited amount of time that SLP’s in certain settings may be able to see people with aphasia, it is imperative that therapy “begin with the end in mind” (Worrall, 2019). But what does that mean?
By beginning therapy with the end in mind, we are creating our goals and treatment plans with the understanding that we may only be seeing our patients for a limited amount of time. It is then imperative that we work with our patients to determine what it is that they are looking to achieve in treatment and what would be most helpful for them in this amount of time.
For some people, they may want to return to doing favorite activities with friends and meeting up somewhere in the community. In this example, they then may want to work on ordering their favorite drink from Starbucks: a Green Tea Frappuccino (an EXCELLENT choice, btw)
We can then use treatment techniques such as Semantic Feature Analysis and Phonological Components Analysis to target and strengthen the mental representations needed for word retrieval of “Green Tea Frappuccino”, Script Training to target what to say to the cashier, and develop AAC supports in case a communication breakdown occurs when ordering.
By using a Life Participation Approach to Aphasia, we can ensure that our treatment is meaningful, functional, and immediately useful to a person’s everyday life. And that Green Tea Frappuccino will be all the sweeter for it!
#aphasia #aphasiatherapy #neurorehabilitation #medslp #LifeParticipation
Looking for aphasia therapy in the Seattle, WA area? Click here to learn more about the services we provide, or contact us at (206) 395-4259 / Brett@archwaysrehab.com