On-line – Self-Directed Learning

Revealing Competence

There are communication techniques that can help ease the exchange of information and feelings between the conversation partner and the person with aphasia. The key is ensuring messages are taken IN, OUT and VERIFIED by the person with aphasia.

Getting the message IN is a matter of modifying the way you converse to ensure you are being understood by the person with aphasia. Some methods to try include:

• Using short, simple sentences and an expressive voice.
• Using gestures when conversing.
• Writing keywords or main ideas down – e.g., PAIN in large or bold print.
• Using pictures and focusing on one at a time.
• Eliminating distraction – noises, other people, or multiple visual materials.
• Observing the person’s facial expression, eye gaze, body posture or gestures to determine level of comprehension.

Getting the message OUT might be a bigger challenge for someone with aphasia. To help them express their thoughts to you, try:

• Asking yes or no questions.
• Asking one question at a time.
• Asking him/her to gesture, point to objects or pictures, or write key words, such as “Can you show me…”
• Giving him/her sufficient time to respond.
• Asking fixed choice questions such as, “Do you want water or coffee?”
• Phrasing yes or no questions from general to specific.

Verifying the message is important to making the person with aphasia feel understood and valued. Summarize slowly and clearly by saying, “So let me make sure I understand” and using the following methods:

• Adding gestures or written key words.
• Repeating the person’s message.
• Expanding on what you think the person might be trying to say.
• Recapping the conversation if it was a long one.

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On-line – Self-Directed Learning

Acknowledge Competence

People with aphasia need others to believe they are competent and have more understanding and social skills than may be apparent.

Acknowledging competence can be through a tone of voice that is natural, choosing adult or complex topics for discussion, or integrating techniques into natural talk. Helpful strategies include:

• Saying “I know that you know” at appropriate times.
• Attribute communication breakdowns to your limitations as a communicator, “You know I’m not good at explaining these things clearly!”
• Deal openly when you have to communicate with a partner to obtain or give information.

Despite best efforts, there will be times when communication breaks down – it is valid and comforting to acknowledge the shared experience of being frustrated.

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On-line – Self-Directed Learning

Communication Tools: Communicative Access & SCA™

Supported Conversation for Adults With Aphasia (SCA™) is a program that uses a set of techniques to encourage conversation when working with someone with aphasia through:

• Spoken and written keywords
• Body language and gestures
• Hand drawings
• Detailed pictographs

SCA™ is designed to help people who “know more than they can say” express their opinions and feelings in a way that makes them feel valued and heard. Through the program’s techniques, conversation partners such as family members, doctors, nurses, or friends, can help break down the communication barrier and help people with aphasia re-join life’s conversations.

The goals of Supported Conversation for Adults With Aphasia are:

• Acknowledge the competence of the adult with aphasia.
• Help the adult with aphasia to reveal his or her competence.

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Off-Site Training

We welcome opportunities to discuss taking our Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia (SCA) workshops to you. We will review your particular learning objectives and timeline, suggest the workshops that fit best and then provide a quote that will include requirements and costs to make this happen.

We’re heading to McGill University to do a 3-Day Training event in September, but are happy to consider new opportunities in 2016!

To discuss off-site training options, contact Marisca Baldwin, Education and Learning Coordinator at 416-226-3636, ext. 23 or training@aphasia.ca

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On-site – Professional Training

The Aphasia Institute offers training sessions for health care professionals on how to work with clients with aphasia and to help them overcome communication barriers. Health care professionals will be shown how to apply training techniques to clinical situations such as assessment, counselling, group therapy and working with clients and their communication partners.

Resources, materials and manuals are provided in many of the workshops. All sessions are accredited courses as approved by the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

To register, contact Marisca Baldwin, Education and Learning Coordinator at 416-226-3636, ext. 23 or training@aphasia.ca.

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Volunteer Opportunities for Students

Our Conversation Program is an ideal opportunity for students who are pursuing a degree in Speech and Language Pathology. However, due to the high number of student applicants, we accept a fixed number of students at each entry point into the program. We therefore have a highly competitive process for student applicants. If you require a clinical reference from our Speech and Language Pathologist as part of the application process for Graduate Studies, please ask our Coordinator of Volunteer Services about our specific requirements for Clinical References.

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Volunteer Information Session

Monthly information sessions provide an opportunity for us to present the wide range of volunteer opportunities, provide a “big picture” of our programs and then allow you to “interview” us to ensure that we can provide what you are looking for in a volunteer experience.

Volunteer Orientation Sessions typically occur on the last Friday of each month. They start at 2:00pm and are generally one hour in length. These sessions provide information about our volunteer opportunities, expectations of our volunteers, and what you can expect from us. They are highly recommended if you are considering applying for a volunteer position at the Aphasia Institute.

www.aphasia.ca

Please contact Shannon Hill, Coordinator, Volunteer Services at 416 226-3636 x17 to reserve your spot at one of the following 2:00 p.m.

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How do I get started?

We value the long-standing commitment and dedication our volunteers bring to our centre. We require that volunteers make a one year commitment typically consisting of a weekly 3-hour shift.

• Attend one of our Volunteer Information Sessions.
• Download and complete the volunteer application form.
• Submit your completed form to the Coordinator of Volunteer Services.
• The Coordinator of Volunteer Services will contact you to arrange an interview.

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What do Volunteers Do?

Conversation facilitation:

Working with groups of 4 – 6 people with aphasia, volunteers enable members to interact, engage, challenge and develop amazing conversations. Always working in partnership with another co-facilitator, your role is to provide communication techniques specific to the members with aphasia, while also taking part in the conversation. This is an integral position in our program and a great starting place for new volunteers.

Other volunteer opportunities include:

Painting/Creative Program Assistant; Fitness Assistant; Book Group Co-facilitator; Introductory Program Facilitators; One-to-One Computer Facilitator; Outreach Home-Visit Communication Facilitators.

There are also positions available in the areas of research, administration, fundraising, and governance.

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Conclusions

Our health-care systems are undergoing change and, as a result, so are our professions. How we allow this change to affect our clinical practice, our research directions, and our response to consumer advocacy is up to us. We need to educate policy-makers that being fiscally responsible means having a consumer-driven model of intervention focusing on interventions that make real-life differences and minimize the consequences of disease and injury.

While it is clear that the implicit motivation underlying all clinical and research efforts in aphasia is related to increased participation in life, the path to achieving that goal is often indirect. Because LPAA makes life goals primary and explicit, it holds promise as an approach in which such goals are attainable. We invite other speech-language pathologists to join us in discussing and developing life participation approaches to aphasia.

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