{"id":1858,"date":"2016-09-20T08:15:06","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T16:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/?p=1858"},"modified":"2016-09-20T13:28:18","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T21:28:18","slug":"finding-hope-after-a-stroke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/finding-hope-after-a-stroke\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Hope After a Stroke"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lingraphica-thumbnail\"<\/a>Submitted by Lingraphica\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you suffer from aphasia or know someone who does?<\/p>\n

Lingraphica\u2019s communication devices are designed specifically for adults with speech and language disorders. Lingraphica provides clinically relevant tools and services to help individuals with language and cognitive disorders connect with family, friends, and communities. Working in partnership with clinicians and caregivers, Lingraphica\u2019s mission is to meet those individuals wherever they may be in their journey to improve or regain their communication skills. To learn more about Lingraphica, please visit http:\/\/www.aphasia.com\/<\/a>. More Lingraphica success stories is available via eBook (Download the eBook here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"ThreeMEET GLORIA<\/strong> \u2013 A caregiver for her sister with aphasia
\nCause of Loved One\u2019s Aphasia:<\/strong> Stroke<\/p>\n

Gloria became a full-time caregiver three years ago. Gloria\u2019s sister, 63-year-old Sally, had her fourth stroke in October 2013. As a result of the stroke, she became partially paralyzed in her right arm and could no longer speak. Sally was so frustrated, having been employed as a General Manager and President of a transport company for 37 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cSally had to be helped with everything. She became like my child,\u201d said Gloria. \u201cWe had to start from scratch to learn things so she could get by. She would always point to her head and shake her head \u2018NO,\u2019 like saying it was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was a challenging time for Sally, Gloria, and their family. Everyone treated Sally differently and trusted Gloria to take the lead on Sally\u2019s care. While Sally recognized everyone in the family, she would forget her friends. Because of this, Sally stopped wanting to go to functions or spiritual congregation meetings anymore.<\/p>\n

After Sally\u2019s fourth stroke, flash cards no longer worked for communicating with others. Gloria started looking to other resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started writing things down using very short sentences or single words. Going to speech therapy was the key at that point,\u201d said Gloria. \u201cSitting in on each lesson gave me something to work on with her each day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, her speech-language pathologist, Louise Chamberlain, introduced a Lingraphica communication device to Sally.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrusting her therapist and letting her take the lead in Sally\u2019s problems helped us to become more positive and hopeful that Sally would be able to do more in her life,\u201d said Gloria.<\/p>\n

Now Sally has a TouchTalk device. Gloria reports that she is smiling and laughing again \u2013 especially when she is doing the activities on the device and learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy that Sally has the opportunity to use technology again in her life. I see that she can continue to keep improving…and get to a level where she will be satisfied with her life again,\u201d said Gloria.<\/p>\n

Also, the family is more engaging with Sally now. Gloria notes that Sally brings her \u2018computer\u2019 out and shows it to the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really feel that using the device has helped both of us so very much. We thank Lingraphica so much for being able to have something that gives Sally a better quality of life,\u201d said Gloria.
\n\"lingraphica<\/a><\/p>\n

Gloria\u2019s Advice:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Never lose hope<\/strong> \u2013 No matter how frustrating and difficult it is, never give up. Work on compassion and patience and try putting yourself in their shoes.
\n2. Use the tools that the speech therapist provides<\/strong> \u2013 Use the TouchTalk or whatever device is recommended \u2013 they work. They give confidence and some independence back to those that have lost everything.
\n3. Do research<\/strong> \u2013 Find out all about aphasia and apraxia or whatever impairment your loved one has. Ask questions and take notes.
\n4. Keep talking to and treating your loved one as normally as possible<\/strong> \u2013 Do not act like they have a problem. It is difficult enough for them that they know something is wrong. Make them feel normal. Make them laugh. Give them a hug and tell them that you love them.<\/p>\n

In collaboration with Southern California Resource Services for Independent Living (SCRS-IL) and Lingraphica, the Ability Tools<\/a> Southern California will have an in-person training on Lingraphica\u2019s AAC Devices, Tools and Apps for Individuals with Aphasia and Other Speech\/Language Disabilities on Thursday, September 29th in Downey, CA. For registration details, please visit Ability Tools\u2019 Training Registration Web Page at http:\/\/abilitytools.org\/training\/training-registration.php.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Submitted by Lingraphica\u00a0 Do you suffer from aphasia or know someone who does? Lingraphica\u2019s communication devices are designed specifically for adults with speech and language disorders. Lingraphica provides clinically relevant tools and services to help individuals with language and cognitive disorders connect with family, friends, and communities. Working in partnership with clinicians and caregivers, Lingraphica\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,3],"tags":[8,19,26,45],"class_list":["post-1858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aac","category-success-stories","tag-apps-and-software","tag-communication","tag-memory","tag-success-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1858"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1885,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858\/revisions\/1885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}