Aphasia Toolbox

Announcement of courses

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 01:29:00 +0000


Announcement of courses
		Bill Connors will be presenting full day workshops titled: Aphasia and Apraxia: Clinical Decision-Making and Innovative Techniques. The next two workshops will be October 28, 2011 in New Brunswick, Canada and November 4, 2011 in Virginia Beach, VA USA. Contact: email-bill@aphasiatoolbox.com or phone-724.494.2534 for information This workshop will cover the innovative treatment tools, technology and activities of the Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment Program (BCAT) and the Motor Reconnect Apraxia Program (MRAP). These programs, using evidence-based elements, have been developed to take optimal advantage of neural plasticity to maximize recovery from aphasia and related disorders. Course activities will include a primary focus on active learner participation with real-time distance therapy (telerehab), demonstration videos, and hands on use of tools and software, as well as lecture and discussion. FORMAL COURSE OBJECTIVES/LEARNER OUTCOMES 1. identify 10 techniques to simplify, adapt and maximize computers and information technology for aphasia, alexia, agraphia and cognitive therapy with a focus on apps and the internet. 2. identify 5 key cognitive/mental processes that underpin and support language and its rehabilitation and incorporate these into treatment protocol development and application. 3. identify 5 techniques for applying adult evidence-based rehabilitation techniques in working with adolescents and young adults with communication problems. 4. identify 4 observation and analysis techniques of aphasic client behavior to use in applying evidence-based treatment to maximize rehabilitation activities and effectively train caregivers/coaches participation in the treatment process.
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Motor Reconnect Apraxia Program 5/24/2011

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Fri, 27 May 2011 00:39:00 +0000


Motor Reconnect Apraxia Program – Treatment Activities www.aphasiatoolbox.com 5/24/2011
We now offer both online and on-site CEU Apraxia Treatment programs for SLPs. If you are interested in participating in or sponsoring a Motor Reconnect Apraxia Program CEU program, contact Bill Connors at 724.494.2534 or bill@aphasiatoolboxcom. While this newsletter is primarily intended for speech pathologists, it should also useful be for people with apraxia and their caregivers/coaches. If you missed the previous newsletter, you may review it by visiting our website at www.aphasiatoolbox.com and clicking on Resources then Archived Newsletters. SLP: If you would like to refer a client for online treatment or to consult with us in collaborative therapy, contact Bill Connors at bill@aphasiatoolbox.com or 724.494.2534 . PERSON WITH APHASIA or CAREGIVER: if you would like to set up an online consultation or for more information contact Bill Connors at bill@aphasiatoolbox.com or 724.494.2534 .	This is the third and final in a series of newsletters discussing a new, innovative approach to the treatment of acquired apraxia of speech (motor programming problems). Speech/language pathologists (SLP), people with apraxia, and caregivers/practice coaches routinely share with us at aphasiatoolbox.com their disappointment with progress in apraxia treatment programs. In response to this need, we have created the Motor Reconnect Apraxia Program. Over 30 years in development, this program calls upon 21 key therapy and practice principles ( http://aphasiatoolbox.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-campaign-apr-17-2011-at-850-am.html ). Finally there is a program that truly approaches apraxia as a movement disorder with a focus on motor skills ( Mass, 2008). In our last newsletter, we discussed in more detail principles and techniques of this Motor Reconnect Apraxia Program. At a recent professional workshop, Nancy Helm-Estabrooks offered, “The fact is that we are beyond using just linguistic therapy with people with aphasia.” (Helm-Estabrooks, 2011). Likewise, we are beyond just doing speech therapy with over-reliance on motor learning theory when treating people with acquired apraxia. In our first newsletter on this topic, we compared and contrasted the motor learning principles used routinely in treating childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) with our proposed motor reconnect principles for treating people who have already learned how to talk but have an acquired impairment. The difference between treating CAS in children and acquired apraxia in adults is remarkable and all too often overlooked by treatment programs. Motor Reconnect Apraxia Program – The Program Review of some key principles: Since acquired apraxia is different for each person, the techniques and activities may not all apply and/or may be initiated, suspended or reinitiated at various point in the treatment program. Disassociate jaw and vocal fold neural controls. Be aware this is errorful learning. As with any motor re-training or conditioning program, we learn (reconnect) our muscle action and memory by attending to both our less accurate as well as inaccurate movement. Increase metapraxia, the knowledge and awareness of apraxia and movement patterns (Heilman, 2007). Improve deliberate control of vocal fold action (voicing, phonation). Establish effective use of proprioceptive feedback, the ability to focus on the sense of position, location and orientation and movement of the body and its parts ( The Dana Guide, 2007). Establish presyllabic and preprosodic skills. Establish the effective production of vowels in primarily in relation to jaw position and as the building blocks for syllables. Simplify the client’s movement patterns. Establish syllables as the building blocks for speech motor programming. Simultaneously address any apraxia affecting arm/hand control. This allows us: a) to begin to address keyboarding and screen literacy skills; b) work on any asymbolia (impairment in understanding and using symbols), facilitate the client’s metapraxia, and help the client improve independent therapeutic efforts by recognizing shared elements of the effects of apraxia on various motor functions of the body. The specific elements of the Motor Reconnect Program for Apraxia – (targeted mental processes and skills): The Visual Definition of Aphasia – (metapraxia) Viking - concepts The basic Viking – pulsing syllables – (initiation; focused attention; vocal fold control; separating jaw-vocal fold neural controls) Modeled Independent on request – (initiation; dispersing speech perseveration; sound processing and working memory) Durational Viking – Stretching Vowels – (increase auditory and proprioceptive feedback) Intoned Viking – (pre-intonation and stress) Viking with an Attitude – (decoding and encoding prosody; sound processing; phonological and tonal working memory) Rhythmed Viking – (enhancing speech rhythm) Scatpraxia: Scatpraxia: yes-no-delicious –(initiation; letting vocal variety happen) Scatpraxia: vowels Scatpraxia: varied vowels (letting vocal variety happen) Scatpraxia: bringing in the consonants – (syllablabification; syllable structure) Scatpraxia Group online – (vicarious learning; peer support) Vowels Jaw positions – (the jaw as the platform for speech) production; establishing awareness of proprioceptive feedback) Around the Mouth – (vowel production using proprioceptive feedback; working memory for vowels; presyllabic) The Elevator: Alternating Vowels – (alternating attention; expandingr jaw neural controls) Long-Short vowels – (expanding the vowel inventory) Vowel Sequences From Memory - (sound processing and working memory) Continuous Phonation – (introducing dipthongs) Blend Sounds into Words – (prosodic blending) V to VC words – (pre phonological assembly; syllabification) Alternate / h / -vowels –(enhancing laryngeal fine motor control) Oral-Motor Coordination Program – (addressing naturalness of syllable structure and its supra-syllabic features) Vowels Become Pronouns –(incorporating language elements; initiation) Simple Conjugation- (transitions into canonical sentence structure) Oral-Motor Coordination Program – (addressing naturalness of syllable structure and its supra-syllabic features) Sound Embedded Verbs –(incorporating canonical sentence structure) Sentence Intonation Patterning (prosody supports intent; ) GROUPS online ( http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=smallgroup ): Oral Motor Coordination Men’s Aphasia Bootcamp Coaches Heilman, Kenneth, and Gonzalez Rothi, Leslie, Apraxia – The Dana Guide, http://www.dana.org/news/brainhealth/detail.aspx?id=9772 Helm-Estabrooks, Nancy, Cognition and Aphasia: Clinical Implications, Pennsylvania Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, 4/7/2011, Pittsburgh, PA Maas, E., Robin, D. A., Austermann Hula, S. N., Freedman, S. E., Wulf, G., Ballard, K. J., & Schmidt, R. A. (2008). Principles of motor learning in treatment of motor speech disorders. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17, 277-298. Movement, Balance, and Coordination – the Dana Guide, Georgopoulos, Aposotlos, http://www.dana.org/news/brainhealth/detail.aspx?id=10070 , November 2007
copyright 2011 Aphasia Center of Innovation Treatment

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New Campaign Apr 17, 2011 at 8:50 AM

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 16:04:00 +0000


	Motor Reconnect Apraxia Program – Principles www.aphasiatoolbox.com

While this newsletter is primarily intended for speech pathologists, it should also useful be for people with apraxia and their caregivers/coaches. If you missed the previous newsletter, you may review it by visiting our website at www.aphasiatoolbox.com and clicking on Resources then Archived Newsletters.

SLP: If you would like to refer a client for online treatment or to consult with us in collaborative therapy, contact Bill Connors at bill@aphasiatoolbox.com or 724.494.2534 .

PERSON WITH APHASIA or CAREGIVER: if you would like to set up an online consultation or for more information contact Bill Connors at bill@aphasiatoolbox.com or 724.494.2534 .

We communicate with hundreds of speech language pathologists (SLP) who treat clients with acquired speech and language problems. The difficulties encountered treating acquired apraxia that impacts speech are a major concern for many SLPs, especially when the apraxic impairment is severe. Likewise, numerous people with residual apraxia have shared their frustration concerning how their unresolved apraxia limits their speech, independence and social life. The large number of people with apraxia who continue to suffer is unacceptable to us. We have developed the Motor Reconnect Apraxia Program (MRAP)

In our last newsletter, we compared and contrasted the motor learning principles used routinely in treating childhood apraxia of speech with our proposed motor reconnect principles for treating people who have already learned how to talk but have an acquired impairment. In this edition, we will discuss in more detail the principles and techniques of this Motor Reconnect Apraxia Program. At a recent presentation, Nancy Helm-Estabrooks offered that, “The fact is that we are beyond using just linguistic therapy with people with aphasia.” (Helm-Estabrooks, 2011). Likewise, we are beyond just doing speech therapy with people with apraxia.Motor Reconnect Apraxia Program – Principles

Recognize that, “Apraxia is different for everybody.” Forget about using a cookie cutter or minimalistic treatment approach that stifles the opportunity for formative assessment and highly ‘responsive-to-change’ treatment.
Be sure to consistently treat acquired apraxia truly as a movement disorder. Keep your focus on the clients’ knowledge of movements before, during and after execution. While placement cues may play a role treatment (Wambaugh, 2006), they are much less important than movement planning and implementation in MRAP.
Ensure normal breath support. Have the client initiate each phonation or utterance with a ‘normal’ inhale as if he/she was going to say a few sentences. Keep this simple. Show the client how to ‘let the airflow turn on vocal your vocal folds” using normal body posture, action and inhalation. Minimize instructional details to compensate for the apraxia.
Ensure metapraxia. This means that the client understands and knows what apraxia is. Help the client absolutely approach apraxia as a movement disorder. This is as much physical training as it is speech therapy http://www.armystudyguide.com/flashcards/flashcards.php?cat=19&qnum=14 .
Get the patient to embrace his/her mistakes. Movement and sound errors are basically irrelevant as long as intrinsic knowledge of proprioceptive feedback is guiding and monitoring the client’s attempts and later corrections or verifications.
Be sure to work on the cognitive underpinnings for speech, language and communication early, often, and continually. We know that improving cognition can result in improvements in aphasia. The cognitive skills especially important to improving motor control include: working memory; sustained, selective, alternating and focused attention; cognitive flexibility; and selective mental resource allocation.
THIS PRINCIPLE IS IMPORTANT. Be sure to have the client working from his/her own memory using the normal self-generated neural pathways for movement patterns. If it is necessary to provide a model, make sure the client pauses and allows your voice to die down in his/her head before responding. Add a distracter stimuli between the presentation and the response to facilitate this intrinsic mental focus. Emphasize that the patient needs to generate a movement pattern as opposed to an imitation. Do not allow the client to struggle, to subvocally rehearse, or try to ‘get a running start’ after your model.
Disassociate jaw and vocal fold neural controls. Most clients with apraxia seem to present with a concentrated, struggled neural control pattern. Maintain normal head/body posture having the client keep his/her eyes open while paying careful attention to sounds produced and the feel of the movements. Facilitate the client’s use of normal, self generated neural controls.
The client focuses on finishing the proprioceptive feedback loop. “Your brain sends a message to move – you move – your jaw sends a message back –‘ I moved, here I am, what do I do next’?” - the brain tells then where to go next.” Focus on intrinsic, proprioceptive feedback is the key. Eliminate distracters that require the patient to externally focus (e.g., mirrors, tape recorders, photographs).
Build in laryngeal pulsing; rhythm and flow (Wambaugh, 2006). Establish presyllabic and preprosodic skills. Reestablish syllable structure use and knowledge early (Zeigler, 2010).
Introduce vowels as jaw positions with neutral controls separate from the laryngeal musculature. Pay less attention to lips and even less attention to tongue position at first but more as treatment progresses. Increasing accuracy of vowel production tends to come along as reconnection of controls and awareness improves.
Minimize work on consonants early. If the phonatory apraxia (mental resource demands lessened) and ease in production of the vowels is facilitated (reconnected control), we have found that most consonants come along for free as the program progresses. Ignore cognate pair errors until later in treatment as these often improve as the other skills improve.
Rely heavily on formative assessment and treatment adjustments. Minute-by-minute, day-by-day stay on top of the opportunities to grow the program and to make adjustments. Be prepared to revisit some activities that client progress would now make therapeutic. It is important to realize that there is no rigid sequencing of treatment activities in the motor reconnect apraxia program. The clinician, in concert with the clients, uses his/her clinical experience, knowledge and intuition in designing and constantly growing the treatment program. The client as an individual will require different activities at different stages of his/her treatment. This is the art of apraxia therapy.
Move into production of syllables As Soon As Possible (ASAP). Move syllables into words ASAP (e.g., pronouns) and words into canonical sentences ASAP.
Thread into linguistic contexts when appropriate but make it as early as possible.
Challenge the client’s system; (e.g., scatpraxia group http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=smallgroup ). Set up apraxia treatment groups as clients gain much from observing peers. This is where subvocal rehearsing is facilitatory to reconnecting.
Train like the Navy Seals: Have your client so prepared to move so that it’s not how to do it something (how to phonate; move jaw; speak), it’s what and when to do it (content and intent). He/she needs to be consistently able to phonate and articulate with minimal demands on mental resource allocation. Think automaticity.
We have found that most of these principles also apply to dysarthria, especially ataxic dysarthria.
It is our opinion that singing does not directly help the recovery of speech affected by apraxia. By all means, we do recommend that clients who enjoy singing do so for the enjoyment and to get the vocal folds active. In over 30 years of experience, however, including hundreds of hours attempting to utilize music/singing in treatment, we have seen little success in applying singing as a treatment technique.
Simultaneously address any apraxia affecting arm/hand control. This allows us to: begin to address keyboarding and screen literacy skills, work on any asymbolia (impairment in understanding and using symbols), facilitate the client’s metapraxia, and help the client improve independent therapeutic efforts by recognizing shared elements of the effects of apraxia on various motor functions of the body
Practice. Practice. Practice. On average, our clients practice about 2.5 hours per day outside of any treatment sessions. The importance of this dedication to practice cannot be overstated. This also means that the client practices both independently and with a practice coach. It is not difficult to train a caregiver to help the client practice. A few treatment sessions a week will not do the trick. Overcoming a moderate-severe apraxia is a daunting task that requires a tremendous amount of therapeutic time on task participating in smart activities.

Stay tuned : - ) . Our next newsletter will describe and discuss in more detail the actual activities involved in our treatment Motor Reconnect Apraxia Treatment program.

References:

Helm-Estabrooks, Nancy, Cognition and Aphasia: Clinical Implications, Pennsylvania Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, 4/7/2011, Pittsburgh, PA

Wambaugh J., Duffy J., McNeil M, Robin D., and Rogers M., Treatment Guidelines for Acquired Apraxia of Speech: Treatment Desriptions and Recommendations, Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology, Vol. 14, Number 2, 2006

Ziegler, Wolfram, Aichert, Ingrid, and Staiger, Anja, Syllable- and Rhythm Based Approaches to Apraxia of Speech, Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders, 20 59-66 October 2010


© 2011 Aphasia Center of Innovative Treatment

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New Campaign Apr 4, 2011 at 3:56 PM

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 23:18:00 +0000


	Announcing - The Motor Reconnect Principles for Treating Acquired Apraxia

This is an exciting newsletter for the staff at www.aphasiatoolbox.com as we are introducing our new, innovative program for treating acquired apraxia that utilizes motor reconnect principles (MRP). These MRP take advantage of the powerful potential of brain plasticity. We are experiencing excellent success using these motor reconnect principles to help our clients speak and converse again, even those with severe speech impairments related to apraxia.

Traditionally, speech pathologists have used motor learning principles (MLP) in working with apraxia of speech due to stroke or brain injury. We do know that these principles play a key role in the successful treatment of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) in children who have not acquired the motor speech skill necessary for speaking ( McGlothlin, 2011, Strand, 2005. While MLP provide valuable guidance and information, it may well, however, be a misguided interpretation to strictly apply MLP to clients with acquired apraxia.

It is important to remember that MLP have emerged from studies that involved, “…nonspeech motor tasks largely performed by individuals with intact motor systems.” ( Mass, et al, 2008). The literature on how motor learning principles apply to impaired motor systems is unsettled at this time. This raises a number of issues related to using motor learning principles to drive treatment for acquired apraxia:

First it is unknown whether speech motor control is sensitive to the same principles as nonspeech motor control. In other words, should we teach people to use rapid, rhythmic movements of the articulators in spoken syllables in the same manner as teaching them to juggle 3 balls? Do the same learning principles apply?
Secondly, we have not defined clearly how the principles of motor learning affect speech versus nonspeech learning. Is it safe to assume that MLP apply equally to speech and nonspeech treatment?
Thirdly, if clients do already know how to talk, shouldn’t we be taking advantage of neuroplasticity by utilizing activities that facilitate reconnection of the established, albeit damaged, neural pathways?
Since, “…motor control impairment of AOS extends beyond speech and is manifest in nonspeech movements of the oral structures.” (Ballard, 2000) and the vocal folds, separation of the neural controls for the larynx, jaw and tongue/lips is a necessity for successful acquired apraxia treatment.
Nearly all people with acquired apraxia that limits their voice and speech control, also experience phonemic and linguistic and most probably cognitive (e.g., attention; working memory; mental resource allocation) problems (Ballard, 2000, Burns, 2011). This would not be true of non-impaired subjects used in MLP studies.

It is clear that critical differences exist between learning a new motor skill and reacquiring or re-accessing previously mastered motor skills. For example, if a one takes a 5 year hiatus from golfing, he/she still knows how to golf; how to swing and grip a club, the rules of play, etc. He/she does not need to learn to golf; he/she just need to get reoriented and to reactivate motor memory of movement patterns. He/she may want to take his/her golf swing apart and learn new skills but the basic motor pattern knowledge remains.

Given this, we have developed the motor reconnect principles for acquired apraxia that affects speech and voice. We incorporate these into our Viking Program for Apraxia (VPA). VPA uses both those components MLP that apply to the expanded MRP. This program not only separates and truly treats acquired apraxia as a movement disorder, but also then effectively threads the phonological and language components into practice (Burns, 2011, Hicks, 2010). Carryover into conversation happens naturally as our clients simultaneously engage other clients in group activities such as the Aphasia Communication Cafe (http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=smallgroup ).

Table comparing and contrasting MLP with MRP

Motor Learning Principles for CAS Motor Reconnect Principles for acquired apraxia

GOAL: to help brain reorganize itself with new neural connections	GOAL: to help brain reorganize itself with renewed and new neural connections
A. Exploiting neuroplasticity: 1. Increase sensory input; 2. Provide many opportunities for specific input; 3. Modulate in lifelike contexts; 4. “Watch my face.”	A. Exploiting neuroplasticity: 1. Moderate/reduce sensory input; 2. Provide more opportunities for intrinsic focus; 3. Modulate in phrase and sentence contexts; 4. “feel- think”
B. Acquisition of performance is not a good index of retention	B. Reacquisition of performance is a good index of retention
C. Random practice is superior to blocked practice. Avoid repetitive trials with a predictable time pattern.	C. Blocked practice can play a bigger role. Utilize repeated rhythmic flows of a self-generated nature (not repetitious)
D. Intent to improve movement is critical.	D. Intent to improve movement is critical. Intent is thought.
E. Focus on individual phonemes should not be in the treatment plan.	E. Focus on individual vowel phonemes should be the treatment plan with early transition to syllable stimuli structure.
F. Focus on vowels a great deal.	F. Focus on vowels a great deal especially to reestablish jaw control.
G. Ongoing practice: blocked early for accuracy toward more random practice.	G. Ongoing practice: blocked early for accuracy toward more random practice.
H. Ongoing practice: lots and lots in context it will be used.	H. Ongoing practice: lots and lots combined with work on phonological, lexical and semantic as appropriate. (Hicks, 2010)
I. Make the ‘feel’ of the movement salient.	I. Make the ‘feel’ of the movement salient, salient, salient.
J. Utilize tactile and proprioceptive feedback.	J. Minimize tactile and maximize proprioceptive feedback.
K. Focus on function, core vocabulary.	K. Reconnect to vocabulary. (sub, pronouns, conjugate)
L. Segment syllables, not phonemes	L. Segment syllables, not phonemes (compounds, tripounds; increasing syllable words)
M. Fold in prosody early.	M. Fold in prosody early. (scatpraxia; OMC)
N. Focus on extrinsic feedback encourage visual and tactile feedback moving toward more intrinsic.	N. Minimize extrinsic feedback; focus on intrinsic feedback.
(adapted from McGlothlin, 2011, Strand, 2005)

Stay tuned : - ) . Our next newsletter will describe and discuss in more detail our treatment program for acquired apraxia.

References:

Ballard, Kirrie, Granier, Jay and Robin, Donald, Understanding the nature of apraxia of speech: Theory, analysis, and treatment, APHASIOLOGY, 2000, VOL. 14, NO. 10

Burns, Martha, Apraxia of Speech in Children and Adolescents: Applications of Neuroscience to Differential Diagnosis and Intervention, Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders 21 15-32 April 2011

Hickok, GregoryThe role of mirror neurons in speech perception and action word semantics, Language and Cognitive Processes, 25: 6, 749 — 776, First published on: 29 March 2010 (iFirst)

Mass, Edwin, Robin, Donald, Austermann, Sharon, Wulf, Gabrile, Ballard, Kirie, Schmidt, Principles of Motor Learning in Treatment of Motor Speech Disorders, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology • Vol. 17 • 277–298 • August 2008 • A American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

McGlothlin, Jenny, Utilizing Motor Learning Principles in Treatment of Childhood Apraxia of Speech, Advance Magazine Presentation, http://speech-language-pathology-audiology.advanceweb.com/ 2011

Strand, Edith, The Relationship of Practice and Repetition to Motor Learning for Speech in Children with Apraxia, http://www.apraxia-kids.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=chKMI0PIIsE&b=788447&ct=464503 , 2005

SLP: If you would like to refer a client for online treatment or to consult with us in collaborative therapy, contact Bill Connors at bill@aphasiatoolbox.com or 724.494.2534 .

PERSON WITH APHASIA or CAREGIVER: if you would like to set up an online consutation or for more information contact Bill Connors at bill@aphasiatoolbox.com or 724.494.2534 .

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One Hundred Names for Love 3-14-11

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:47:00 +0000


	www.aphasiatoolbox Newsletter

From the National Aphasia Association

Diane Ackerman, W.W. Norton & Company, and the National Aphasia Association would like to invite you to not only read Diane Ackerman's new book, One Hundred Names for Love, but also join her for a discussion at one of her many appearances around the country this Spring/Summer.

Explained further below, One Hundred Names for Love is Ackerman's account of her husband, author Paul West's, stroke and subsequent aphasia. Ackerman will be touring the country to speak about the book and her personal experience as a spouse and caregiver. Please look below to see if there is an event near you.

We hope that you will be able to attend one of these great events!

Sincerely,

Ellayne Ganzfried, Executive Director
National Aphasia Association

News Title

One Hundred Names for Love

Diane Ackerman

"Everyone who cherishes the gift of language will cherish Diane Ackerman's narrative masterpiece, an exquisitely written love story and medical miracle story, one that combines science, inspiration, wisdom, and heart.

One day Ackerman's husband, Paul West, an exceptionally gifted wordsmith and intellectual, suffered a terrible stroke. When he regained awareness he was afflicted with aphasia-loss of language-and could utter only a single syllable: "mem." The standard therapies yielded little result but frustration. Diane soon found, however, that by harnessing their deep knowledge of each other and her scientific understanding of language and the brain she could guide Paul back to the world of words. This triumphant book is both a humane and revealing addition to the medical literature on stroke and aphasia and an exquisitely written love story: a magnificent addition to literature, period."

Where & When

Boston: Tuesday, April 5th, 2011, 6:00pm
Boston Public Library Author Talk Series
http://www.bpl.org/news/author_series.htm#20110405

Los Angeles: Friday, April 8th, 2011, 7:00pm
Vroman's Bookstore/All Saints Church Discussion & Book Signing
http://www.vromansbookstore.com/diane-ackerman

DC: Sunday, April 10th, 2011, 5:00pm
Politics & Prose
http://www.politics-prose.com/event/book/diane-ackerman-one-hundred-names-love

Miami: Wednesday, April 13th, 2011, 8:00pm
Books & Books
http://www.booksandbooks.com/dinae_ackerman

Palm Beach: Thursday, April 14th, 2011, 5:30pm
Society of the Four Arts - The Four Arts King Library
http://www.fourarts.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.one&content_id=911&x=1276191

Atlanta: Tuesday, April 19th, 2011, 7:00pm
Margaret Mitchell House
http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/cms/Lectures+at+Margaret+Mitchell+House/301.html#april

New York: April 21st, 2011, 7:00pm
Barnes & Noble, 82nd St & Broadway
http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/71273

Detroit: Monday, May 6th, 2011, 11:00am
Detroit Book & Author Luncheon
http://www.bookandauthor.org/

Philadelphia: May19th, 2011, 7:30pm
Philadelphia Free Library
http://www.freelibrary.org/

Dallas: July 22nd, 2011, Time TBD
Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference
http://www.themayborn.unt.edu/MaybornConference.htm

Chautauqua, NY: August 18th, 2011, 3:30pm
Chautauqua Institution
http://www.ciweb.org/


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www.aphasiatoolbox.com update - 3/11/11

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:01:00 +0000


	www.aphasiatoolbox.com Updates

Website updates:

Did you know that www.aphasiatoolbox.com was built by and is constantly upgraded by a person with aphasia? We believe this is an example of the best of aphasia outcomes. To read a few more examples of outstanding aphasia recovery outcomes visit http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=accomplishments .

You may now automatically sign up for a free or full service subscription to www.aphasiatoolbox.com by visiting http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=registration or clicking on the blue Registration button on the homepage.

Full service subscribers- Remember to register for your free online consultation.

If you have missed some of our back issue of newsletters, visit http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=archive1 or click on the Resources drop down menu Archived Newsletters . Topics range from aphasia groups to free treatment protocols to listing of aphasia resources around the world.

Today's apraxia group will be moved to meet at 12;15 pm est.

We have 2 openings for our Woman's Conversation Group Monday's at 3:30 pm est and the Apple Apps for SLPs group that meets on Fridays [ today at noon est].

Since several of our online groups are now at capacity, will be forming the following new groups:

· scatpraxia

· apraxia

· SLP roundtables

· Public Speaking for Aphasia

· Canonilcalize-Speak in Sentences

· Men's Aphasia Bootcamp

Contact bill@aphasiatoolbox.com for more information or to sign up.

Upcoming Presentations:

California Speech and Hearing Association Annual Convention, March 24-27, 2001, Los Angeles, CA, USA . Visit http://www.csha.org/annualconvention.cfm for information.

Peoplefirst Neurological Rehab Workshop, March 31- April 1, 2011, Chicago IL, USA

Beaumont Hospitals, Third Annual Community Stroke Conference, "Life After Stroke ... Journey to Recovery", September 21, 2011. Sterling Heights, MI, USA. Call Beaumont Physician Referral Service at 800-633-7377 to register.

New Brunswick Association of S-LP's, October, 2011, Moncton New Brunswick, Canada


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Update on Online Group Programs 2/26/11

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 20:03:00 +0000


	An Update From the World Leader in Online Aphasia Treatment, Practice and Support Groups

To register for participation in a group,

visit www.aphasiatoolbox.com and register for the free subscription and then contact us at information@aphasiatoolbox.com or 724.494.2534 . Seating is limited to 6 participants. Costs per session vary from no charge to $25.00 .

As discussed in our previous newsletters, we are committed to providing people with aphasia and related communicating disorders opportunities to work in small groups. We have detailed the benefits of group work in previous newsletters http://aphasiatoolbox.blogspot.com/2010/02/group-work-in-aphasia-recovery.html ; http://aphasiatoolbox.blogspot.com/2011/01/caregivers-support-group-12311.html ; http://aphasiatoolbox.blogspot.com/2010/07/announcing-online-aphasia-communication.html or click on 'Resources" on our homepage and on the drop down menu then click on Archived Newsletters using the search feature to find groups. Working on engagement, turn taking, peer support, alternating attention; observation and interpersonal skills constitute a critical part of aphasia recovery efforts. In this newsletter, we will provide you with an update on our current groups.

Featured Café:

2/28/11 Mr. Roger Gulbranson of OH-USA will host his second Aphasia Communication Café on the topic of Belgium Beer Making at 7 pm est . [ meets once a month ]

Featured Support Group:

3/1/11 Barbara Lambert of NH -- USA will coordinate the Caregiver's Support Group at 8 pm est. [ meets 1^st & 3^rd Tuesdays ]

Visit http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=smallgroup to review the various Aphasia Communication Cafes which are hosted by people with aphasia.

Additional groups:

2/28/11 Bill Connors of PA-USA will facilitate the Woman's Conversation group at 3:30 pm est [ meets weekly ].

3/1/11 Bill Connors of PA-USA will facilitate the Men's Aphasia Bootcamp 8:00 am est [ meets weekly ].

3/1/11 Janet Ross of Alberta -- Canada will be toastmaster for the Public Speaking for People with Aphasia group [ meets 1^st & 3^rd Tuesdays ]

3/2/11 Bill Connors of PA-USA will facilitate the Scatpraxia Treatment Group ( focuses on improving control over vocal folds and voice- Phonatory Apraxia ) at 1:00 pm est [ meets weekly ].

3/3/11 Bill Connors of PA-USA will facilitate the Apraxia Treatment Group at 1: pm est [ meets weekly ].

3/4/11 Pushpa Ramachandran of Pune- India will facilitate the Canonicalize Sentence Group (speaking in sentences and discourse building ) for people with aphasia at 11:30 am est. [ meets weekly ]

3/4/11 Amanda Mehdiyoun of MA-USA will facilitate an SLP Roundtable on Apple Apps for SLPs at 2 pm est . [ meets weekly at varied times ]


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Apple Apps for SLPs Program at www.aphasiatoolbox.com 2-22-11

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 01:34:00 +0000


	New Apps Informational Program

To join us in our Apple Apps for SLP project:

1. Register for the free subscription on the www.aphasiatoolbox.com homepage by clicking on the blue Registration button.

2. View the forum/blog by clicking on the blue Forum button and selecting the Apples Apps for SLP forum. We have just begun this forum so please feel free add your comments and ideas.

3. Visit under the Specialty Services button on the top menu bar the Apples Apps for SLP information page. This is under construction but will be active this week.

4. To participate in the SLP Roundtables on apps, contact us at information@aphasiatoolbox.com and download the free videoconferencing service at www.oovoo.com and add us as friends. Our oovoo search names are aphasia and aphasia3 .

5. Any questions? Contact us at information@aphasiatoolbox.com .

Announcing the Apple Apps for SLPs Program at www.aphasiatoolbox.com

An app is computer software that helps people perform certain tasks on a computer or other devices. Apps contrast with application software that manages and integrates the computer itself. The app directly helps the user to perform specific task or activities. Web applications — or web apps — combine the power of the Internet with the simplicity of Multi-Touch technology.

Apple apps are web applications that, "..combine the power of the internet with the simplicity of Multi-Touch technology. " ¹ These apps can be downloaded directly to an iPhone, iPod or iPad or directly to a computer using iTunes. The apps may be free or available at a charge. The use of apps ranges from simple organization, to basic drill and practice, to full AAC. The use of apple apps is growing at a phenomenal rate.

The staff at www.aphasiatoolbox.com are assisting Amanda Mehdiyoun, a graduate student in Communication Disorders at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in her project to review and discuss various apps that may be beneficial for speech/language therapy and for people with communication disorders. As part of this program we will sponsor the following:

· www.aphasiatoolbox.com will be sponsoring a series of SLP Roundtables to discuss the use of apps for Apple devices online using videoconferencing. We will conduct 60-minute online discussion groups on three successive Fridays: 2/25/11 at 1 pm est; 3/4/11 at 2 pm est; and 3/11/11 noon est .

· www.aphasiatoolbox.com will provide a forum/blog on the apps topic that will allow a discussion and idea exchange for SLPs working with both pediatric and adult clients.

· www.aphasiatoolbox.com welcomes you to share your ideas on the apps topic with the SLP world by sending reviews, experiences or opinions about apps or apps for us to review to apps@aphasiatoolbox.com .

There is no charge for participation. See the procedures for participating in the column to the left.

¹http://www.apple.com/webapps/whatarewebapps.html


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Regional Interval Intensive Aphasia Program

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 01:17:00 +0000


	News Announcement -- Regional Interval Intensive Aphasia Program to start in Summer of 2011

Procedures for Full Service Subscribers to login to www.aphasiatoolbox.com:

Visit www.aphasiatoolbox.com

· In the upper right corner of the screen click on Login

· In the open box below the phrase, Username or email address, type in your email address

· In the open box below type in your password

· Click on the button below that has the word Log in

Now the multitude of features on www.aphasiatoolbox.com are available to you.

Once you have completed the website login, to use the Aphasia Sight Reader Software only you must login a second time directly to that program:

· On the top menu bar click on Subscriber Tools

· Drop down to Software

· Click on Aphasia Sight Reader

· In the box that has the word EMAIL in it type in your email address

· In the box to the right that has ......... in it type in your password

· To the right click on the button with the words Log in

· Below the word Products, click on the underlined phrase Run Aphasia Site Reader

· Click on the word Begin

· Enter the number of seconds you want to see the stimulus words in the Time Interval Box

· Select a Word or a Sentence List

· Click on Continue

Should you have any questions or problems contact us at information @aphasiatoolbox.com or 724.494.2534

Introducing the Interval Intensive Aphasia Treatment program from The Aphasia Center at Steps Forward and www.aphasiatoolbox.com . This new program combines the benefits of on-site intensive aphasia treatment with ongoing online intensive aphasia treatment.

Some unique features of the program include:

· Convenient - on-site treatment in your geographic area followed up with online treatment in your home.

· Intensive - two weeks of treatment

· Flexible- 10 hour and 20 hour schedules for the week of onsite treatment

· Continued practice- homework is given daily, with online follow-up practice between two week sessions

· Recurring sessions- complete an on-site program, follow up with online treatment, then complete another two week session in 3-4 months. We'll keep your progress going.

· Cost-effective- the presence of Dr. Bartels-Tobin and her associates in your area minimizes expenses for travel and housing making intensive treatment affordable for many more people

· Expertise- you will work with highly experienced, expert speech pathologists in both intensive and ongoing aphasia treatment both of whom have many years of aphasia rehabilitation experience. At your request we can also collaborate your efforts with your local speech pathologist or aphasia center.

· Effective outcomes-Visit http://stepstherapy.net/intensive-aphasia/ for information about intensive treatment. Visit http://stepstherapy.net/outcomes-testimonials/ for information from persons who have participated in intensive therapy and http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=accomplishments for information on online treatment outcomes.

This first of these cutting-edge, regional programs will be offered in northern Virginia, convenient to clients in VA; DC; MD; PA; NY; NJ; DE and WV. Clients may choose a 20 or a 10-hour per week schedule for the two weeks of the program. Clients supply their own meals and snacks, as well as provide for their personal care and medication regimens. A personal laptop is quite helpful. Our first 2-week session will be in the summer of 2011. Since few spaces are available, we recommend you contact us soon. Reservations require payment for the 2-week program in full at least one month in advance and spaces will be filled on a first-come basis. Those clients who cannot be accommodated for the initial session may be offered preference for the following session.

For more information about this program, contact Dr. Bartels-Tobin at dr.lbtobin@gmail.com or 727-823-2529 or Bill Connors at bill@aphasiatoolbox.com or 724-494-2534. Visit our website at http://stepstherapy.net/intensive-therapies/welcome-to-the-aphasia-center/.


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Affiliate Programs 2-8-11

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:34:00 +0000


	Spotlight on our Affiliate Programs

"Our website, www.aphasiatoolbox.com , was built and is maintained by one of our clients, a person with aphasia who was 8 years post stroke when he started with us. This kind of success story speaks volumes for his diligence and hard work and the skill of our staff." Bill Connors

Technical Support Tip for aphasiatoolbox.com

TOPIC: "What can I do when the website software is too large for the page?"

If you are using Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox browser:

· At the top of the screen click on View

· On the drop down menu click on Full Screen

· For most PCs, you may use the shortcut- click on F11 to toggle to Full Screen also.

If you are using Safari browser:

· At the top of the screen click on View

· On the drop down menu click on either Actual size, Zoom in, or Zoom out

· Click and drag the lower right side corner of the screen to adjust size

Remember, if you have any questions or need technical support, let us know by email, support@aphasiatoolbox.com, or by phone -- 724.494.2534 . We now have the capability to support you through remote view and control of your computer.

We will be highlighting in our newsletters a select group of programs and products.

We have seen certain products and services, provided by our affiliates, help our clients and coaches in several ways.

· First of all, they can provide extra practice and we all know that smart practice is a critical element in aphasia and apraxia recovery.

· Secondly, they can support our aphasia rehabilitation efforts by expanding our knowledge of the fundamentals and essentials of speech, language, communication and thinking.

· Thirdly they can give us a fresh or different perspective to our goals and activities.

· Finally, they can make our lives easier.

The first product that we will share with you is the English Grammar Revolution. Developed by Elizabeth O'Brien, the materials on this website provide the opportunity for us to learn, or with many of us to review English grammar. She does this in a fun, interesting way using diagramming, good old fashioned diagramming sentences. It reminds me of the song, "What is old is new again."

I agree with Elizabeth when she states on her website, "With a little effort on your part and the information in this site, you can revolutionize your grammar knowledge." I am impressed with how her approach and materials minimize frustration and facilitate a better understanding of English grammar. The website also contains much other useful information, quizzes, materials and a free newsletter.

We want our clients with aphasia and their coaches to be well grounded in the basics of grammar especially the eight word groups or parts of speech and the basic sentence, phrase and clause types that this program emphasizes. This is part of our 'metaphasia' treatment tool. The term metaphasia refers to a person's knowledge of language and the cognitive processes used to communicate using language. Metaphasia provides powerful tools for the client to use as he/she reconnects their speech and language skills during aphasia recovery.

In order to access this website to review or purchase materials click on this link - http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=affiliated - or visit our website www.aphasiatoolbox.com and click on the Affiliated Programs phrase at the bottom left of our homepage. If you have any questions or comments about how these products and programs support.


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The Caregivers' Support Group 1/23/11

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 20:15:00 +0000

The Caregivers' Support Group and the Men's Aphasia Bootcamp at www.aphasiatoolbox.com

The Online Aphasia Communication Cafe program announces :

The Caregivers' Support Group will meet

meet on the 1^st and 3^rd Tuesday evening from 8 pm to 9 pm est starting this Tuesday Feb. 1, 2011

There is no charge for this group that is coordinated by caregivers themselves.

The following is a description of the group:

As spouses or other primary caregivers of a stroke survivor with aphasia, our lives change significantly. These changes are hard for other family members and friends to fully comprehend. As a result, there can be a sense of isolation. The online Caregiver's Support Group is an opportunity to meet via www.oovoo.com videoconferencing with others experiencing similar experiences. After a brief check-in and new member introductions, members of the group will discuss the various issues of their lives including: therapy experience, how we help our loved ones, paid helpers, living arrangements, social and psychological experiences for the patient and ourselves, financial issues, legal issues, good articles or books to read, and any other relevant topics. Perhaps a joint reading or predetermined topic will evolve as the group members jointly decide what they want to experience and accomplish.

Our goals are to:

1. support each other

2. share ideas and experiences

3. learn new skills

There is no charge for participation in these cafes. Participants need to have a computer with a webcam and internet access. Registration is simple and can be completed at http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=registration . Also send an email to information@aphasiatoolbox.com requesting a seat in this group. Feel free to contact me should there be any questions or comments or if you are interested in coordinating a caregiver group.

There is also one seat open for the Men's Aphasia Bootcamp that meets on Tuesday mornings 8 am est. This session is facilitated by Bill Connors ( http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=aboutus ). There is a $25.00 charge for participation in this session. For more information about other treatment and practice groups contact information@aphasiatoolbox.com or visit http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=smallgroup .

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Specialty Aphasia Cafe

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:59:00 +0000

Announcement Header

Announcing the first Specialty Aphasia Communication Cafe:

The Fine Art of Belgium Beer Making Monday January 24, 7:30 pm - 9 pm est

We are expanding our online aphasia group program. Last year we started the Aphasia Communication cafe, an online group of up to six people led by a person with aphasia. These cafes have offered the opportunity for peer conversation, support, sharing of ideas, social engagement, leadership, and speech/language practice. Cafe groups now meet 4 days a week.

In response to suggestions by cafe participants, we are adding Specialty Aphasia Cafes. The first specialty cafe will be hosted by Mr. Roger Gulbanson from Cleveland OH. Roger will be hosting a monthly group online discussing The Fine Art of Making Belgium Beers. Roger is an expert in this craft of brewing Belgium beers. He has studied with beer makers in Belgium.

The goals of the group are to :

1. Share information about crafting Belgium Beer;

2. Discuss Belgium Beers;

3. Discuss Belgium breweries;

4. Discuss Belgium food

If any of people with aphasia are interested in hosting a specialty café, contact me.

Bill Connors

bill@aphasiatoolbox.com

724.494.2534

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Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment Program - Module 3 10-31-10

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 16:25:00 +0000


	Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment Program - Module 3

The www.aphasiatoolbox.com Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment Program (BCAT) takes advantage of the powerful recovery and re-connective potential of brain plasticity. BCAT brings together the best of aphasia research, neuroscience, learning theory and the clinical expertise of our speech/language pathologists (SLP). We blend this combination with the determination and effort or the person with aphasia using our innovative techniques and tools to achieve his/her goals. To view some examples of our client's outcomes visithttp://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=accomplishments .

BCAT consists of 15 component treatment modules, 61 guiding treatment principles, 88 unique treatment protocols (sets of activities with specific goals) with accompanying materials; and 2 software programs with over 500 stimulus sets.

The component treatment modules include:
1. The Viking Module for Apraxia
2. Phoneticize for Thinking in Sounds
3. The AphasiaPhonics Module for Phonological Elements of Aphasia
4. The Lexical -- Semantic Module for Word Recall Anomia
5. The Speaking in Sentences Module for Syntactic Reconnection
6. The Prosody Module for Sentence Intonation, Word Stress and Phrasal timing
7. Keyboarding for Alexia, Agraphia and Screen Literacy
8. The Numerology Module for Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers and Concepts
9. The Speech Acts Module for Intent and Communicative Responsiveness
10. The Pragmatics Module for Language In Action
11. The Cognitive Underpinnings Module for Memory, Attention and Mental 13. Resource Allocation
12. The Morphing Module for Morphological Difficulties
13. The Reading Module for Acquired Alexia
14. The Movement Module for Limb Apraxia
15. Groups for Peer Engagement, Practice and Support

For more information visithttp://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=bcat or contact us at 724.494.2534 or emailinformation@aphasiatoolbox.com .

This is the third in a series of newsletters that explain in more detail each of the component modules of our Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment Program (BCAT). The topic for this newsletter is the AphasiaPhonics for Phonological Elements of Aphasia Module.

Early in childhood, children learn to talk acquiring skills in recognizing (decoding) and saying (encoding) speech sounds.  They also learn to read (decode) and write (encode) in letters incorporating their knowledge of and skill in producing speech sounds ¹.   This learning experience creates a very strong relationship between speaking and reading that lasts a lifetime.  It is this powerful bond, forged by phonics, between sounds and letters that we utilize in the AphasiaPhonics Module as we help people with aphasia (PWA) read, write, and most importantly, talk again.  Moreover, this phonics connection from childhood is the reason why we have made use of the many treatment techniques used by speech pathologists who work with phonological disorders in children in development of the AphasiaPhonics module.

We created the AphasiaPhonics Module to take advantage of this residual sound-letter connection that PWA still have.  We created dozens of innovative treatment protocols and hundreds of stimuli lists on our software program (the Aphasia Sight Reader) that we use to make a therapeutic learning environment that takes full advantage of this phonics connection.  The PWA's ability to transcribe these sounds into phonetic symbols complement the his/her efforts ².

Phonics involves teaching how to connect the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters and teaching learners how to blend the sounds of letters to pronounce unknown or unfamiliar words. The goal of AphasiaPhonics is to help the client reconnectthe sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters and to blend the sounds of letters to pronounce words left unfamiliar due to phonological aphasia ³.  Reconnecting word familiarity is a core building block in the AphasiaPhonics module.  The AphasiaPhonics aphasia rehabilitation module uses multiple approaches including reading, writing, keyboarding, spelling, talking, gesturing, listening, and thinking.

The benefits of this module are:

It helps the client to think in sounds⁴.
It helps the client to reconnect normal mental processes for decoding and encoding ^{5, 6}.
It improves the client's ability to develop phoneme sequence knowledge.
It improve the client's phonological working memory.
It provides a platform to address phonological working memory problems ⁷.
It improves the client's ability to say words with more than two syllables.
It helps the client to take advantage of residual abilities with the letter-sound relationship.

Some the short-term objectives for the AphasiaPhonics module are:

The client will be able to:
explain the relationship between sounds and letters and words.
say aloud, using short term working memory, two words with different spellings but the same sounds (homonyms).
say aloud, using short term working memory, 3 words that increase in length from 1 to 3 syllables (increasing syllables).
using working memory, decide it a string of letters is a real word, then type word and a brief definition.
using verbal working memory and alternating attention, think of a rhyming word given a semantic cue.
type the phonetic symbols for a printed word, then type the spelling of its homonym.
using verbal working memory,  provide a synonym, antonym and rhyming word for a target word.

The AphasiaPhonics Program for phonological elements of aphasia
a.    The Visual Definition of Aphasia
b.    AphasiaPhonics - concepts
c.     Vowels
                                               i.     Jaw positions
                                             ii.     Around the Mouth
                                            iii.     Alternating Vowels
                                            iv.     Vowel Sequences From Memory
                                              v.     Continuous Phonation - Diphthongs
                                            vi.     V to VC words
d.    Vowels Become Pronouns ( subjective; objective; possessive; demonstratives; interrogatives )
e.    Minimal Pair Vowel Insertions
f.      The Bronx Cheer
g.    Oh Boy! ( Assigned Letters, Through the Alphabet )
h.    Increasing Syllables
i.      Lexical-Semantic Meltdowns
j.      Phonological Assembly
k.     Pronunciation Rules
l.      Irregular Past Tense Verbs
m.  Spelling Random Anagrams - Making Lexical Decisions
n.    Spelling Random Anagrams - Semantic Category
o.    Spelling Random Anagrams Using Spelling Patterns
p.    Rhyme, Synonym, Antonym Word Recall
q.    Homonyms
r.      Minimal Pairs
s.    Morphing: Nouns to Verbs
t.      Morphing: Verbs to Nouns
u.    Morphing: Derivational Switching
v.     Morphing: suffixing
w.   Morphing: prefixing
x.     Sound Embedded Verbs
y.     Heteronyms
a.
b.    GROUPS:
a.    Words Turn Me On
b.    Bootcamps

If you are a speech pathologist and feel that your clients may benefit from this type of program, or if you would like to consult with us for its use in your practice, email us atinformation@aphasiatoolbox.com or call 724.494.2534

¹ Talcott, Joel, Witton, Caroline, McLean, Maggie, Hansen, Peter, Rees, Adrian, Green Gary, and Stein, John, Dynamic Sensory Sensitivity and Children's Word Decoding Skills, Precedings of the National Academy of Sciences, March14,2000, vol.97 no. 6, 2952-2957,

²Connors, William, Phoneticize for Thinking in Sounds Module,www.aphasiatoolbox.com Newsletter, October, 2010,

³Berndt, R.S., Handbook of Neuropsychology, 2^nd edition, 2001  Vol 3, 123

⁴Goodglass, Harold, Phonological Factors in Aphasia. In Clinical Aphasiology Conference: Clinical Aphasiology Conference (1975 : 5th : Santa Fe, NM : April 30-May 2, 1975) / : BRK Publishers(1975), pages 28-45.

⁵Kendall, Diane, Rosenbek, John, Heilman, Kenneth, Conway, Tim, Klenberg, Karen, Gonzalez Rothi, Leslie, and Nadeau, Stepehn ; Phoneme-based rehabilitation of anomia in aphasia, Brain and Language, 105, (2008) 1-17

⁶Corsten, S., Mende, M., Cholewa, J,. and Huber, W., Treatment of input and output phonology in aphasia: A single case study,
Aphasiology, Vol. 21, No. 6-8. (2007), pp. 587-603.

⁷Elizabeth M. Christy, Nora L. Watson, Rhonda B. Friedman, The Role of Phonological Working Memory in Phonological Alexia Brain and Language 99 (2006) 8--219


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Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment Program - Module 2

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:14:00 +0000

Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment Program - Module 2

BCAT consists of 15 component treatment modules, 61 guiding treatment principles, 88 unique treatment protocols (sets of activities with specific goals) with accompanying materials; and 2 software programs with over 500 stimulus sets.

The component treatment modules include:
1. The Viking Module for Apraxia
2. Phoneticize for Thinking in Sounds
3. The AphasiaPhonics Module for Phonological Elements of Aphasia
4. The Lexical -- Semantic Module for Word Recall Anomia
5. The Speaking in Sentences Module for Syntactic Reconnection
6. The Prosody Module for Sentence Intonation, Word Stress and Phrasal timing
7. Keyboarding for Alexia, Agraphia and Screen Literacy
8. The Numerology Module for Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers and Concepts
9. The Speech Acts Module for Intent and Communicative Responsiveness
10. The Pragmatics Module for Language In Action
11. The Cognitive Underpinnings Module for Memory, Attention and Mental 13. Resource Allocation
12. The Morphing Module for Morphological Difficulties
13. The Reading Module for Acquired Alexia
14. The Movement Module for Limb Apraxia
15. Groups for Peer Engagement, Practice and Support

For more information visit http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=bcat or contact us at 724.494.2534 or email information@aphasiatoolbox.com .

This is the second in a series of newsletters that explain in more detail each of the component modules of our Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment Program (BCAT). Our second topic, in the series, is the Phoneticize for Thinking in Sounds Module.

Our clients who are successful with the Phoneticize for Thinking in Sounds Module can do just that -- think in sounds. They are able to independently think of a word, hear that word in their heads, and then write the word in symbols that represent the sounds. This ability is a powerful tool for the person with aphasia and his/her SLP during the treatment process and for the client during independent practice.
The clinical benefits in this activity are:
1. It provides a common language for the SLP and clients to share. This saves treatment time and facilitates feedback.
2. It helps the client to think in sounds¹.
3. It helps the client to reconnect normal mental processes for decoding and encoding ^{2, 3}.
4. It improves the client's ability to develop phoneme sequence knowledge ².
5. It compensates for weakness in phonological working memory.
6. It provides a platform to address phonological working memory problems ⁴.

The clinical goals for the Phoneticize for Thinking in Sounds module are --
Using the aphasiatoolbox.com phonetic symbols, the client will be able to ⁵:
1. type the phonetic symbols from short term working memory.
2. type the type the phonetic symbols for a spoken vowel.
3. type the phonetic symbols for a spoken consonant.
4. type the phonetic symbols for a spoken word.
5. type the phonetic symbols for a written word.
6. type the phonetic symbols for a thought.
7. type the phonetic symbols for a gesture.
8. type the phonetic symbols for a semantic web target stimulus.

Simply put, the client learns to transcribe printed words into phonetic symbols using the aphasiatoolbox.com phonetic chart. This chart uses a modified version of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). We have changed some of the IPA symbols into more transparent icons that are easier for clients to recognize and learn. This protocol allows us to attack phonological aphasia in new ways. The module focuses on the client working from his/her own thought processes with the elimination of imitation, closure tasks and external cueing. Clients gain appreciation of words as communicative symbols. They come to realize that letters are things we write with our hands and sounds are things we say with our mouths.
If you feel that your clients may benefit from this type of program, or if you would like to consult with us for its use on your practice, email us at information@aphasiatoolbox.com or call 724.494.2534

¹Goodglass, Harold, Phonological Factors in Aphasia. In Clinical Aphasiology Conference: Clinical Aphasiology Conference (1975 : 5th : Santa Fe, NM : April 30-May 2, 1975) / : BRK Publishers(1975), pages 28-45.

²Kendall, Diane, Rosenbek, John, Heilman, Kenneth, Conway, Tim, Klenberg, Karen, Gonzalez Rothi, Leslie, and Nadeau, Stepehn ; Phoneme-based rehabilitation of anomia in aphasia, Brain and Language, 105, (2008) 1-17
³Corsten, S., Mende, M., Cholewa, J,. and Huber, W., Treatment of input and output phonology in aphasia: A single case study,
Aphasiology, Vol. 21, No. 6-8. (2007), pp. 587-603.

⁴Van Gleek, Anne, Gilla Ronald, and Hoffman, LaVae, Training in phonological awareness generalizes to phonological working memory: a preliminary investigation, Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Applied Behavior Analysis, The, Fall, 2006

⁵Joly-Pottuz, Mercier, Melina, Laynaurdm Aurelie, and Habib, Micheal, Combined auditory and articulatory training improves phonological deficit in children with dyslexia, Submitted to Neuropsychological Rehabilitation , May 2007

The Full Phoneticize for Thinking in Sounds Module
a.    Phoenticize -- concepts
b.    Phoenticize -- the symbols
c.     Phoenticize -- the vowels
                                               i.     Phoenticize -- the long vowels
                                             ii.     Phoenticize -- the long-short vowel distinction
                                            iii.     Phoenticize -- the vowels around the mouth
d.    Phoenticize -- what is that vowel in the middle?
e.    Phoenticize -- the consonants
f.      Phoenticize - numbers
g.    Phoenticize -- words to sounds
h.    Phoenticize -- thoughts to sounds
i.      Phoenticize --sounds to words
j.      Phoenticize --sounds to gestures
k.     Phoenticize -- sound embedded verbs
l.      Phoenticize - prosody
m. Phoenticize - homonyms
n.    Phoenticize -- past tense irregular verbs
o.    Phoenticize -- Phrabble
p.    Phoenticize -- phonetic anagram


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BCAT - The Viking Module 10-21-10

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 03:18:00 +0000

Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment Program - Module 1

The component treatment modules include:

1. The Viking Module for Apraxia

2. Phoneticize for thinking in sounds

3. The AphasiaPhonics Module for phonological elements of aphasia

4. The Lexical -- Semantic Module for word recall anomia

5. The Speaking in Sentences Module for syntactic reconnection

6. The Prosody Module for sentence intonation, word stress and phrasal timing

7. Keyboarding for alexia, agraphia and screen literacy

8. The Numerology Module for cardinal and ordinal numbers and concepts

9. The Speech Acts Module for intent and communicative responsiveness

10. The Pragmatics Module for Language In Action

11. The Cognitive Underpinnings Module for memory, attention and mental resource allocation

12. The Morphing Module for morphological difficulties

13. The Reading Module for Acquired Alexia

14. The Movement Module for Limb Apraxia

15. Groups for per engagement, practice and support

For more information visit http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=bcat or contact us at 724.494.2534 or email information@aphasiatoolbox.com .

This is the first in a series of newsletters that will explain in more detail each of the component modules of our Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment Program (BCAT) pronouns. Our first topic is the Viking Module for Apraxia.

When one of our clients with aphasia also experiences the effects of apraxia (motor programming problems) on his/her speech, we begin his/her treatment in our vocal-oral physical training center. We have built a treatment module that truly approaches apraxia as a movement disorder focusing on motor skills ¹.

The clinical goals for the Viking Module are:

1. Disassociate jaw and vocal fold neural controls

2. Increase metapraxia, the knowledge and awareness of apraxia and movement patterns ²

3. Improve deliberate control of vocal fold action (voicing, phonation)

4. Establish effective use of proprioceptive feedback, the ability to focus on the sense of position and location and orientation and movement of the body and its parts ³

5. Establish presyllabic and preprosodic skills

6. Establish the effective production of vowels primarily in relation to jaw position and as the building blocks for syllables

7. Simplify the client's movement patterns

8. Establish syllables as the building blocks for speech motor programming

Wambaugh,et. Al., (2006) offered the following definition of apraxia, "Acquired apraxia of speech (AOS) is a neurogenic speech disorder that is characterized by erroneous production of speech sounds; reduced rate of speech; increased time in transitioning between sounds, syllables, and words; and disordered prosody" ⁴. Recognizing that this definition would do little to assist the client's appreciation of what needs to happen therapeutically, we utilize a visual definition of apraxia and its relationship to aphasia and connected speech production. Formative assessment is a key clinical management tool used by our speech/language pathologists (SLP) during apraxia treatment. Formative assessment of the client's needs occurs minute-by-minute, day-by-day resulting in a fluid, responsive plan of treatment. In other words, the module continually develops in response to the client's progress in and reaction to this movement-centered treatment and practice. This approach can be in sharp contrast to less frequent treatment adjustments provided when intermittent, formal testing is employed.

In the Viking module, prioritizing targets for treatment is critical. At times, this means downplaying voicing errors (e.g., t/d) or postponing work on consonants while emphasizing work in syllables as a primary treatment target ⁵ or incorporation of rhythm at treatment onset. It seems that the great majority of traditional apraxia treatment approaches target segmental, single phoneme units (e.g., consonant sounds), or use imitation ("Watch me.") and external cueing (mirrors, recordings, placement) as key treatment techniques. In contrast, we focus on the client working from his/her own memory and thought for movement patterns, as well as a focus on his/her own internal feedback and control (proprioceptive feedback). From the very beginning, the Viking Module focuses on the client reconnecting motor control in his/her own brain.

As with our treatment modules for aphasia, a guiding principle for this work on apraxia is:

· Ensure that the client knows where to place his/her mental focus.

· Make sure that the client acts on that focus.

· Have the client effectively and efficiently move to next point of focus.

Effective use of this principle has consistently resulted in a fading away of perseverative utterances (repetitive production of speech sounds that have no meaning such as: thatathatathat; cocococococ; yesthankyouyesthankyou ) as clients begin to differentiate their movements and speech output. Once effective motor control has been reconnected, bridging treatment activities to speech sounds, syllables, and sentences in connected and propositional speech becomes much less difficult.

While we are working on apraxia that affects the jaw, mouth and voice, we also work on apraxia affecting motor control of the arm/hand control (The Movement Module for Limb Apraxia). This allows us to:

· begin to address keyboarding and screen literacy skills

· work on any asymbolia (impairment in understanding and using symbols)

· facilitate the client's metapraxia

· help the client improve independent therapeutic efforts by recognizing shared elements of the effects of apraxia on various motor functions of the body

· Establish a purposeful, functional communication modality (pointing; gesturing; yes-no head nod-shake)

The specific elements of the Viking Module for Apraxia include:

a. The Visual Definition of Aphasia

b. Viking - concepts

c. The basic Viking -- pulsing syllables

i. Modeled

ii. Independent on request

d. Durational Viking -- Stretching Vowels

e. Intoned Viking

f. Viking with an Attitude

g. Rhythmed Viking

h. Scatpraxia: yes-no-delicious

i. Scatpraxia: vowels

j. Scatpraxia: varied vowels

k. Scatpraxia: bringing in the consonants

l. Vowels

i. Jaw positions

ii. Around the Mouth

iii. The Elevator: Alternating Vowels

iv. Vowel Sequences From Memory

v. Continuous Phonation -- Dipthongs

vi. Blend Sounds into Words

vii. V to VC words

viii. Alternate / h / -vowels

m. Vowels Become Pronouns

n. Oral-Motor Coordination Module -- addressing naturalness of syllable structure and its supra-syllabic features

o. Sound Embedded Verbs

p. GROUPS online (http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=smallgroup):

i. Oral Motor Coordination

ii. Men's Basic Bootcamp

iii. Coaches

For an explanation of apraxia and its treatment geared more toward consumers, contact us at 724.494.2534 or email information@aphasiatoolbox.com .

¹ Maas, E., Robin, D. A., Austermann Hula, S. N., Freedman, S. E., Wulf, G., Ballard, K. J., & Schmidt, R. A. (2008). Principles of motor learning in treatment of motor speech disorders. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17, 277-298.

² Heilman, Kenneth, and Gonzalez Rothi, Leslie, Apraxia -- The Dana Guide, http://www.dana.org/news/brainhealth/detail.aspx?id=9772, March 2007

³ Georgopoulos, Aposotlos, Movement, Balance, and Coordination -- the Dana Guide, http://www.dana.org/news/brainhealth/detail.aspx?id=10070 , November 2007

⁴Wambaugh, Julie, Duffy, Joseph, McNeil, Malcolm, Robin, Donald, and Rogers, Margaret, Treatment guidelines for acquired apraxia of speech: a synthesis and evaluation of the evidence.(ANCDS Bulletin Board)(Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences )

Journal of Medical Speech - Language Pathology | June 01, 2006

⁵Ziegler, Wolfram, Aichert, Ingrid, and Staiger, Anja, Syllable- and Rhythm Based Approaches to Apraxia of Speech, Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders, 20 59-66 October 2010


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www.aphasiatoolbox.com and the ASHA Convention 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:22:00 +0000


	www.aphasiatoolbox.com and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association National Convention 2010

ASHA Convention Exhibit Hours:

Thursday, November 18 - 10:00 a.m. -- 5:00 p.m.

Friday, November 19 - 9:00 a.m. -- 5:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 20 - 9:00 a.m. -- 3:00 p.m.

AphasiaToolbox.com and the Aphasia Solutions Network will be at ASHA's 2010 convention in Philadelphia, PA held in the Pennsylvania Convention center November 18-20, 2010. We have a number of different activities planned including:

Professional Presentations:
Poster Session;  Session number:    1681 Poster Board 212  Title:     Client-Driven Online Group Treatment --
Friday, November 19, 2010; 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM; Hall C; This session will present a small group, online model that provides opportunities for people with aphasia (PWA), caregivers/practice coaches, and SLPs to use the group work format to provide affordable treatment and interpersonal engagement on an ongoing basis at affordable prices to PWA in any geographic area.

Poster Session; 1205 Poster Board 252  Title:     SLP & Client Benefits From 10 Years of Aphasia Treatment - Thursday, November 18, 2010; 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM; Hall C
This session will discuss a 10-year course of aphasia recovery and explore how this experience benefitted graduate SLP students, researchers, the primary SLP, and, most importantly, the client. A fresh look at the client value and clinician expertise part of evidence-based practice will be examined.

Exhibit Table - Table 259b

·      Handouts on aphasia treatment; aphasia groups; aphasia private practice;
·      Treatment demonstrations
·      Online group sessions
·      Chat with the experts ( calendar to be announced )
·      Raffle for 6 months of website use and 6 hours of professional coaching
·      Personal tour of www.aphasiatoolbox.com
·      Business Social -- this will be an opportunity for a SLPs to meet with Bill Connors to discuss aphasia treatment and the www.aphasiatoolbox.com SLP professional program including the Turnkey Aphasia Program.

Patient services -- a limited number of appointments for clients to attend Intensive Interval Aphasia Treatment (http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=iiat ) sessions. Each client may receive a consultation, evaluation, treatment and set-up for ongoing BCAT (http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/?q=bcat) therapy.

For more information or to schedule an IIAT session, email us at information@aphasiatoolbox.com or phone 724.494.2534


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The Brain Compatible Treatment ( BCAT )

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:15:00 +0000

The Brain Compatible Treatment Program

Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment (BCAT) takes advantage of the powerful recovery and reconnective potential of brain plasticity. The brain's ability to continually grow, learn and recover is well documented [http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/exercise.html ]. Our experienced speech/language pathologists (SLP) blend the best of aphasia research and clinical evidence with neuroscience, learning theory, technology and clinical expertise. In doing so, we are able to emphasize the values, needs and goals of the person with aphasia ( PWA ) as part of our evidence-based aphasia program. Our SLPs use formative assessment techniques to assess your progress on an ongoing basis in order to continually respond to your progress and grow the scope of your program accordingly. As your speech and conversational skills improve, we make sure you can use them in fully functional ways as you participate in our online small support, conversation and activity groups ( http://aphasiatoolbox.com/calendar/calendar.htm )

Moreover, since aphasia truly is different for everyone, we work hard to ensure a program that is effective, personalized, affordable and available for everyone. Since traveling the pathway of aphasia recovery often takes time, there is no expiration date on your participation in our programs.

Finally, given the demonstrated value of an intensive component to aphasia treatment [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC515310/ ], we offer the Intensive Interval Aphasia Treatment Program that alternates shorts bursts ( 2-3 days ) of onsite intensive treatment with ongoing treatment session weekly and lots of daily client practice [http://aphasiatoolbox.blogspot.com/2009/09/practice-makes-perfect.html ].

As you can see, the Brain Compatible Aphasia Treatment approach and its pioneering tools and techniques expand your program beyond what traditional treatment approaches can achieve. Our treatment Tenants, Components, Protocols and Tools emanate from evidence-based research and clinical studies.

Body Content

Guiding Treatment Principles for BCAT

1. Be sure to have a working definition that facilitates metaphasia for the PWA.

2. Recognize and act on the fact that, "Aphasia is different for everybody." , ( Ginnie Anguish, PWA, 2000 )

3. Keeping in mind that each PWA is different, use formative assessment to monitor current levels as well as changes.

4. The BIG IDEA of Aphasia Therapy: Everything revolves around and comes back to propositional speech and conversation.

5. The Essence of Aphasia and Apraxia Therapy: Get the PWA skilled at:

a. knowing where to focus his/her mental attention

b. acting on that point of focus

c. efficiently shift to next point of focus.

6. The Key Elements of Aphasia Therapy ; Faith & Rhythm

7. Have the PWA work from his/her own memory or thoughts.

8. Help the PWA regain faith in his/her memory.

9. The Missing Ingredient in Aphasia Therapy: A tremendous amount of smart, effective independent, patient practice It is all about therapeutic time on task in a variety of situations including a therapeutic social network. (http://aphasiatoolbox.blogspot.com/2009/09/conquering-alexia.html ;

10. Say it, say it, say it, type it, say it again... then make it natural. Involve both the lexical and phonological conditions for practice

11. Work on reconnecting neural pathways that are used for propositional, generative, conversational speech.

12. Address the cognitive underpinnings for speech and language production.

13. Establish early skills in saying subjective pronouns.

14. Move into conjugation.

15. Right branch conjugated sentences into longer utterances.

16. Expand into reverse word order question asking conjugation.

17. Be a master of stimuli.

18. Challenge the PWA .

19. Guide the PWA toward being his/her own SLP.

20. Make every activity truly therapeutic.

21. Focus early on Verbs.

22. Work ASAP in sentences starting with canonical.

23. Incorporate time concepts.

24. Use all possible angles to reconnect the neural pathways.

25. Software for Aphasia should SHEAR:

a. Simple to use

b. Human touch remains

c. Effective for clients

d. Affordable

e. Responsive to change and client growth

26. When possible, take advantage of technology.

27. Deal effectively with the effects of apraxia treating it as a movement disorder.

28. Focus on conversational interaction and discourse.

29. Peer group interaction is essential. (http://aphasiatoolbox.blogspot.com/2010/02/group-work-in-aphasia-recovery.html ; http://aphasiatoolbox.blogspot.com/2010/02/aphasia-solutions-network-online-small.html )

30. Minimize or eliminate picture stimuli.

31. Obtain lots and lots of self-generated patient neural flows - utterances and/or sentences.

32. Make sure the patient practices out loud, especially when he/she is alone.

33. Maintain eye contact whenever possible.

34. Have the PWA create or at least be very involved in the design of his/her own materials/stimuli for practice.

35. Have the PWA BLINK IT! ( Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell, 2005)

36. Recognize that there is no such thing as a patient plateau. ( http://aphasiacorner.com/blog/experts-talk/the-myth-of-the-aphasia-recovery-plateau-202 )

37. Recognize that your client is not a data point or a statistic.

38. Keep your eye on the truly important aphasia treatment outcomes: to return to work; to converse with his wife; to read stories to her grandkids; to shoot the breeze over coffee in Starbucks; to lead a productive life.

39. Put the PWA's values, needs and goals into the driver's seat for evidence-based practice (http://www.asha.org/members/ebp/ ).

40. Never, ever, ever give up. However, if you must, deliver a list of quality resources and referral sources to the PWA and caregivers.

41. Consider an ongoing intensive program that incorporates innovative treatment with lots of patient practice, and peer interaction, and a never give up attitude.

42. Address issues of syllable structure knowledge and production early.

43. Establish vowel knowledge and production skills early when needed.

44. Fold in work on prosody ASAP.

45. Reconnect Spelling Skills.

46. Reconnect, or teach, keyboarding skills and screen literacy.

47. Pay attention to the phonological neighborhood

48. Encourage the brain to make multiple associations with the same material in order to give that information more neural scaffolding.

49. Vary the type of material studied in a single sitting in order to leave a deeper impression on the brain than concentrating on just one skill at a time.

50. "It ain't over till it's over...and that takes time and persistence."

51. Emphasize metapraxia, the patient's understanding of and insight into the planning and execution of movement patterns.

52. When appropriate, provide quick, clean, diverse and descriptive feedback.

53. When giving feedback or instructions, tell the PWA or coach only what to do.

54. Help the client learn the skill of truly listening.

55. Make sure that the PWA is working with peers and working/participating in groups.

56. Focus on normal skills.

57. Be a reconnectionist.

58. Help the PWA learn to embrace his/her mistakes.

59. Recognize that worksheets don't grow dendrites.

60. Train and utilize coaches.

61. Know the differences among: homonyms; homographs; heterograph; heteronym; homophone; antonym; and synonym and take advantage of them.


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The Intensive Interval Aphasia Treatment

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 21:22:00 +0000


	Announcing the The Intensive Interval Aphasia Treatment

Be sure to visit www.aphasiatoolbox.com and click on the Free Newsletter button to receive our free newsletter. Past issues are available on our home page under Resources -- Archives of Newsletters.

Presentations and Workshops:

October 6, 9 am -- 2:30 pm est , Life After Stroke...A Journey to Recovery, Grosse Pointe War Memorial, Grosse Pointe MI [ call Beaumont Hospital at 800-633-7377 to register ]

November 18,19 , 2010 , The American Speech Language Hearing Association National Convention, Philadelphia, PA

November 21, 2010, Effective and Affordable Treatment Options for Aphasia -- A consumer Workshop, Philadelphia, PA

March, 25,26,27 2010 , The California Speech and Hearing Association State Convention, Los Angeles, CA

"The Intensive Interval Aphasia Treatment Program is revolutionizing aphasia therapy. It combines the best of 3 worlds -- short bursts of intensive treatment; with intensive ongoing treatment and practice; supported by innovative tools, technology and peer support -- all at affordable rates." Bill Connors, founder of www.aphasiatoolbox.com

Intensive aphasia therapy has been described as "...a treatment program that offers 10-20 hours of therapy weekly... provided in a more concentrated, compressed way -- over a shorter period of time (http://www.stepstherapy.net/whyintensive.html). A number of studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of intensive treatment for aphasia ( Hinckley, J. J. & Carr, T. H. (2005 ) and compared the outcomes of intensive and nonintensive aphasia treatment. Aphasiology. 19, 965-974; http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04032008-161153/unrestricted/Cain_thesis.pdf ). One study discussed associated changes in brain activity following intensive therapy for aphasia (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/2/20 ) . One well-known and well-respected intensive aphasia program is the Steps Forward program [http://www.stepstherapy.net/ ] in Florida directed by Dr. Lori Bartels-Tobin. Another highly effective intensive program for US veterans is the PIRATE program [ http://www.pittsburgh.va.gov/PIRATE/index.asp ] located in Pittsburgh not far from the home office of www.aphasiatoolbox.com .

Clients and caregivers often ask, "What is the best, most affordable way to approach intensive aphasia treatment? And most importantly, how do we keep progressing when we are discharged from the intensive program?"

We have listened to hundreds of patients, caregivers and colleagues over the past decade discuss their concerns with traditional intensive treatment programs, including our own original program The Pittsburgh Aphasia Treatment, Research and Education Center. Their concerns centered on: expensive costs for tuition, travel and other expenses; lack of effective follow-up treatment at program's end; insufficient one-on-one time with an aphasia therapist; and ineffective, boring drills and materials.

We have the answer. The Intensive Interval Aphasia Treatment Program. ( IIAT ) . This program provides a short burst of aphasia treatment. The time may vary from ½ to 3 days based on the client's locality and individual needs and resources. While our primary office is located in Pittsburgh, PA, we offer the IIAT at other locations around the USA. The client then has ongoing treatment sessions including all that is offered by www.aphasiatoolbox.com and The Aphasia Solutions Network. The client may then alternate his/her ongoing therapy and practice program with intensive sessions. By utilizing this program, patients can receive a year of intensive treatment and practice using truly innovative tools, materials and technology at a fraction of the cost of a traditional program. We also coordinate our ongoing work with traditional intensive programs. Moreover, this program includes direct face to face treatment with an aphasia expert, follow-up on a regular basis, per group interaction and support and considerable increase in independent practice. We even have support and coaching programs for caregivers online.

Email us at information@aphasiatoolbox.com or call 724-494.2534 to register for the Intensive Interval Aphasia Program or to request more information.


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Aphasia Rehabilitation: 60 Innovative and Effective Tools, Protocols and Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:07:00 +0000

Aphasia Rehabilitation: 60 Innovative
and Effective Tools, Protocols and Tips

Presentation on www.speechpathology.com

Bill Connors will present a workshop titled Aphasia Rehabilitation: 60 Innovative and Effective Tools, Protocols and Tips on www.speechpathology.com on Monday, August 30, 2010 from noon -- 1 pm est .

Course Objectives

• Learners will be able to identify 20 techniques to simplify, adapt and maximize computers, software and information technology for aphasia, alexia, agraphia and cognitive therapy.

• Learners will be able to identify 25 treatment protocols and techniques in aphasia treatment that facilitate: interpersonal engagement, independent sentence and narrative speech; encourage a large amount of independent and peer practice; incorporate multiple modalities.

• Learners will be able to identify 5 techniques and tools for using telerehabilition for aphasia and group treatment.

• Learners will be able to identify 4 observation and analysis techniques of aphasic client behavior to use in applying evidence-based treatment to maximize rehabilitation activities and effectively train caregivers/coaches participation in the treatment process.

• Learners will be able to identify 6 key cognitive/mental processes that underpin and support language and its rehabilitation and incorporate these into treatment protocol development and application.

This course offers CEU credits for speech/language pathologists.

Please visit www.speechpathology.com for details.


© 2010 Aphasia Center of Innovative Treatment

The Aphasia Communication Cafe 8-13-10

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:06:00 +0000


	News Update on the Aphasia Communication Cafe

The Online Aphasia Communication Cafe is a Success !!

In the past, having aphasia caused social isolation - but not anymore! People with aphasia are now chatting with other people with aphasia about everyday life: kids, grandkids, movies, even politics. They are meeting new people and making new friends from all over the US, Canada and the world. They have joined the social network on the Online Aphasia Communication Café .

They are using the simplicity of videoconferencing ( www.oovoo.com ) to accomplish this from the comfort of their own homes. Please feel free to contact Bill Connors should you have any questions or comments -- bill@aphasiatoolbox.com or 724-494-2534.

The following is the consumer information about the cafés available on our online calendar http://aphasiatoolbox.com/calendar/calendar.htm use the agenda view and click on the group title on the calendar:

Here is a summary of currently available cafés;

Monday 7 pm est -- 8 pm est Host Janet Ross, Alberta Canada

Tuesday 11 am est - noon est Host Paul Berger, Falls Church VA ( www.strokesurvivor.com )

Wednesday 3 pm -- 4 pm est Host Adam Miller , Bronx NY

Thursday 9 am est - 10 am est Host Mary Smith, Eugene OR


© 2010 Aphasia Center of Innovative Treatment

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Posted via email from Aphasia Toolbox's posterous

The newsletter of the world leader in online aphasia treatment and group interaction. 8-8-2010

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 23:21:00 +0000

www.aphasiatoolbox.com Staff Members Present on Tele-rehabilitation for Aphasia at a Washington, DC Capitol Hill Briefing

Meet the presenters:

Who is Paul Berger?

Paul is the award-winning author of "How to Conquer the World With One Hand...and an Attitude," a book about his adventures after suffering a massive stroke from a ruptured aneurysm when he was only 36. That was over 20 years ago. Paul's stroke resulted in paralysis of his right side and aphasia. He was determined to live a full life, returning to work, volunteer activities, hobbies, and travel. Paul has fully embraced computer and IT to connect with and inspire other stroke survivors through his website www.StrokeSurvivor.com, e-newsletter, and new e-books with his tips on recovery. He also participates in tele-rehabilitation, taking individual and group sessions with Bill Connors, and doing self-paced homework online from AphasiaToolBox.com.

Who is Bill Connors?

Bill is a certified speech language pathologist (SLP) specializing in combining technology, neuroscience and learning theory with current evidence and research to advance the treatment of aphasia and related disorders. He is the director of The Pittsburgh Aphasia Treatment, Research and Education Center as well as founder of www.aphasiatoolbox.com. He provides in-person as well as tele-rehabilitation aphasia treatment and collaborates with SLPs around the world through the Aphasia-Apraxia Treatment CyberClinic. He is a clinical instructor for the Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and served as chairperson of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center SLP Rehabilitation committee. Bill is a state representative and member of the Multicultural Task Force for the National Aphasia Association and a member of the Advisory Board at www.speechpathology.com .

On June 14, 2010, Paul Berger and Bill Connors participated in the eHealth Initiative [http://www.ehealthinitiative.org/ ] Capitol Hill Briefing on Patients & Technology. Paul discussed the consumer perspective and Bill the speech/language pathologist perspective on tele-rehabilitation for aphasia treatment. They then demonstrated an actual online aphasia treatment session and entertained questions. The briefing was part of the National Health Information Week. Below you will find the text of the FAQ handout distributed for their presentation.

FAQs on Tele-Rehabilitation
Paul E. Berger - "e-Patient" - www.StrokeSurvivor.com

William Connors, MA, CCC-SLP - "e-Therapist" - www.aphasiatoolbox.com

The eHealthInitiative - Capitol Hill Briefing on Patients & Technology

National Health Information Technology Week - Monday, June 14, 2010 - 12:00 pm

What are Examples of Tele-Rehabilitation Activities for Aphasia?

Individual treatment sessions with speech therapist based on client's individual needs and personal goals, provided via two-way Internet web-camera and communications (eg, Skype, ooVoo), with therapist and client able to see and talk to each other in real time.

Individual practice sessions with peer counselor to extend skills from treatment sessions via two-way Internet web-camera and communications.
Group Sessions led by speech therapist with up to 5 clients via Internet web-camera and hosted group communications (eg, ooVoo). Group

Goals for group sessions:

To provide peer collaborative practice and drills
To emphasize turn taking and listening skills
To facilitate participation and social communication engagement
To provide social support and networking

To practice treatment skills gained in individual sessions
To incorporate dedicated software into practice

To have fun.

Is Tele-Rehabilitation for Aphasia Covered by Medicare?

Medicare does NOT cover tele-rehab for aphasia because speech-language pathologists were not included in the legislation that designated eligible telehealth providers.[i] Congress should amend the legislation to add speech therapists and others as eligible telehealth providers.

What is Stroke?
Stroke is a disease that affects the arteries leading to and within the brain. It is the No. 3 cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease and cancer. Stroke can be caused either by a clot obstructing the flow of blood to the brain (called an ischemic stroke—over 80%of strokes are caused by clots) or by a blood vessel rupturing (called a hemorrhagic stroke—about 10% of strokes).

What is Aphasia?
Aphasia is a disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that are responsible for language. For most people, these are areas on the left side (hemisphere) of the brain. Aphasia usually occurs suddenly, often as the result of a stroke or head injury, but it may also develop slowly, as in the case of a brain tumor, an infection, or dementia. The disorder impairs the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and writing. Aphasia may co-occur with speech disorders such as dysarthria or apraxia of speech, which also result from brain damage. [ii]

What Are the Numbers?
About 795,000 Americans each year suffer a new or recurrent stroke. That means, on average, a stroke occurs every 40 seconds. It is the leading cause of disability among adults. About 6.4 million Americans are living with stroke. Americans will pay about $73.7 billion in 2010 for stroke-related acute hospital costs,medical costs and costs associated with the disabilities it causes.[iii] Approximately 80,000 individuals acquire aphasia each year from strokes. About one million people in the United States currently have aphasia.[iv]

[i] See http://www.cms.gov/MLNproducts/downloads/TelehealthSrvcsfctsht.pdf for information about the limited telehealth services that Medicare reimburses.

[ii] NIDCD Fact Sheet: Aphasia, Publication No. 08-4232, Updated October 2008. For more information, contact:

NIDCD Information Clearinghouse, a service of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Voice: (800)241-1044; TTY: (800) 241-1055; E-mail: nidcdinfo@nidcd.nih.gov;Internet: http://www.nidcd.nih.gov

[iii] Source:Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: 2010 Update, American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, accessed at www.heart.org.

[iv] NIDCD Fact Sheet: Aphasia

© 2010 Aphasia Center of Innovative Treatment

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The world leader in online aphasia treatment and group interaction. 8-4-2010

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:21:00 +0000


	Some interesting facts about The Aphasia Solutions Network and www.aphasiatoolbox.com.....

Recent presentations by our staff members:

Janet Ross, our team leader for groups, co-presented with Bill Connors a presentation titled, International, online aphasia groups for support, treatment and collaborative, peer practice -- Flattening the World of Aphasia Recovery at the International Aphasia Conference in Montreal June 27, 2010. Janet discussed how online aphasia groups can offer social and emotional support; provide opportunities for socialization and interpersonal interaction; increase skills in social engagement; and present opportunities for PWA to practice skills and for speech therapist to do formative [ ongoing ] assessments of what is working in treatment and what to focus on next. We have attached the session handout.

Bill Connors gave a presentation entitled What Can Be Learned from a 10 year Longitudinal Study of the Treatment of a Person with Aphasia at the International Aphasia Conference in Montreal June 27, 2010 . Bill focused on what outcomes for aphasia rehabilitation most PWA truly want to achieve. Such as employment, leading a productive life, chatting with friends, reading stories to grandchildren, screen literacy and talking with a spouse. For a copy of Bill's PowerPoint presentation contact him at bill@aphasiatoolbox.com .

Paul Berger, our consumer consultant and owner of www.strokesurvivor.com, assisted his wife Stephanie Mensh presenting Translating Aphasia Rehabilitation from Clinical Settings to Functional Communication: A Case Study at the International Aphasia Conference in Montreal June 27, 2010.

Paul Berger and Bill Connors presented to the Consumer Empowerment Briefing Panel of the eHealth Initiative in Washington, DC June 14, 2010. Paul and Bill presented information about and provided a demonstration of online, telerehab aphasia treatment.

Adam Miller and Bill Connors presented in the Communication Café at the National Aphasia Association's regional conference in Washington, DC on June 12, 2010. They discussed and demonstrated the computer software programs at www.aphasiatoolbox.com as well as other technology and screen literacy for PWA.

If you are interested in a workshop, for either consumers, groups, or SLPs, contact Bill Connors at 724.494.2534 or bill@aphasiatoolbox.com . Workshops and presentation can be onsite or online.

Did you know?

1. We now offer aphasia treatment in seven languages: English, French, American Sign Language, Hindi and 3 other Indian languages.

2. We now have 6 experienced speech language pathologists on our staff and we collaborate with dozens of other SLPs and clinics.

3. We offer free of charge The Aphasia Communication Café. These are online videoconferencing cafés for people with aphasia [ PWA ] to meet and chat with other PWA. Visit our online calendar at http://aphasiatoolbox.com/calendar/calendar.htm to see when they meet or contact us at information@aphasiatoolbox.com for more information.

4. Our Aphasia Sight Reader Program has more than 350+ stimuli lists for words and sentences. This allows for unlimited patient practice independently or with a coach or caregiver. It also provides a simple and efficient means for speech/language pathologists to collect data and to manage treatment stimuli. When combined with our consultation and treatment protocols, effective and efficient aphasia practice and evidence-based rehabilitation can be facilitated. The results of client practice can be emailed to coaches or therapist to maintain ongoing contact and treatment updating.

5. We have more than 14 different treatment, support and conversation groups that allow us to work on social interaction, interpersonal and conversational skills and engagement [http://aphasiatoolbox.com/calendar/calendar.htm]. Aphasia research has clearly spelled out the importance of peer interaction in aphasia recovery.

6. We are proud to share the news that we now have 4 people with aphasia on our staff.

7. Our average client spends 2.8 hours a day in independent or coached practice outside of treatment and group sessions.

8. We will be adding treatment of communication and cognitive problems related to traumatic head injury.

9. We now collaborate with speech/language pathologists in 22 different states in the USA, 3 provinces in Canada, as well as in Europe, India, and Greece as we work together to ensure the finest in innovative and evidence-based aphasia treatment.

10. We collaborate with aphasia support and conversation groups throughout the United States and Canada. Our goal is to add to our network of people with aphasia, caregivers and professionals to facilitate support and intergroup communication and interaction. Feel free to contact us to discuss how your group can reap the benefits of participation [information@aphasiatoolbox.com ].


© 2010 Aphasia Center of Innovative Treatment

Attachments:
Montreal Group Presentation.doc (51K)

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Announcing the Online Aphasia Communication Café

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:18:00 +0000


	*Announcing the* *Online Aphasia Communication Café*

We now offer aphasia treatment in the following languages:

English
French
Hindi
Several other Indian languages
American Sign Language

Our next issue will discuss recent presentations by our staff, including both speech therapists and people with aphasia at the National Aphasia Association's regional conference in Washington, DC and the International Aphasia Conference Montreal, Canada.

People with aphasia benefit from chatting with others, meeting new people, making new friends, and sharing ideas and thoughts. The Online Aphasia Communication Café is a chance for people with aphasia to do just that!

The Aphasia Solutions Network and www.aphasiatoolbox.com continue to combine innovative ideas with technological solutions to advance the world of aphasia recovery. As part of our efforts to flatten the world of aphasia and to provide effective and affordable ways for people with aphasia to continue to aggressively travel the pathway of aphasia recovery, we present our Online Aphasia Communication Café.

We use the simplicity of videoconferencing ( www.oovoo.com ) to allow people with aphasia to communicate with other people with aphasia online in the comfort of their own homes. Evidence clearly demonstrates the importance of engagement, peer social interaction and group interaction for adults with communication problems. If you are a person with aphasia or if you are an SLP who has a client, active or discharged, or a friend or family member who might benefit, feel free to let them know about the café.

In order to participate, the person needs to:

1. register with www.oovoo.com

2. add the following friends - aphasia;aphasia2; aphasia3 .

3. register and receive the simple instructions by emailing information@aphasiatoolbox.com

4. visit our group calendar at http://aphasiatoolbox.com/calendar/calendar.htm

5. select an online café for details

6. ask via the chat feature permission to join the chat and VOILA! - enjoy the banter with other people with aphasia.

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or comments -- bill@aphasiatoolbox.com or724-494-2534.

The following is the consumer information about the cafés available on our online calendar http://aphasiatoolbox.com/calendar/calendar.htmby clicking the group title on the calendar:

Name - The Aphasia Communication Cafe

When - Monday 7 pm est - 8 pm est

Where - www.oovoo.com-

Description - Host Janet Ross. Alberta Canada - the Aphasia Communication Cafe is basically an online coffee shop for people with aphasia to meet new people, make new friends from all over the world, and share ideas,thoughts and stories. They can also practice using what skills they have been working on in aphasia treatment. This cafe is exclusively for people with aphasia and/or apraxia. Cost - no charge at this time - this is a public service of www.aphasiatoolbox.com and the family of people with aphasia at The Aphasia Solutions Network. Seats available -- 6 on a first come first seated basis. For more information and to register for the cafes please contact Bill Connors at bill@aphasiatoolbox.com.

Tuesday 11 am est - noon est Host Paul Berger, Falls Church VA

Wednesday 3 pm -- 4 pm est Host Adam Miller , Bronx NY

Thursday 9 am est - 10 am est Host Mary Smith, Eugene OR

We will be adding more cafés as needed. If you are a person with aphasia and are interested in hosting a group contact us.

"I want to thank our people with aphasia who have worked so diligently in treatment in improving their communication skills that they are able to host these groups." Bill Connors


© 2010 Aphasia Center of Innovative Treatment

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PIRATE Intensive Program 4/8/2010

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:28:00 +0000


	An Intensive Aphasia Program for Veterans of the US Armed Services

A number of intensive aphasia programs offer services including:

The University of Michigan Aphasia Program, MI - http://www.aphasiahelp.com/

The Aphasia Program at Steps Forward Program, FL - www.stepstherapy.net

The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago; IL - http://www.ric.org/conditions/stroke-rehabilitation/services/Intensive_Aphasia_Program.aspx

Interact, Canada - interact@dal.ca

http://www.aphasiaaction.com/

The Pittsburgh Aphasia Treatment, Research and Education Center, PA -- www.aphasiatoolbox.com

For a free consultation to discuss intensive aphasia rehabilitation, contact Bill Connors at 724.494.2534 or bill@aphasiatoolbox.com

If you have an intensive aphasia program and would like to be listed, please let us know.

We at the Aphasia Solutions Network and www.aphasiatoolbox.com thank all of our subscribers, patients, caregivers and SLPs who have served in the defense of their countries. In this newsletter, we will share with you information about an excellent intensive, residential program for US veterans.

Are you a VETERAN with aphasia, or a family member of a veteran with aphasia? Are you a healthcare provider for stroke survivors?

If so, the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System would like to hear from you! Please contact us!

The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System is accepting applications for a new twenty-three day intensive, residential aphasia therapy program taking place in Pittsburgh, PA. PIRATE (Program for Intensive Residential Aphasia Treatment and Education) is accepting referrals nation-wide from within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and have already accepted applications from Chicago, Indianapolis, Little Rock and Fort Lauderdale.

The program has been in operation for a little over one-year, and the aggregated clinical outcomes demonstrated positive changes on three independent measures of communicative functioning.

Patients may apply directly via the PIRATE website at http://www.pittsburgh.va.gov/PIRATE/index.asp . Referrals from VHA SLPs are most welcomed and please contact us for instructions on how to refer patients from VHA facilities outside of VISN 4.

Please note candidacy is NOT dependent on length of time post-CVA or neurologic injury, nor on degree of aphasia severity.

For further questions, or to discuss the PIRATE program in more detail, please visit website above, or contact:

Brooke Swoyer at 412.954-4773

Jim Schumacher at 412.360.1265


© 2010 Aphasia Center of Innovative Treatment

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VA meetings 3/2010

noreply@blogger.com (Aphasia Toolbox) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:02:00 +0000


	Evaluations and SLP Sessions

Client evaluation and SLP collaboration sessions in the Northern Virginia area

I will be in my VA office and will be available for a limited number of new client evaluations and consumer consultations next week on 3/24; 3/25; and 3/28. We will also be meeting with SLPs to discuss our new participating and collaborating partnerships. Please feel free to contact me for information or to refer clients.
On 3/26 and 3/28 I will be presenting a workshop and meeting SLPs at our exhibitor table at the MD state convention.
Bill

p.s., We will be presenting two presentations at the International Aphasia Conference in Montreal in June, 2010 as well as a workshop in Windsor in May, 2010.

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