Aphasia summer program focuses on communication and connection

 

With the continued goal of helping people with aphasia improve their ability to communicate while forming important social connections, the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders hosted its third annual summer aphasia program in June and July.

An estimated 2 million people in the United States live with aphasia, a communication disorder that affects a person’s ability to understand language and communicate. About one in three people who have a stroke experience aphasia, said program organizer Assistant Professor Cathy Torrington Eaton, PhD, CCC-SLP.

Divided into three, two-week sessions, the program included individual and group therapeutic activities for 27 participants. Two of the sessions were created for people with sudden onset aphasia, such as after a stroke or traumatic brain injury, and one session was designed for people with a progressive form of aphasia in which language declines over time, Eaton said.

People with aphasia can feel isolated. That was the case for Terri Perry, a former teacher who developed aphasia following a stroke eight years ago. The program has given her tools to improve her ability to speak and the opportunity to socialize, she said.

“It makes me feel good,” Perry said of the program, showing the journal she writes in daily and that she shared with the group during a presentation she gave on the last day of the session.

The program also gave 23 graduate speech-language pathology students the opportunity to evaluate participants, create therapy plans and work with individuals and groups during the 32 hours of each session, under the supervision of speech-language pathologists who specialize in aphasia, Eaton said.

Eaton and her fellow researchers are collecting data from the program for various research projects. The long-term goal is to create an aphasia center in San Antonio.

“We are looking for a place to form this community where individuals would be able to go on weekdays to socialize and have structured programming,” Eaton said.

The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders also offers a monthly community support group, the San Antonio Network for Aphasia (SANA), which meets most first Thursdays of the month from 6–7:30 p.m. on the UT Health San Antonio campus.

To learn more about SANA and aphasia, watch this Medical Minute video from KENS 5.

To help support the summer program and SANA, visit makelivesbetter.uthscsa.edu/shpdonate and select “Speech-Language pathology” from the designation drop-down menu. Gifts should be specified in the comments section as going to “San Antonio Network for Aphasia.”