Facilitating communication
Aphasia is a disorder of language which affects a person's ability to understand and use language. Aphasia is caused by damage to the language centre of the brain and often hides a person's thoughts, opinions, personality, intelligence and competence. Aphasia is also referred to as dysphasia.
People living with aphasia are:
- Intelligent
- Able to hear
- Able to make decisions
- Able to communicate with help
Aphasia can mean difficulty with:
- Understanding words and sentences
- Finding the words to use in speech
- Reading
- Writing
- Understanding money and time
People with aphasia can communicate, it just may take longer.
A person living with aphasia may need communication support to enable them to overcome barriers. To facilitate communication with a person living with aphasia:
- Allow plenty of time
- Have a pen & paper to hand
- Check understanding
- Be flexible - try different ways to get ideas in and ideas out
- Talk in a relaxed natural way - NO need to shout
- Give clear messages - one idea at a time
- Use straightforward language
- Use props (photos, maps, etc)
- Confirm yes or no
- Don't make assumptions
- Recap
Every 5 minutes someone in the UK has a stroke