Figures and causes

http://www.asha.org

This website is dedicated to speech and hearing disorders. It is the website for the American Speech and Hearing Association, when going to this website to specifically find aphasia just simply search the site. The most significant information on the site was the causes of aphasia as well as the rate of occurrence in the U.S. We were surprised to find out that over a million people in the U.S. suffer from some form of aphasia.

Summary

With this blog I aim to inform you, the reader, about aphasia and how it affects more of the population than we realize. Although aphasia is not fully treatable there are some courses of action that can be taken to help the patient to communicate and the family to cope. In this blog you will find informative websites to help you learn about the disease, helpful tips on how to communicate with the person, and family support groups. The video clips, although long, are very helpful in understanding the disease and what the patient and the family goes through on a daily basis. I don't intend for you to watch all four parts. Start with part one and if it interests you watch the others when you get a chance. You should find them interesting as well.

After viewing this blog I hope the reader will:
1. understand what aphasia is.
2. understand these people are not mental; they fully understand; they just have
difficulties communicating.
3. understand that if you or someone you know is in this situation you are not alone
and there are many support groups and therapies out there to help.

I have really enjoyed doing this blog. Through researching aphasia I have a better understanding of what happened to my mom and some techniques in helping her to communicate with others.

This site was built for persons with aphasia. It is very easy for them to navigate through. It allows them to gain knowledge about the disability in a very simple way. There is a pen pal area that they can post their info on and wait for a response of another to become pen pals with or they can select someone that is already there. This allows them to not feel alone and chat with others just like them and share experiences. There is also a place where they can create their own page letting everyone know about them, their experiences, and anything they want to share.

Article 2: Treating Visual Speech Perception to Improve Speech Production in Aphasia

I found this article through pub med. It is about improving visual speech perception to help speech production in aphasia patients. Ten patients were used in the experiment which consisted of undergoing computer picture testing. Two different tests were done and then compared to get the results. The first test was matching pictures to words that the patients heard without visualization of someone speaking and the second was matching words that the patient heard through a video of the speaker saying the words. The patients did significantly better when they had a visual of the person saying the word than just hearing it. When the patient only heard the word they did not improve their matching abilities but they did improve when a speaker was present.

National Institutes of Health 40, 853-858. Treating Visual Speech perception to Improve Speech Production in Non-Fluent Aphasia by Julius Fredriksson, Julie Baker, Janet Whiteside and Chris Rorden.

Article 1: Syntactic Facilitation in Agrammatic Sentence Production

I found this article through pub med. It talks about the syntactic abilities of someone with aphasia and the research they found after computing tests on patients with aphasia. The experiment consisted of twelve control patients and twelve aphasia patients. Three different areas were covered and tested. These included spontaneous speech, picture description with preparation and help, and picture description without help. The results showed that Brocas patients were most successful when prepared for the task and that they worked off short term memorization instead of actual knowledge.

Brain and Language 62, 221 - 254. Syntactic Facilitation in Agrammatic Sentence Production by Robert J. Hartsuiker and Herman H. J. Kolk.

http://www.aphasia.org/

The National Aphasia Association
This is a nonprofit organization that promotes public education, research, rehabilitation and support services to assist people with aphasia and their families. I like this site because it provides a lot of helpful information about aphasia and support groups to help you and your family cope with the disorder.


http://www.aphasiahope.org/index.jsp

Aphasia Hope Foundation is a non-profit foundation that has a two-fold mission: (1) to promote research into the prevention and cure of aphasia and (2) to ensure that all survivors of aphasia and their caregivers are aware of and have access to the best possible treatments available. I like this site because it provides insightful tips for living with aphasia and shares personal experiences of aphasia survivors.


http://www.strokeassociation.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200037

The American Stroke Association is a division of the American Heart Association that focuses on reducing risk, disability and death from stroke through research, education, fund raising and advocacy. I appreciate this site because aphasia comes from having a stroke. It provides helpful tips in reducing the risk of a stroke and support groups for stroke victims and their families.