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| Rebecca Dutton Home After a Stroke |
Stroke survivors with aphasia are frustrated. Aphasia is the inability to understand the spoken word and/or to express oneself verbally. Yet aphasic clients may retain another kind of knowledge called procedural knowledge. This is the ability to learn, remember, and execute the steps of a task that often requires visual information. We do not talk ourselves through the steps of tying shoelaces or cutting up a whole chicken. We remember what the steps look like and what our hand is supposed to do. Fortunately visual information is stored in a different location than language so it may be spared after a stroke produces aphasia.
OTs have a harder time telling aphasic clients what we are doing because we work on so many different ADL goals. It might help if the OT used pictures to show that a towel sliding exercise will make it easier to move the arm to put on a shirt so the client can join the family for dinner. If clients want to go home to eat a home cooked meal I am pretty sure they are not picturing themselves eating in bed wearing sweaty pajamas while the family eats at the dinning room table. Printing out clip art or photos may help aphasic clients understand what OT is doing to help them.
Salesmen do not close the deal unless they offer customers something they want. Guessing what will motivate a client is risky. Better to show an aphasic client a notebook with pictures of hugging a child, petting a cat, sitting on the patio, etc. It would be ideal if the family could bring in photos of activities the client enjoys. Good salesmen watch a customer's face to see what makes his or her face light up.
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