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Definition: Eclectic(noun) a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.
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Saturday, August 30, 2014
Eclectic Stuff
My Heart Will Go On
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| Pamela Hsieh Rehhab Revolution |
I was talking to a fitness-savvy friend one day when he advised, “You should get a heart-rate monitor.”
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| My personal gym essentials. |
Well, turns out, gym machines don’t always have an accurate read of your pulse while you’re working out, and based on your heart and its current standing with the rest of your body, what you need “cardiovascularly” really depends on your state of fitness. Work out too hard, and you could be doing more harm than good (e.g., burning muscle rather than fat, and who wants that?), and work out not enough, and we all know where that leads.
Since the heart is such a vital organ in health and fitness, I took advantage of a flash sale at my gym not long before I started working with my personal trainer Debbie (look out for her great guest post coming up Thursday!) and invested in a magenta Polar FT60 heart rate monitor (I have it on in my YouTube video).
I now almost never work out without it — to tell you the truth, I find it more motivating than Gym Pact alone. (I should write Gym Pact and tell them to team up with Polar so you can get credit for home workouts! Which is, by the way, my biggest annoyance with the Gym Pact requirements.) It keeps track of your fitness goals, how often and intensely you exercised, and keeps actual records of the data to track your progress.
Acute Brain Response to Exercise in Healthy Young Adults
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| Bill Yates Brain Posts |
This month I have been reviewing recent research on the effects of exercise on the brain.
Exercise appears to have both acute and chronic effects on brain physiology and function.
Newer imaging techniques provide sensitive tools to study exercise and the brain.
Bradley Macintosh and colleagues recently paired an aerobic exercise task with measurements of cerebral blood flow and blood oxygen utilization.
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Subjects: Sixteen healthy adults (ten women and six men) between the ages of 20 and 35 years of age
Exercise task: 25 minutes of exercise on a recumbent bike with 20 minutes at 70% of estimated maximum heart rate
Imaging protocol: Subjects had brain imaging studies before exercise and 10 and 40 minutes following exercise using cerebral blood flow and functional magnetic resonance imaging using a sustained attention task.
Statistical analysis: Paired t-tests on behavioral and imaging data were use to compare baseline and post-exercise performance.
Easy Exercises to Improve Stability and Prevent Falls
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| Dean Reinke Deans’ Stroke Musing |
If Harvard Medical School can write a whole damn book on balance and preventing falls, they there is absolutely no excuse for your hospital stroke staff not having a written stroke protocol for this. Any excuse like; 'All strokes are different, all stroke recoveries are different' is immediate cause for calling up the hospital president and reaming her/him out on the incompetence of the stroke department head. Damn it all, WE have to pay it forward and get our stroke medical team up to some f*cking level of competence because they've had years to do it and have failed miserably. But you can't do this on your own, that would be practicing medicine on yourself. Harvard Health Publications - Easy Exercises to Improve Stability and Prevent Falls.
We've all heard stories that begin, "She broke her hip and after that..." Broken hips can be disastrous for independence and long-term health. Fortunately, many can be prevented — more than 90% of broken hips occur because of falls.
One of the best ways to prevent falls is to maintain a sound, responsive, and enduring sense of balance.
This important Special Health Report from doctors at Harvard Medical School shows you how you can prevent falls. In its pages you will discover what you can do to improve balance and maintain strength, mobility, and agility.
Plyometrics
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| Amy Shissler My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery |
Cool people call them ‘plyos.’ Plyometrics are jumps. I can’t jump, so no plyos for me right now. A plyometric exercise is when an eccentric contraction is immediately followed by a quick and powerful concentric contraction. What that means is that you’re stretching out a muscle by making it longer then using that energy to shorten the muscle really fast and powerfully. So, think of a squat jump. Jillian Michaels loves to have people do these on The Biggest Loser. Ok, first you squat down. This is using the quadriceps muscle eccentrically and stretching it out as you squat. Then you straighten your legs and jump in the air. This motion is concentrically contracting the quadriceps muscle by shortening it. And you jump in the air, that’s the plyometric part. You’re doing a high intensity burst by using all the energy you created when squatting to jump up. It’s a way to create power in a muscle. You stretch the muscle, then you powerfully contract it, concentrically contract it. Be careful with plyos, they can be hard on the joints. Sprinkle them throughout your workout. Like I said, I couldn’t do a plyo if I wanted because I can’t jump off the ground. If you can jump, try some plyos maybe.
See the original article:
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A 30-Bucket Morning
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| Barb Polan Barb’s Recovery |
I have 6 balls with my Saebo and, each time I transfer all the balls from one container to another, it's counted as a bucket. So, 30 buckets correspond to 180 balls moved. The most I've moved before is 126. Unsuccessfully dropping every other ball and doing a "re-do," 30 buckets translates to 270 successful grasps of a ball. In addition to grasping balls, I have become proficient at multiplying by 6 and bending over to pick up a ball from the floor.
A 30-bucket session ( in 45 minutes) is a successful one in my book - always my target when I start a session. I often hit my goal. Eventually I will be using tighter springs and doing more challenging exercises - for example, picking up a ball and placing it on top of a cone instead of dropping it. My hardest exercise now is picking up the ball and trying to touch it to my chin, then lowering it and dropping it into the container; right now, I get it nowhere near my chin, but in the general direction of up. Given enough repetitions, I will be able to do it eventually.
First thing this morning, I tried an exercise my OT gave me last week – opening and closing my fingers while my unaffected hand holds my affected one – no, not helping, just giving me a base as a target for my open fingers.
This morning, I was able to nearly straighten my first two fingers. “Nearly,” in this case, means, not all the way to 180 degrees from my palm, but more than 90 – maybe about 135.
Later today, it will go even better.
See the original article:
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Exercise and Stroke Recovery
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| Jeff Porter Stroke of Faith |
Nothing surprising in this report, how exercise aids in stroke recovery:
- "There is strong evidence that physical activity and exercise after stroke can improve cardiovascular fitness, walking ability and upper arm strength," statement author Sandra Billinger, a physical therapist at the University of Kansas Medical Center, said in an AHA/ASA news release.
- "In addition, emerging research suggests exercise may improve depressive symptoms, cognitive function, memory and quality of life after stroke," she added.
- Despite these benefits, "too few health care professionals prescribe exercise as a form of therapy for stroke. There is a big gap in America between once stroke patients are discharged from rehabilitation and the transition to community exercise programs when they go home. Many are left on their own. We don't have a system in place to help stroke patients feel comfortable with exercise," Billinger said.
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Photo from U.S. Centers
for Disease Control
and Prevention
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If you've been here before, you've seen lots of references to the benefits of exercise. And I'm convinced that my history of a distance runner helped me survive my stroke and get through recovery.
So - with your doctor's blessing, exercise if you can, to whatever degree you can.
See the original article:
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Hand Function Comes From My Gut
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| Rebecca Dutton Home After a Stroke |
I learned hand function comes from my gut when a PT had me do abdominal exercises after back spasms returned (Back Pain + Stroke = Disaster). I was surprised to feel abdominal muscles on my paralyzed side burning from effort while I felt only a gentle contraction on my sound side.
I was amazed to discover the arms need strong stomach muscles. When I lift an arm, abdominal and back muscles must work to keep my trunk still so I will not fall over as the weight of my arm moves far from my body. After doing the exercise below for awhile it got easier to lift my hemiplegic arm to get my hand to an object.
But there is a catch - I had to do the exercise correctly to feel abdominal muscles on my paralyzed side burn for months. Dean cites a study that found stroke survivors who received real-time video feedback about how they did abdominal exercises improved their walking significantly more than clients who did not get feedback. My PT had superb clinical observation skills and the ability to teach. Instead of telling me how many reps to do and walking away she stayed and gave me verbal feedback on what I was doing wrong.
A 2nd catch is consistently doing a new exercise. After getting up to go to the bathroom I get back in bed to do back and hand exercises while my muscles are still toasty warm. So I added this abdominal exercise to my morning routine. You would not be able to see what I am doing because I do it under the covers.
See the original article:
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Stolen Identity
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| Marcelle Greene Up Stroke |
Years ago when I worked as editor of a fitness magazine, I published an article about staying motivated on an exercise routine. It delineated the types of motivation:
Negative Consequence Motivators: If I don't exercise I'll get fat, my husband will leave me, I’ll die of a heart attack, etc.They can all work. But the most effective is the last one because, psychologically, it's hard to give up a piece of our identity.
Positive Consequence Motivators: If I exercise I'll feel better, I can buy myself new clothes, etc.
Identity motivators: I exercise because that's part of who I am.
Coming to terms with changes in my identity as a result of the stroke has been the most challenging part of my recovery so far. After I began to realize the impact of my physical limitations, I cried a lot. I thought I was depressed, but a psychotherapist told me I was grieving. I grieved the auntie who got down on the floor and played with the kids. I grieved the domestic superwoman who took care of house, husband and garden. I grieved the yoga student with an almost-perfect triangle pose.
Now, stroke survivor is part of my story. I'm looking forward to a time when it is no longer my headline … when I can look back at the experience and see how it led me someplace amazing I wouldn't otherwise have gone. And then I can say, "No, I wouldn’t give up this piece of who I am."
See the original article:
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Tonal Exercises
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| Steven H. Cornelius Music and Stroke |
I practice piano nearly every day. After my stroke, I initially used the instrument mechanistically, as a vehicle for regaining left-hand movement and dexterity. I still use the piano in that fashion, but my focus has shifted. Rather than trying to achieve technical expertise (a quixotic dream, to be sure), I work to experience tone’s possibilities. The great majority of my piano “practice” time is spent listening to and conceptualizing pitch.
I have a practice routine, but because it revolves around unfolding musical intuition rather than technical studies, every practice session is different. Exercises are constantly evolving as I gain new insights and understandings.
Observing my practice sessions from the outside, it might appear as if I were doing nothing more than plunking out a tone or two every now and then. But I am listening intensely, then conceptualizing to the best of my growing ability. This is hard work. Depending on the particular goal, it may require several minutes to digest of the implications enfolded within a single pitch.
I generally begin my practice sessions by pressing and holding down a single key, so as to listen to its rich overtone structure (and part II).
Through this exercise, I have learned to identify nuances that previously went unnoticed, even though my ears were younger and far more sensitive. (I could write at length about this experience, but it is most valuable to do the exercise oneself.)
Exercise. Because.
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| Peter G. Levine Stronger After Stroke |
I was interviewed for this article on the Cleveland Clinic website. What I like most about it is that it also mentions one of my neuroscience heroes John Ratey. The fact that I'm mentioned before him - and more often - is just plain wrong.
The focus of this article is the impact of exercise on stroke recovery. But exercise per se does not necessarily drive the sort of cortical changes needed to recover. Of course, it is important to do both cardiovascular and strengthening exercises after stroke, if for no other reason than the fact that life poststroke takes so much energy for two reasons:
- Typically everything a stroke survivor does takes twice as much energy. A good example of this is walking. A stroke survivor takes an average of twice as much energy to walk as someone who has not had a stroke.
- Stroke survivors are in about half as good a shape as age matched couch potatoes.
- Although it hasn't been measured, neuroplasticity takes energy. We're not sure how much. But when you consider that the brain gets 20% of total body oxygen consumption, while it only represents 2% of total body weight, you can imagine how much energy it takes to drive neuroplastic change.
See the original article:
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Volkswagen - Eyes On The Road
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| Jackie Poff Stroke Survivors Tattler |
Kudos Volkswagen. What a brilliant way to communicate how risky it is to use mobile phones while driving. Please visit and subscribe to www.youtube.com/MadOverAd to watch more amazing commercials from around the world.
Standard YouTube License @ MadOverAds
Problem Solving
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| Grace Carpenter My Happy Stroke |
I'm a tall person, and I think of myself as fairly resourceful too, so I'm always surprised when I can't figure out how to get something from our high kitchen cabinets now. It was never a problem before the stroke.
Obviously it's harder physically now. But I think there's something else going on. Maybe mild cognitive impairment? Or learned helplessness? Or mind-body connections that are still being forged? Maybe all three.
For instance, the other day I wanted to make a smoothie. But our immersion blender was in the back of the top shelf of the cabinet, just out of reach. Usually, I just ask my husband or my children (who can climb up onto the counter) to get something I need. But I was alone, and after a few failed attempts to reach with my good arm, I was about to give up on the smoothie idea. Then I spotted the container of cooking utensils on the counter. I picked out a big cooking spoon, reached up, and gently dragged the immersion blender right up the the edge of the shelf. From there, I could grab it. When the kids got home, we shared a blueberry smoothie.I was pleased that I figured out how to get what I needed. But later, I thought: wow, it took me more than four years (and a cooking spoon) to solve this problem.
See the original article:
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Bringing Home The Bobmobile
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| Diane The Pink House On The Corner |
On Thursday, we took our last wheelchair transport ride to a doctor's appointment.
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| Last Transport Ride |
Like the door-to-door escort!
And not having to drive...
But others things I will definitely not miss. Like the 30-minute-window rule. And the 24-hours-ahead reservations rule. And the can't-leave-the-county rule. And the if-you-are-not-ready-in-five-minutes-we-will-leave-without-you-and-bill-you-anyway rule. Or if the doctor is running late, call-to-be-put-on-standby rule. And all that "hurry up and wait"....
On Thursday, also, the van company picked up Bob's wheelchair and took it to the shop to fit it with an E-Z lock bracket.
On Friday, we picked up our "new" used wheelchair van, which I have christened "The Bobmobile". That way, I figure, I can say, "To the Bobmobile! Quick!" as Bob and I dash off on our caped crusades. Anyway, the van is black, it's for Bob, so it works. And every vehicle needs a name. So add, The Bobmobile to the list which includes "The Little Blue Bomber" (my first car) and, of course, "The Green Machine".
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| Loading Bob in The Bobmobile |
It began to rain. And I'm talking RAIN, as in thunder, lightening, winds, streets flooding, traffic jams, the whole stormy shebang...
As if I wasn't nervous enough already. I mean, here I'm driving an unfamiliar vehicle, on unfamiliar roads (the dealer is way out in the boonies) and now I'm dealing with bad weather....
Sunday Stroke Survival ~ Botox and Therapy
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| Jo Murphey The Murphey Saga |
Well on the 14th I had my Botox injections. When the medical receptionist called with an appointment reminder, I told her I'd be there with bells on.
When something hurts you when you are already hurting, why get so excited about more pain? Mainly because I know that relief is coming. The idea of needles stuck in muscles and moved around; in and out, a little to the left or right until the most irritating static comes through a speaker on the EMG machine...is no one's idea of a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. It can take a couple of minutes to find the right spot and that's for one shot.
Once again. I'm thanking God for the cap on my maximum out of pocket expense on my medical insurance. It was one of the first things I double checked on our policy after Obamacare took effect. The only change I saw was our monthly rates increased. Surprise, surprise.
A Nursing Home Mini-Series:
Praying Is Praying, aka Right Pew, Wrong Church
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| Joyce Hoffman The Tales of a Stroke Patient |
Beatrice drank water and wasn't dehydrated anymore, and improved to the point where she could participate in the nursing home activities.
Though Beatrice didn't know my ethnicity, she said, "Do you want to go to a worship service with me?"The nursing home had a hall where any event could be held. Last week, a Polka tribute. This week, a worship service.
The worship service was at 7pm and I knew it wasn't the Jewish kind. We, as Jews, don't say worship service. Every Saturday morning, we say "Shabbat" service, and on the many holidays throughout the year, we have a service to commemorate that holiday, or Holy Days, as with the case of Rosh Ha'Shanah and Yom Kippur.
But we share a Bible--the Old Testament--and when it comes right down to the heart of it, we're all praying to the same God, so I said, "Sure. I'll go with you."
I figured, with a stroke and following my drop-foot surgery, a bunch of prayers couldn't hurt. In other words, I needed all the prayers I could get.
Beatrice was in worse shape than I was, so I followed the aide who was pushing Beatrice's wheelchair in my wheelchair through the narrow curves in the hallway, negotiating and steering with one left hand and foot. I didn't take the cane because it was too darn far.
Keeping Up Appearances
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| Robin Rocky Mountain Stroke Survivor |
I’ve realized in the last few weeks that perhaps one of the reasons that young stroke survivors are such an overlooked group is that so many of us are trying to live as normal a life as possible that others can easily forget what happened. I’m regularly told that I look great, look normal. And while I certainly am feeling significantly better than I was a year ago, I can’t say that I feel normal!
I’ve practiced everything I need for regular daily life so many times now that I can pull it off just fine. But ask me to jump with both feet off the ground at the same time or do a small motor skill that I haven’t practiced yet and you’ll discover that I’m faking it. I’ve learned everything necessary to get by and stopped there. I’m so grateful I’ve even been able to make the progress I have…the fact that I am able to perform all my daily activities is a blessing that many stroke survivors are still hoping for. But I suspect that there are a lot of other stroke survivors like me…who inadvertently make people forget how devastating stroke is.
The absolute worst part is still the fatigue. I wish there was a way to explain brain injury fatigue to someone without a brain injury. How do you explain the fog, the wall? I’ve learned to pace myself, “zone out” to conserve energy, function in “idle” more of the time. So to others I look normal because I haven’t hit the wall yet. But my entire life has to be planned around it…and that’s not normal.
What stroke symptoms do you have that are invisible?
See the original article:
in
An Arm Recovery Stroke Advance? @Fightingstrokes
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| Kate Allatt Stroke Recovery Tips |
Ever since my own discharge from hospital in 2010, I was convinced that electrical stimulation (ES) was in part responsible for helping restore life to my paralysed left arm.
I was sure my totally ‘paralysed-but-with-sensation’ left arm responded well to the experimental ES treatment I received. I believed it actually helped REWIRE my brain.
It got me thinking, ‘Just think if it was offered to all suitable stroke survivors & was applied early, frequently and repetitively enough, then more people could restore arm function post any type of stroke.
ES (not to be confused with functional electric stimulation FES) or a high powered, inexpensive TENS type machines are usually available over the counter and could make a ‘Neuroplasticity difference’ I think.
Furthermore, can ES perhaps reduce pain and contractures too? We need proper stroke recovery initiatives, not just stroke prevention marketing messages.
In the 3.5 years running my charity – Fighting Strokes – I am more convinced than ever by this technology after looking back over all my Facebook comments:
I used TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) on my right arm also as this is my weaker side.’ Allison O’ Reilly, 52 Brainstem Stroke survivor diagnosed and recovered from locked in syndrome.
Get Winning Results in Speech Therapy
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| Mark A. Ittleman The Teaching of Talking |
I’m going to confess to you, so please no one pass it around, that I am NOT a football fan. Shhh…Don’t get me wrong, I love watching football, but it was never that high on my priority list, so rarely would I ever be home on a Saturday or Sunday watching football games.
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| Serving people with speaking difficulties for over 40 years |
A man I have always admired had some core beliefs and values which I believe are vital for us all and I would like to share them.
The photograph of the man in the photo below was Vince Lombardi (R.I.P.) who was coach of the world famous Greenbay Packers, whose team won game after game and numerous super bowls. His players loved and respected him. These quotes, when adopted will make winners, especially for those who are dealing with speaking difficulties, and anyone else for that matter. They are as important as any technique, method, or approach to the improvement of talking.
***Please note that any references Coach Lombardi used in these quotations to “man/men” are intended for any person, whether the masculine or feminine gender; whether it be therapist, mother, dad, caregiver, friend, or person with speaking difficulty etc.
Teamwork
Anthony Atala: Growing New Organs
http://www.ted.com
Anthony Atala's state-of-the-art lab grows human organs -- from muscles to blood vessels to bladders, and more. At TEDMED, he shows footage of his bio-engineers working with some of its sci-fi gizmos, including an oven-like bioreactor (preheat to 98.6 F) and a machine that "prints" human tissue.
Standard YouTube License @ TED
Tadpole Update - Spokes Fighting Strokes - Aug/30/2014
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| John C. Anderson Stroke Survivors Tattler |
Road to Margaritaville
from
Anacortes, Washington to Key West, Florida
The Cast: Dan, Catherine, Bill, Dana, David
Anacortes, Washington to Key West, Florida
The Cast: Dan, Catherine, Bill, Dana, David
Date | Start ✔︎ = DONE
----------------+------------------------------
Jun 29 Stage 1 | Anacortes, WA; 462 miles ✔︎
Jul 16 Stage 2 | Sandpoint, ID; 342 miles ✔︎
Aug 03 Stage 3 | Cutbank, MT; 544 miles ✔︎
Aug 17 Stage 4 | Dickinson, ND; 413 miles ✔︎
Aug 30 Stage 5 | Pierre, SD; 485 miles - Start...
Sep 13 Stage 6 | Council Bluffs, IA; 559 miles
Sep 28 Stage 7 | St. Louis, MO; 570 miles
Oct 12 Stage 8 | Tishomingo, MS; 454 miles
Oct 25 Stage 9 | Mobile, AL; 570 miles
Nov 08 Stage 10 | St. Augustine, FL; 533 miles
Nov 23 Stage 11 | Ft. Lauderdale, FL; 189 miles
Nov 29 End 12 | Key West, FL; End of Ride
Some details from Spokes Fighting Strokes (and Crazy Guy on a Bike):
"The Road to Margaritaville" 8/22/14
Akaska SD to Bob RV Park SD 36.3 miles 921.9ft climbing good, max speed 26.32mph This is God Country! 28 miles of quartering Wind 8 miles Headwind 20 mph Sunny 65-70 degree I dedicate this ride to "Jeff Mowry" donated for ride. Check out David click on journal my website www.Spokesfightingstrokes.org
Attitude is 90% of life, think positive! "Fin Up"
Please see: Spokes Fighting Strokes for more information.
RMR: Harper Endorses Anders
Gaffe-prone, sleepy MP gets nod in hotly contested nomination battle.
Standard YouTube License @ Rick Mercer Report
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Daily Comics / August 23rd - Summer Holidays
| For Better and For Worse Lynn Johnston  Canada Family Events | Dilbert Scott Adams  Dilbert Office Events |
Edmonton Journal Malcolm Mayes 
Politics Views from Canada
| Doonesbury Garry Trudeau  Politics Views from USA |
** I tried to get low or free price at the people http://www.UniversalUclick.com/ for the images for the cartoons. It was too high for Stroke Survivors Tattler i.e. we are not a regular newspaper and our budget is very, very low. Fortunately, you will have to do only 1-click more to see the cartoon image, it is legit and it is free using GoComics.com, Dilbert.com and EdmontonJournal.com.
A Blog Entry About Football-Induced Brain Injury.
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| Peter G. Levine Stronger After Stroke |
There is a problem when it comes to the issue of football and brain injury....The people that know about football know nothing about the brain, and the people who know about the brain know nothing about football.
I know a little bit about both. here's my two cents:
I played football all through high school from freshman to senior. During my sophomore year, I never left the field. Kickoff, kickoff return, punt, punt return, every play on offense, every play on defense. I played pretty much every position on the field from nose tackle to linebacker and defensive back to quarterback to receiver.
Other sports have head injuries. A lot of the popular press points this out. They say "Well, you hit your head in soccer when you head the ball." "When you play hockey you can get checked, that can cause a head injury." Of course they're both true. You could potentially have a head injury in almost any sport. Absolutely. No question. You could hit your head a few times a game.
I think most people seem not to realize is that in football you hit your head on almost every play. You are either blocking someone, trying to run over someone or falling. When you fall in football it is not a controlled fall. There's a variety of forces -usually other peoples bodies-- that impact the trajectory of your fall. All control is gone. Also, a lot of the time your hands are full, usually with somebody else's jersey.
Sunday Stroke Survival ~ The Power of Encouragement
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| Jo Murphey The Murphey Saga |
There has been quite a bit of chatter among fellow stroke survivors in various groups about the power of encouragement. Encouragement can make or break your recovery process. It reminded me of a scene from the Disney movie, Bambi. The scene with Thumper.|
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V (I looked a long time for a downward pointing arrow on my keyboard before I thought of the letter "V" lol)
Standard YouTube License @ Stephen Hitchens
Now I don't know about you, but how many of us heard this as children? Too many times for me. At that age, I wasn't the brightest candle in the candelabra. But somewhere in adulthood we forgot. But I would change this for us to ENCOURAGE.
Stroke Recovery CAN be SEXY! @Fightingstrokes
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| Kate Allatt Stroke Recovery Tips |
SSTattler: Kate Allatt changed to Stroke Recovery Tips blog (from A Rocky Stroke Recovery).
A stroke is absolutely NOT sexy, let me be clear so I don’t offend anyone!
HOWEVER,
Why have we still not made the subject of stroke with politicians, TV and newspaper editors SEXY?
How often do you see more than just a few column inches or online pages dedicated to stroke recovery?
CANCER CHARITIES have successfully given cancer a persona when they talk about giving the illness the ‘V-sign’ on TV.
Yet our national stroke messages seem so utterly boring and not newsworthy, well unless you are a well known celebrity. (Marr, Lauren Bacall, Tarrant, Devey, Jessie J, Sharon Stone,…..). give me strength.
While I’m ranting, why are other cancer charities and governments so preoccupied with stroke prevention?
Sure, prevention is very important, but what about those poor people who didn’t actually manage to prevent their stroke happening in the first place? What messages are out there to help us recover and contribute to society?
Change the record please and start ‘ass kicking stroke’ and redress your stroke marketing messages to help people try to recover more from stroke!
See the original article:
in
Keep Your Eye on the Birdie: Speech Therapy and Setting Goals
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| Setting goals is crucial for clients, patients, caregivers, and people with speaking difficulties. We are all responsible to make and keep those goals |
Much the same happens when setting goals. I had the pleasure of befriending Yvonne last evening and I have found that she speaks with much wisdom. Wisdom that every therapist and health care practitioner could benefit from. She speaks of goals for whatever it is you are striving for. Are you striving to walk or talk? Do you have an easily obtainable goal that you are striving for today, and then another one tomorrow? It doesn’t even have to be easily obtainable. It can be a goal that is quite difficult if you want.
The key I believe to what Yvonne is saying is to make sure you have in your sights the exact vision of how far you are going to walk, or how many words and phrases you are going to utter. Pease make sure you have it very clear in your mind how much time and effort your are going to give to it. If you have no goal of the vision for today, it rarely occurs, and then it’s just another woe is me day!
(And by the way, this is an article for caregivers, those with speaking difficulties and speech language pathologists. We must all have a goal each day; for many, the caregiver will have to set a goal for how often he or she is going to stimulate the loved one with the speaking difficulty at home. The SLP must make sure that everyone is following through with goals at home. (As long as they are training family members to stimulate speech and language at home with very concrete goals and expectations.)
For anyone having a problem with this, i know caregivers who work regularly with their loved ones, and speaking improves. (Don’t hesitate to inquire.)
Please come by and see us at Facebook Teaching of Talking and visit our website at http://www.teachingoftalking.com where you can find interesting articles and videos and how to order The Teaching of Talking in either the soft cover or audio edition. If you would like to communicate with me regarding any questions or concerns please do so at markittleman@teachingoftalking.com Thanks so much for reading and continuing your quest for speaking improvement!
Mark A. Ittleman, M.S., CCC/SLP
Senior Speech Language Pathologist
Author: Teaching of Talking
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