A number of years ago, I worked with a young adult I’ll call Frank. Frank had a traumatic brain injury about 10 years before I met him. He first came to see me because he was ready to look at voice-output communication devices. Until that time he had been using his speech (which was very [...]
A study in 2007 found that both men and women say about 16,000 words per day (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11762186). That is a lot of words!
For many AAC users, saying 16,000 words each day might seem impossible—especially when we struggle to find 4 or 5 times each day when they can use their device. And yet, increasing communication [...]
A number of years ago, I worked with a young adult I’ll call Frank. Frank had a traumatic brain injury about 10 years before I met him. He first came to see me because he was ready to look at voice-output communication devices. Until that time he had been using his speech (which was very [...]
Recently, I presented a workshop on using high-tech AAC with individuals with, among other diagnoses, aphasia and TBI. Some of the attendees were sharing stories about the different kinds of vocabulary their clients wanted to have programmed on their communication devices. Much of the vocabulary related to ways to talk to the nursing staff or [...]
As adults, we are used to being independent in many different activities. We drive or take public transportation. We fix our own meals or order from a restaurant. We take care of personal hygiene without any help. We write checks or sign credit card receipts effortlessly. For some, this all changes with a stroke or [...]
My family and I recently enjoyed a vacation. Since we went to a place we had never visited before, many things were different: our hotel, a completely different landscape, temperatures at least 25 degrees warmer than at home, and different kinds of food. Since we have two young children, we tried to keep some things [...]
Over the past few days (I am writing this blog on January 3rd) I have seen different articles and heard several news segments and talked with a few family members about making—and keeping—New Year’s resolutions. Personally, I rarely make resolutions—maybe based on years of seeing them fail just a few days into the year J. [...]
In my last blog post, Avoiding Misunderstandings, I talked about “fixing” those misunderstandings that happen so often in conversations. As I started this blog post, I realized that I skipped a step. While “fixing” is important, wouldn’t it be great to prevent those misunderstandings in the first place? Of course…an ounce of prevention is worth [...]
I recently received a comment on a blog post that I posted earlier this year, Continual Reassessment Critical to Communicative Success. The individual commented on the idea that continual reassessment of skills/progress isn’t just relevant for people with TBI or aphasia but is appropriate for many people complex communication needs. That got me thinking … [...]
When was the last time you had a misunderstanding? When you said something that your listener misinterpreted? Or maybe someone said something that you misunderstood. Sometimes misunderstandings are funny. Sometimes they are annoying. And sometimes, they can really cause problems. A popular example of a misunderstanding is the secretary who was asked to “burn” a [...]
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