LIFE Beyond Aphasia

It's 2 AM. You type "what kind of aphasia does my husband have?" into Google and get back seven answers.   Download the free seven types of aphasia chart Genevieve uses in this episode and keep it next to you while you watch: https://www.lifebeyondaphasia.com/seven-types     Seven types of aphasia is a lot of labels, but you don't need to memorize all seven. You only need to know what to look for....

Do you feel lonely from the minute you wake up? Aphasia care partners carry five heavy burdens, and this episode names every one.   Leaving would be easier, but you stayed for love. Build back what aphasia took: https://aphasiacarepartnercompass.com     Aphasia changed how your whole day flows, from how you say good morning to how you say good night.   In this first episode of the Aphasia Field Gu...

When your person has aphasia and ends up in the hospital, who tells the doctor where it hurts? One app lets him say it himself, one tap at a time. Although leaving would be easier, you stayed for love. Build back what aphasia took: https://aphasiacarepartnercompass.com   People with communication barriers face three times the risk of adverse events in the hospital, and that risk has nothing to do...

Brian started writing notes again for the gratitude vase by his front door. A few weeks later his wife was writing them too, and their kids were reading the notes out loud at Sunday dinner. Take the free Care Partner Compass: aphasiacarepartnercompass.com That vase was something they already had before his stroke, and bringing it back opened up a whole new level of conversation in their family. If...

What if the hobby you miss most became your next therapy session? The fishing catalog shows up in the mail. You open it, and suddenly you're picking a rod for the lake, the stream, the ocean. Hobbies are one of nine areas of your life the free Aphasia Strengths Compass looks at. See where you stand and where to start: https://findaphasiasupport.com That's practice. Naming, reading, numbers, writin...

He used to hold every door open. Now he just walks right through them. Take the free Care Partner Compass: https://aphasiacarepartnercompass.com/ That's not him choosing to be different. Right hemisphere stroke and personality changes go together more often than people realize, especially for care partners of someone with aphasia. It can leave you feeling like you're living with a stranger. One wi...

She asked if he liked rocks in his soup. He said delicious. Book a free connection call here: https://dolifespeech.intakeq.com/booking?serviceId=dc1e232b-a9ed-46cb-aba3-cdbbb0fab97b That's what fluent aphasia can sound like, and it's easy to mistake for confusion or even disinterest, when what's actually happening is a breakdown between what he means and the words that come out. Then there's the o...

Rehab ended and the paperwork said he was done improving. He wasn't. Take the Aphasia Strengths Compass and see exactly where to start rebuilding: https://findaphasiasupport.com Joey could still talk. He just couldn't get to the words that mattered anymore. And underneath that, he was ashamed to admit it was hurting his marriage. Six months out from his stroke, most of the paperwork said he was do...

He didn't skip the ceiling on purpose. He didn't even know he'd stopped. Book a free connection call here.  That's the difference between disrespect and executive dysfunction, and it's the hardest of the seven reasons to spot, because asking him about it directly won't get you a real answer. Ben had a list in his pocket, and fixing the hole in the ceiling was at the top of it. He got his coffee, g...

He did the whole thing Monday. Wednesday, he couldn't. If stroke recovery looks different every single day, some days willing, some days gone, here's the real reason, and it's not backsliding. If you're bracing yourself every morning wondering which version of him you're going to get, it's worth taking a step back to see what you're actually holding. https://aphasiacarepartnercompass.com When Lind...

He can order his coffee just fine at home. In public, something else happens. Understand what's actually going on in addition to aphasia and find the solution. If you've been ordering for him, speaking for him, jumping in before he has the chance, it's worth taking a step back to see what you're actually holding. https://aphasiacarepartnercompass.com Eighteen months ago, ordering a coffee out loud...

Not every silence after a stroke means someone's given up.   If your husband has no motivation to do anything since his stroke or aphasia, here are the two most commonly confused reasons why, and the one tell that actually separates them.   If you're afraid the two of you are drifting apart and you don't know why, it's worth taking a step back to see what you're actually holding. https://aphasiaca...

The couch isn't the diagnosis. It's the symptom of what's really happening in his brain after a stroke.   If he has no motivation to do anything since his stroke or aphasia, here are the seven real reasons, and almost none of them are refusal.   If you're feeling like you're done, but you still love him, it's important to take a step back and see what you're holding. https://aphasiacarepartnercomp...

Do you finish his sentences or jump in during the pause? If you love someone with aphasia, this explains how rushing takes away his voice.  Although leaving would be easier, you stayed for love. Build back what aphasia took: https://aphasiacarepartnercompass.com When we rush to fill silence, finish sentences, or jump in too soon, it feels helpful, but it chips away at confidence and identity. This...

Why won't he do his exercises or try to talk anymore? If your husband has aphasia after a stroke, here is why he stopped trying, and it is not laziness.  You thought leaving would be easier. You stayed, because you love him. But you still hate what aphasia took. https://aphasiacarepartnercompass.com After rehab ends, support fades fast, and many stroke and aphasia survivors are left without any sy...

Judy Cage had a massive hemorrhagic stroke at 39. She walked out of the rehab hospital two months later. Her colleagues thought she'd been on a leave of absence. What was actually happening: she was working four hours a week, on doctor's orders. She was doing Wordle and Sudoku every day to keep her attention and processing sharp. She was sitting down in airport skylinks because she needed to prese...

She loves him. She asks questions, checks in, fills the silence. But the way she's talking to him may be working against his brain, not with it, and that is not her fault.  Rehab focused on him. But nobody taught her how aphasia and stroke change the way a brain processes a conversation. All she got a discharge summary and a wave goodbye. Have her take the Care Partner Compass: aphasiacarepartnerc...

When the stroke happened, rehab had a plan for him. Nobody had a plan for her. She walked out of the hospital with a packet of papers, a med list, and a stack of homework assignments — and everyone assumed she'd figure out the rest. No training. No roadmap. No one asking what she needed to keep this up for the next twenty years. In this conversation with Roger and Justin of When Words Don't Come E...

You raised him. You launched him. Then a stroke happened and you became his mom again. The role shift nobody warns you about is one of the most costly things for his aphasia independence. Take the Care Partner Compass: https://aphasiacarepartnercompass.com/ Cheryl has been supporting her son Philip since his stroke in June 2022. In this conversation, she is candid about what it actually took to st...

Ralph Preston came home from the hospital in a wheelchair. He did 10 hours of therapy a day for 15 months, and the mindset behind it is teachable. Work with us: https://findaphasiasupport.com Ralph is the founder of Stroke Buddies. He has coached aphasia and stroke survivors for 18 years and has over 400 recovery videos on YouTube.  In this conversation, he breaks down adaptive thinking. He talks...

Nobody taught you how to talk to your person after everything changed. And nobody taught you how to speak up for yourself either. This episode covers both. Genevieve Richardson, MS CCC-SLP, walks care partners through two practical frameworks you can start using today. The first is EASE, a four-point check you run before any conversation with your person. It helps you set up the environment, get t...

She was DETERMINED to not let Broca's aphasia slow her down.  Recovery after a stroke and aphasia never stops.   Get your starting point: https://findaphasiasupport.com   If you think you're done — you're not.  Nine years in, Michelle is still proving that recovery doesn't end when you think it does.     You've been here a while. Maybe a year, maybe longer. And somewhere along the way you accepted...

You used to talk to anyone. The cashier. The neighbor. The guy at Home Depot. Now you sit in the car with your aphasia and let your wife go instead. Want to get back to being "the guy?" Take your first action: https://aphasiastrengthscompass.com   In this episode I talk about Jerry. Four years post-stroke. His world had gotten tiny. He didn't see his own responsibility in getting back to himself....

In this episode, we discuss the challenges of medical appointments when a loved one has aphasia and faces barriers to communication. Despite advocating for patient rights, the doctor often bypasses the disabled person, creating frustration and highlighting the need for better patient communication.  We can help you advocate.  Start here: https://aphasiacarepartnercompass.com   She'd done everythin...

  You are the plan. You have been your aphasia spouse's only backup since his stroke. But what happens when the caregiver needs help? Build your plan.  Start with here: aphasiacarepartnercompass.com   You have been managing everything. The medications, the appointments, the daily routine, the communication breakdowns. Nobody told you to build an aphasia care partner backup plan for yourself. So yo...