Case Study
Mild Broca's Aphasia
Age: 72
Time since stroke: 3 years
Problems
Kay had been discharged from speech therapy several times. She wanted to be more independent so that she could take her grandson on fun trips, go to the grocery store alone and order by herself in a restaurant. She had poor self-confidence in her ability to talk to people she didn’t know. She often looked to her husband to speak for her.Assessment
Using The Aphasia Center's testing protocols
- Very good comprehension in context
- Ability to speak in full, mostly grammatical sentences
- Reading and writing full sentences
- Good awareness of errors in speech and writing, sometimes fixed independently
- Difficulty pronouncing 3+ syllable words without help
- Fearful when navigating social exchanges or "on the spot" speech
Treatment
1 week program and daily My Aphasia Coach software use
Results
Very high pre-testing, no post testing completed due to program length
Outcome
- Kay greatly increased her confidence for social exchanges
- Learned a variety of strategies and used them independently
- Began grocery shopping, planning activities and ordering independently at restaurants
- She later gave a speech about having aphasia to a group of speech therapists and caregivers