Aphasia Access Conversations

During this episode, Dr. Katie Strong, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Central Michigan University talks with Michelle Armour from the Northwestern Medicine Aphasia Center at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital about starting this program and creating a training program for healthcare workers to be better communication partners for people with aphasia..

Michelle Armour is a Speech-Language Pathologist, Master Clinician, and Program Lead Clinician of the Northwestern Medicine Aphasia Center at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton, IL. She specializes in stroke rehabilitation with specific areas of focus on aphasia and apraxia. She has presented her work at the national level and is currently serving as co-chair on the Aphasia and Other Communication Disorders Task Force through the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) Stroke iSIG Committee. Michelle and her team were awarded the first Northwestern Medicine Innovation Grant made possible by Superior Ambulance Services to initiate the Northwestern Medicine Aphasia Center at Marianjoy.

In this episode you will:

• Learn about how a clinician wrote and won a grant competition that allowed for the development of an aphasia center
• Hear how listening to a patient's story about her experience in the hospital inspired and led to the development of an online communication partner training for hospital staff
• Learn about how an interdisciplinary team used the Integrated Behavioral Model to develop the online communication partner training program.

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Welcome to the Aphasia Access Conversations Podcast. I'm Jerry Hoepner, a faculty member in the department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. I am privileged to introduce today's guest Jamie Azios.

GUEST BIO:

Dr. Jamie Azios is an Assistant Professor at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. She is also a 2019 recipient of Tavistock Trust for Aphasia Distinguished Scholar. Jamie has expertise in qualitative research methodologies. Her research focuses on co-construction of conversation in aphasia and therapeutic interactions between providers and individuals with aphasia. Her recent work on social interactions of individuals with aphasia in long term care contexts.

In today's episode you will:

• Learn about common barriers to social interactions for persons with aphasia living in long-term care settings.
• • Specifically, there is often a hyper-focus on care tasks which can get in the way of getting to know the person with aphasia during those interactions.
• Learn about the typical type of interactions that take place in long-term care settings.
• Reminder to focus on training partners – CNAs, nurses, other staff, visitors, family members, and everyday partners.
• Reminder to modify the physical environment to support persons with aphasia.
• Learn about ethnographic, qualitative research, where the researcher is embedded in the environment as they make their observations.
• • Hear stories and examples of those deep, close observations.
• Reminder about the need to educate caregivers, family, and friends about aphasia.
• Reminder about the need to advocate for persons with aphasia.
• Learn about using key words to help scaffold comprehension for persons with aphasia and as a written support to point to during conversation.
• Reminder to use gestures as a multimodal support that also helps comprehension but also serves as a model for supporting expression.
• Consider your proximity and position in relation to persons with aphasia – get on the same level!
• Learn ideas about how to reduce social isolation in long-term care settings and beyond.

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Ellen Bernstein-Ellis, Director of the Aphasia Treatment Program at Cal State East Bay, speaks with Judy Walker of the University of Maine about how we can use technology to improve the lives of individuals with aphasia, and how telepractice can promote the values of the life participation approach.

Dr. Judy Walker is an associate professor and coordinator of the University of Maine speech therapy telepractice program. Her academic and research interests include speech therapy, telepractice, neuro linguistics and cognitive neuroscience. Dr. Walker established the University of Maine speech therapy telepractice program whose mission encompasses graduate student telepractice clinical training while providing speech therapy telepractice services to children and adults throughout Maine and at an international school in Fiji.

In addition to coordinating this program, she provides clinical supervision to graduate students in the speech therapy telepractice practicum and teaches graduate courses in traumatic brain injury aphasia, right hemisphere damage and dementia. Her research focuses on improving the quality of life of people with aphasia and their caregivers through participation in synchronous telepractice groups. She consults with numerous academic programs and agencies who are interested in setting and starting a telepractice program. Dr. Walker has numerous presentations and scholarly articles related to the speech therapy telepractice service delivery model.

Listener Take-aways:

In today's episode you will: • Gain an overview of the University of Maine's telepractice program that has been providing individual and group therapy since 2012. • Learn why telepractice is suited to supporting LPAA goals. • Learn about how telepractice can capitalize on the home context, including a live tour to meet the family farm animals. • Hear how Google Earth can help you provide patient-centered care during telepractice • Consider how telepractice provides an opportunity to reduce social isolation and increase friendships. • Learn about the steps that help student clinicians progress from the bunny slope to the advanced slope on the telepractice landscape.

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During this episode, Jerry Hoepner, a faculty member in the department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, speaks with Wayne Zorn, CeCelia Zorn, and their speech-language pathologist Tania Riske, about primary progressive aphasia. They also discuss the trio's article, "Three Voices at the Table."

Wayne Zorn is a man of many dimensions. As others discover who he is, they find a person with a giving heart, a curious, precise, and engineering mind, and a fun-loving soul. CeCelia and Wayne met in high school in rural northeastern Wisconsin. Married for 45 years, CeCelia brings a threefold background to our discussion about PPA. CeCelia strives for a life enriched by kindness, joy, perseverance, curiosity, patience, and collaboration. Tania Riske is a speech-language pathologist at Mayo Health Systems – Eau Claire. She initially entered the speech language pathology field through her volunteer work with the Chippewa Valley Aphasia Group and graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire Communication Sciences and Disorders Program. Tania continues to enjoy treating patients with aphasia and their families within the LPAA Paradigm.

In this episode you will:

• Learn about living successfully with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) from an individual with PPA, his partner, and their speech-language pathologist.
• Learn about examples of participating in personally relevant activities like singing, travel, and golfing – along with what it takes for this to happen through collaborations between an individual with PPA, his partner, and their speech-language pathologist.
• Learn about following the lead of the individual with PPA and his partner as context and vehicle for authentic, person-focused interventions.
• Learn how this trio implemented collaborative interventions and authentic steps they took in that process.
• Learn about how to engage community partners in meaningful, participation-based collaborations.
• Learn about the challenges this couple has encountered and the positive way they have addressed those challenges.

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During this episode, Dr. Katie Strong, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Central Michigan University talks with Dr. Hsinhuei Sheen Chiou from Minnesota State University, Mankato about metacognitive instruction and goal attainment scaling for people with aphasia and clinical education.

Dr. H. Sheen Chiou, Ph.D. CCC-SLP is a full professor in the Department of Speech, Hearing and Rehabilitation Services at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She teaches courses in adult neurogenic disorders including aphasia and acquired cognitive disorders and runs language and cognitive rehabilitation research. Her current research and clinical practice focus on patient-centered language and cognitive intervention for people with brain injuries (stroke, traumatic brain injury, neurodegenerative disorders) and meaningful engagements for people with dementia and their care partners. She leads an aphasia conversation group for Minnesota Connect Aphasia Now in Minnesota.

In this episode you will:

• Learn about metacognitive strategy instruction and goal attainment scaling
• Hear about how metacognitive strategy instruction and goal attainment scaling have been used with people with aphasia and in the training graduate students in working with people with aphasia
• Hear the importance of training LPAA practitioners who can apply LPAA to support clients with aphasia across the globe
• Learn about applying LPAA principles to supporting people with dementia and the Garden EngAGEment program

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Ellen Bernstein-Ellis, Director of the Aphasia Treatment Program at Cal State East Bay speaks with Megan Sutton about how to empower individuals with aphasia to engage with home practice goals and how incorporating apps may enhance practice opportunities.

Megan Sutton is a speech-language pathologist and the co-founder of Tactus Therapy Solutions, an app development company that creates popular aphasia therapy apps. She has designed 20 apps for adult speech pathology, including the best-selling Language Therapy 4-in-1. Megan has over 15 years of experience working with people with aphasia in a variety of clinical settings including acute care, inpatient and outpatient rehab, and an intensive aphasia treatment program. She is the co-author of the stroke recovery book entitled Healing the Broken Brain and is an international speaker on the topic of using technology in aphasia therapy.

Megan lives near Vancouver, Canada where she regularly helps with the Sea to Sky Aphasia Camp and is on the clinical faculty of the University of British Columbia. She is a member of Aphasia Access and a volunteer with the Aphasia Recovery Connection.

In today's episode you will:

• Learn why you should consider attending the next Aphasia Access Leadership Summit
• Hear a common misconception about LPAA and learn how addressing impairment is considered one of the four basic domains of the A-FROM
• Learn how personalization with apps is key to making home practice more person-centered.
• Consider the critical elements that contribute to creating a meaningful home program for a client.
• Hear a moving message from families regarding their experience at home coping with aphasia.

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Ellen Bernstein-Ellis, Co-director of the Aphasia Treatment Program at Cal State East Bay speaks with Carol Dow-Richards about the importance of social connection for individuals with aphasia and their care partners and how it became the driving motivation behind The Aphasia Recovery Connection.

Carol Dow-Richards is the Director of The Aphasia Recovery Connection, (ARC) a nonprofit organization. Carol spends her days walking alongside families as they navigate the road to recovery.

That is a road she knows all too well as her son David had a massive stroke destroying over half his left brain when he was only ten years old resulting in global aphasia and paralysis. While one Doctor suggested placing the fourth grader in a nursing home, David opted to fight - and clocked over 3,000 clinical hours of therapy over the next 15 years. Today, the mother and son duo are authors, have appeared on The Doctors, lead aphasia cruises and boot camps, speak at CEU events, and connect families like their own so others don't live in isolation every day on Facebook. Carol shares that one of ARC's most impactful programs is the A R C Care Partner and Friends Group on Facebook.

Today, she will give us some insight into the life of care partners, share some of her own "aha" moments she's learned over the years, and provide resources and tips real families dealing with aphasia have shared on ARC.

In today's episode you will:

• Learn what motivated the formation of the consumer-based Aphasia Recovery Connection
• Hear the caregiver's perspective of the impact of aphasia on the family shared through personal stories
• Discover the role ARC fills for providing connection among individuals with aphasia and their care partners
• Hear specific actionable steps every SLP can take to provide education and support to individuals with aphasia and their families.

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Katie Strong, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Central Michigan University, talks with Jodi Morgan about aphasia programming at Brooks Rehabilitation Aphasia Center.

Jodi Morgan, CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist, manager and co-founder of the Brooks Rehabilitation Aphasia Center. She serves as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences at Jacksonville University. She also teaches courses in adult language disorders and cognitive disorders and rehabilitation. Her research interests and publications are in the area of aphasia and cognitive-linguistic rehabilitation in adults. Jodi has received multiple ASHA ACE awards and is an active member of Special Interest Groups through ASHA. She is a member of the Jacksonville Area Speech Pathology Association and the Florida Speech and Hearing Association. Jodi recently received Brooks Rehabilitation Research Award. She is currently a board member of Aphasia Access and serves as co-chair of the Academic Curriculum Working Group and the Aphasia Access Research & Education Committee. She presents at the community, state, and national levels in the areas of aphasia, supported communication, life participation approach to aphasia, and improving functional communication in adults with aphasia.

In this episode you will:

• hear how crowdsourcing gave Brooks Rehabilitation Aphasia Center it's start
• learn the benefits of partnering with high schools for intergenerational influence on aphasia programming
• learn how people with aphasia influenced and started an Ambassador Program
• hear Jodi's experience as an Aphasia Access Board Member and how you can become involved in volunteering

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Janet Patterson, Chief of the Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology Service at VA Northern California, speaks with Amber Richardson about the intersection of aphasia rehabilitation, group treatment, and telehealth service delivery.

Amber is a staff speech-language pathologist at the VA Northern California Health Care System. She received her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the College of William and Mary and completed her Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology at California State University, East Bay. Amber is pursuing her clinical doctorate in Speech Language Pathology at Northwestern University where her focus includes the study of aphasia group treatment, outcome measures and continuum of care.

In today's episode you will learn:

• strategies to create and sustain a virtual aphasia group
• the importance of a whole-patient support network for patients using telespeech-language pathology
• how aphasia rehabilitation and group treatment use the Internet to connect people in California and Washington.

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Jerry Hoepner, a faculty member in the department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, speaks to today's guest, Julia Halvorson, from MnCAN – Minnesota Connect Aphasia Now.

Julia Halvorson is a founding member and Executive Director of MnCAN and is passionate about the opportunity to develop aphasia programs that will connect people with aphasia and their care partners in Minnesota. MnCAN is a nonprofit organization that has focused on providing supported conversation and life participation approaches to aphasia since it began in 2014. Julia directs a staff of 17 Speech pathologists and 2 licensed counselors who provide aphasia groups and programs as well as support groups for people with aphasia and their care partners. She has worked in the area of neurologic communication disorders for 40 years in acute care, long term rehab and outpatient settings as well as in rehab management.

In this episode, listeners will hear and learn about:

• The logistics of developing and training a multi-site, group program (13 different sites)
• Learn how a graduate student planted an LPAA seed that grew into MnCAN
• Consider the idea of creating a manual for training and implementing LPAA group sessions
• Learn about the ripple effect that fosters growth, access to unique skillsets (accountants, marketing, musicians, etc.), and expansion of programming
• Learn about functional outcomes from aphasia group programming for individuals with aphasia, their partners, staff, and students
• Learn about the value of growing organically – not too fast, just right size, and timing of growth
• Insights into finding donated physical spaces to host group meetings
• Expansion from conversation groups to "ala carte" specialty groups
• Find out what a "merry little band of rebels" means

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