Age: 33
Time Since Stroke:6 months
Georgia had a stroke at a young age, losing her independent lifestyle as a teacher and gifted artist. She had to move back home with her parents and couldn't drive, but she had very good friends who maintained close contact with her. She had a great sense of humor. We let her redesign the office to encourage her pre-stroke designing skills.
Problems:
Georgia had severe Broca's aphasia with apraxia. She mostly spoke in automatic phrases, such as "I don't know" or 1 word.
Assessment: Georgia maintained her knowledge of her Iphone and Ipad, which she used at times to speak for her (still 1 word). She rarely tried to speak, wanting to use her phone instead. Her goal was to return to work and become independent again.
Treatment: 6 weeks, then returned for another 4 week session
Results:
By the end of her program, Georgia spoke in 2-4 words at a time "help me, please" and "I want diet Coke". She started using speech more frequently than her phone, approximately 50-80% of the time. In social conversations, she responded more quickly and maintained a conversational rhythm. She could say 2-3 syllable words and wrote little notes for staff and her friends.
Her aphasia test score for speaking, understanding and repeating went from 32 to 45.7, a gain of 13.7 points. Her reading comprehension score went up 55%, and her caregiver rated improvements from 19%-46% in the areas of getting attention, recalling and saying names of people, and in participating in a group discussion about herself.