A Note from Maura
Aphasia is defined as a language impairment caused by stroke or other brain injury. It is known to result in deficits in all four language modalities: reading, writing, listening/understanding and speech. But after 30 years of impassioned work with individuals with aphasia and their families (not to mention a personal family aphasia experience), I’d argue that there is one aspect of aphasia that is impacted more significantly, and is most detrimental to the goal of full life participation, than any of these linguistic components. What is it? … CONFIDENCE!
We spend a lot of energy in our field promoting the fact that aphasia, in and of itself, does not affect intelligence. An individual is as smart as they were before their neurological insult. They hold their memories, thoughts and ideas but struggle for the means to express them. Imagine the frustration… imagine the conversation one has in their own head as they attempt to understand the letters, words and numbers that they have known their entire life. The feeling of self assurance and certainty waiver and the resulting confidence shaken.
As we learn more about neuroplasticity and rehabilitative potential, we must also look to the need to address the hit to one’s communicative confidence. How can we support and lift a person’s appreciation of their abilities? How can we demonstrate their skills in accessing and utilizing multimodal communication and effectively engaging in meaningful conversation? A part of the answer is certainly to offer opportunities, to provide platforms and connect a community who “gets it”. We can do this…we can do this together. Let’s hear how Eric and his family experienced aphasia, the challenge of impaired communicative confidence and how they are tackling it with HOPE at the center!
________________________________________________
Eric Barto (as shared by his wife Debbie)
Eric is a Glioblastoma Multiform Stage 4 Brain Cancer Survivor since 2004. He was miraculously doing well from the Brain Cancer, Is a PGA Member and resumed working part time picking up balls at a golf course and giving golf lessons following the brain cancer. In July of 2020, Eric had some skin cancer removed and as a result got an infection in his skull. Two medications given counteracted his seizure medicines and put his brain in seizure mode. He was hospitalized for two and a half months and had his brain reset four times to stop the seizures. Following our hospital stay, Eric received home health speech therapy along with outpatient speech therapy for 8 months. We noticed small improvements, but nothing significant unfortunately. 
Eric was becoming more and more withdrawn because he lacked confidence to communicate with others. His doctors even said that Eric felt lost unless I was there to supplement the conversation. This was not typical of his personality at all. He is an extrovert, has written a book entitled H.O. P. E. and shared his book at musical venues, Relay for Life and at many churches. He is a gifted speaker!!
We joined the TAP community a month ago and are truly amazed with the improvements we have noticed!!
We have seen significant changes in Eric’s confidence level! Eric was starting to not answer phone calls nor return texts unless he was prompted and I was there to help him. He is now starting to FaceTime his family and friends again on his own will. He is excited to talk to friends that visit us in our home!
Eric was saying 2-3 words at a time when communicating with us prior to starting TAP. Often times, we could not read between the lines because he would leave off words needed to understand what he was telling us. After a month of attending TAP, he is speaking in simple sentences more often. We can understand what he is relaying to us more often! When I say this program is life changing, I mean it from the bottom of my heart! We are all overjoyed with his progress in one short month!
Eric attends four TAP sessions a week. The encouragement given by the facilitators encourages him to speak freely and make efforts to communicate without feeling stifled. His individual needs are met and tools are provided when he needs extra support with communication. He participates in real life discussions about topics that interest him! We discuss what he talks about in his classes as a family after his sessions and are thrilled with his enthusiasm to share. We had not experienced this desire to share in eight months prior to TAP.
We weren’t sure how to help Eric prior to getting involved with TAP. Maura has given us tools to use at home, such as key word outlines to help him communicate smoothly. I can’t tell you how many times Eric has thanked me for giving him an outline to speak. The real thanks goes to this program! It truly has forever changed our lives! We can’t wait to see what is in store for Eric in the future! There are truly not enough words to express our gratitude to Maura and all of the facilitators! Thank you!! ❤️
_____________________________________________________
From the Home Office
12 Days of TAP provides you, our Triangle Aphasia Project Unlimited family, an opportunity to embrace the WHY of what we do. For 12 days, we share stories of those impacted by aphasia.
Aphasia can be a devastating impairment resulting in social isolation, depression and disengagement from the passions and purpose of an individual’s life. These stories demonstrate what happens when hope, determination, purpose and engagement are returned.
Our ability to provide accessible, affordable programming for individuals with aphasia and their families is a result of the generosity of our donors. Today, we ask that you continue supporting TAP by sharing these stories to build an understanding of life with aphasia and consider making a donation.
Thank you for your faith in our organization and for supporting the 12 Days of TAP!
Ways to Donate
- Text “tapholidays” to 50155
- Visit aphasiaproject.org to make a one-time donation
- Join our Ice Breaker Club to become a monthly donor
- Donate on our Facebook Fundraiser and share with your friends
- Print and clip the form below and mail a check
- Make a donation of stock; email us for more information