My New Speech Therapist
Dr V., my new speech therapist, diagnosed me as having speech apraxia (inability to coordinate the speech muscles), dysarthria (slurring of speech) and primarily aphasia (language impairment).
​
I could not really write either, additionally I am right-handed and my whole right side was paralysed so I had to try and use my left hand to hold a pen. But besides the physical obstacle, the issue was that I was unable to communicate either verbally or in writing what I was thinking. It is like the cable between your hard-disk and the screen of your computer has been cut.
My speech was the worst – I could not say more than a few words! My reading was the best, although I got very tired after reading just one page. I was fond of classical literature since my early teens but now after the stroke I found reading really hard.
Dr V. set to work at once. I was to have her twice a week as of mid-October 2017. She was to come home to me as I was so weak in the beginning.
You basically have to re-start from the basics. On the mechanical side, learn how to move your lips, your tongue, your mouth, how to gargle certain sounds repetitively like a baby. A daunting prospect, but well worth the effort. On the neurological side, try and re-order the book shelves in the brain and rebuild the connections between the hard-disk and the speakers.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
_edited.jpg)
I could not write just after my stroke at the end of August 2017 . As you can see from the pictures attached, my first attempts in communicating through writing were challenging. What I was writing made absolutely no sense. But I was convinced I had written exactly what I wanted to tell. As I now look again at the notebook, I can imagine how perplexed my loved ones must have been.
© IMK
_edited.jpg)
Our first exercise was word initiation, for example the word for ''cup''. I had to find out what it was used for, what category it fell under, the location, other properties (what did it feel/look/sound like), the action, and the association. I found it very difficult to do it verbally (the ''um'' sound came out constantly!).
Dr V. was also focusing on articulation, word meanings, word finding, and sentence generation.
My writing skills had graduated to a 7 years old or equivalent, by mid-November. I could write short sentences of mid-level complexity for a child. By January 2018, I was writing like an 8 years old, but I was still very, very slow in speaking. My vocabulary widened somewhat when I was speaking out loud, but in public places when I was speaking to strangers, you could see that there is little awareness about how strokes can affect speech. You tend to lose the attention span of people you are talking to after a few seconds, especially if you are in a busy place. However, I must say that once you tell people you have had a stroke and your speech is impaired, people are very attentive and forgiving for your immensely slow delivery.
​
By New Year 2018, I was starting to talk aloud, tell stories succinctly, and write short paragraphs. I remember "The Magic Paintbrush" a children's story set in ancient China - it was a fascinating tale. Dr V. said that I was improving: I spoke the words and the syllables more clearly and somewhat faster than before.
​
On I plodded, with the expert help of Dr V. I was given more challenging tasks to do. I worked on an article about how grey squirrels were dying out more than the red squirrels were in the UK and the reasons for this. Following that, I studied world-famous composers and I had a one work sheet per composer (equivalent to 8 to 9 years of age) where questions were posed. I had to detail concisely the composer's life (out loud) to Dr V., and I was meant to answer questions verbally. It was very tiring! But I was extremely determined to do it.
​
I had made great progress in 2018, thanks to Dr V. It was mid-November 2018, and I was ready to write my account of all that happened to me immediately after the stroke. I began slowly at first - I was only able to write one or two paragraphs a day and at a snaiI's pace. I then received small corrections from Dr V. I took a long break from writing for 2-3 months in 2019 and for a couple of months in 2020 but my writing is more and more rapid and analytical. During the breaks, I took part in increasingly complex conversations with Dr Valerie, with me summarizing texts out loud from The Economist (a weekly publication concerning up-to-date politics and economics).
​
I can write emails of medium complexity to various associates and friends. Now, I can read complex fictional literature at half the pace I was able to before the stroke, but it is getting more swift.