How can I improve my Expressive Aphasia (written word-retrieval)?

Tips for evaluating writing difficulty (due to Aphasia, etc.), and worksheets & resources for home treatment.

Writing refers to the ability to communicate in text.  It does not  mean being able to use a pen or pencil.  My focus here is the language, not manipulating a pencil.  To make it clearer, we'll refer to Writing as Spelling because they could type, choose a letter from a list, slide scrabble tiles around, etc.  Some common diagnoses are Agraphia or Dysgraphia.

How severely is my Writing impaired?

 

MoreSpeech.com for Writing Treatment




1. Before you try to evaluate their Writing ability, you should first confirm they can read at the word-level.  (View How to Evaluate  Reading)
2. Figure out easiest way for them to spell. You might do this with Writing Letters, below.
   1. Writing the letters. (This is the hardest because they have to manipulate the pencil/pen and remember what the letters look like.
   2. Choosing letters from a list.
   3. Sliding alphabet tiles around. Scrabble tiles are great for this.  This gives them the most independence, especially if they are slow.
3. "Copying" a word (by moving/choosing from a list of letters)
   1. Give them a word.
   2. Give them some alphabet tiles (scrabble times work great for this).
   3. At the easiest level, you give them just the letters for that word, but scrambled.
   4. At harder levels, you give them more letters, up to the full alphabet.
4. Write letters
   1. Show them  a, b, e, f, g and have them write : A, B, E, F
5. Spelling word for picture

Show them a photo and have them spell the word for the photo. You can use the printable Worksheets below for this or you can use the Writing exercises in MoreSpeech.com

1. Give them the correct letters, but scrambled. ( for apple:  elpap, etc.), if they can do that, then for the next one try:
2. Give them the letters for the word plus some extra unnecessary letters (what therapists call Foils). If they do OK with that, keep adding more foil letters. Eventually, just give them all the scrabble tiles.
3. When done, ask (very neutrally) if they are confident of the word (almost as if you are not certain. You don't want them to think they got it right or wrong. You want them to decide.)
6. Sentence
   Same as Spelling the word, but use complex photos (a man throwing a ball, instead of just a photo of a ball or a man)

 

Worksheets for Writing Treatment at home

1. Written Picture Naming
2. Written Sentence Completion
3. A few photos for Written Sentence Construction. These are from Sights'n Sounds 2 (part of our Monthly Subscription).
   Have them write a complete sentence describing each of these. 
                

 The more effective alternative to Worksheets

Worksheets are a fine place to start, unfortunately, there is no research that worksheets alone are effective (that was confirmed for me by researcher (Dept head of a a Speech Pathology college). They are better if the caregiver (or therapist) works with the survivor while they are using them, so that the survivor can work at a challenging level without frustration. When the survivor is frustrated, the helper provides cueing.

Specific Problems:

1. Many survivors are embarrassed by failing in front of someone, especially a family member. But they must to work at a challenging level for it to be effective.
2. Survivors often don't work well with family members (partially due to the failure issue above, and because of relationship dynamics. (You keep telling me what to do).
3. Helping is hard to master. It takes enormous patience to provide only the hints/cues that the survivor needs. Provide too much and they'll get angry (you robbed them of the chance to be correct). Provide to little, and they get frustrated... and angry. Speech Pathologists get spend years on these skills. It's difficult to pickup in just a few hours, weeks, or even months

However, the research shows that treatment software is effective when it's specially designed speech & language software.

Survivors often  prefer working independently with treatment software because:

1. They work at their speed and on their schedule.
2. They can work in  private, where no one can see them fail.
3. They get cueing (hints) automatically, so it's frustration-free.
4. They  gain control over the very thing that has robbed them of freedom: their speech & language.
   

My wife wife is a speech pathologist and who was frustrated that there wasn't effective treatment software.  She asked me to create some. I did. It only took me a few years longer than I thought it would.  I created speech treatment software for her patient and then made it available to other folks and is used all over the world in the top Rehab Hospitals. 

A few years ago we collaborated with Dr. Richard Katz and produced a web-based program for speech therapy:  MoreSpeech.com which provides unlimited practice for all areas of speech & language, including writing. You can create a free account and try the Writing Skills.

Independent Writing Treatment

MoreSpeech.com provides unlimited practice for all areas of speech & language, including writing. You can create a free account and try it out.

Try MoreSpeech.com   (claim your free account)