From the Introduction: Sudden and unexpected loss of communication is a terrifying, dehumanizing experience that tears away at the essence of life itself. For decades, speech and language pathologists have sought to better understand it. The term aphasia is used to generally describe a condition whereby speech and language skills are partially or totally lost. Aphasia is the result of damage to or disturbance of those areas in the brain responsible for speech and language functions. A tremendous variety of specific impairments can occur to plague the individual with aphasia. Impairments of comprehension, reading disturbances, writing difficulties, and confusion with numerical processes can accompany oral language problems such as word loss, loss of sentence structure, and confusion in utilizing word forms. . . To understand aphasia at this level alone is to miss the full nature of this terribly debilitating condition. For the effect that aphasia has on the person who must bear its consequences is a profound area of interest that is not always understood and. . . seldom considered. Aphasia, My World Alone has been written to help open this often closed door. . . Helen Wulf has put down on paper a depth of feeling, thought, and analysis concerning the aphasic experience that personalizes the disorder in a gripping, readable manner. She delves so deeply into her aphasia that the reader is actually drawn up into the agony and frustration that is the daily burden of the aphasic individual. Speech pathologists who actively work with aphasic patients will immediately recognize the value of Helen Wulf's analysis of her aphasia. Her reactions to various forms of treatment will also be beneficial, especially to those who are allowing certain aphasics to determine which speech and language deficits are most debilitating and, consequently, which area should be emphasized in the initial stages of treatment. Family and friends of the aphasic will be warmly introduced to those inner thoughts so long hidden from their ears. . . This book. . . should be extremely useful in family counseling. . . As many speech pathologists have indicated, the need for "family treatment" is immediate, real, and often of critical importance. . . As the field of aphasia rehabilitation continues its growth ... our ability to help the aphasic and his family will expand. It is felt that in its small way, this book will help make aphasia less of a world alone. A new chapter has been added to this revised edition in which Helen Wulf assesses her feelings and the progress she has made six to eight years post-stroke.

First published in 1989. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Challenging Aphasia Therapies presents an entirely new approach to thinking on the subject of aphasia therapy by liberating it from traditional models. This is achieved through a process of reflection in which many assumptions previously taken for granted are challenged and reassessed. Internationally renowned experts successfully demonstrate the benefits of learning about aphasia therapy through the process of engaging in it. Topics covered include: * the role of context, culture and conversation in shaping and directing aphasia therapy * the ethical issues that arise from the current tensions between market driven health care industries and the moral commitment to their client welfare * the value of therapy. Contributors challenge the common notion of successful therapy as solely performance related. * the potential and competent use of humour in aphasia therapy. The identification of the strengths and limitations of clinical models and the focus on relevant directions for therapy will be of interest to practising clinicians as well as anyone involved in study or research in speech and language therapy.

With chapters containing up to 50 percent new coverage, this book provides a thorough update of the latest research and development in the area of acquired aphasia. Coverage includes the symptoms of aphasia, assessment, neuropsychology, the specific linguistic deficits associated with aphasia, related disorders, recovery, and rehabilitation. This comprehensive compilation, written by some of the most knowledgeable workers in the field, provides an authoritative text and reference for graduate students, clinicians, and researchers. - Chapters include up to 50 percent new coverage - Provides update of latest research in the field - Includes writings by the most knowledgeable workers in the field - Comprehensive, exhaustive reference tool

In the mid-nineteenth century, physicians observed numerous cases in which individuals lost the ability to form spoken words, even as they remained sane and healthy in most other ways. By studying this condition, which came to be known as "aphasia," neurologists were able to show that functions of mind were rooted in localized areas of the brain. Here L. S. Jacyna analyzes medical writings on aphasia to illuminate modern scientific discourse on the relations between language and the brain, from the very beginnings of this discussion through World War I. Viewing these texts as literature--complete with guiding metaphors and rhetorical strategies--Jacyna reveals the power they exerted on the ways in which the human subject was constructed in medicine. Jacyna submits the medical texts to various critical readings and provides a review of the pictorial representation involved with the creation of aphasiology. He considers the scientific, experimental, and clinical aspects of this new field, together with the cultural, professional, and political dimensions of what would become the authoritative discourse about language and the brain. At the core of the study is an inquiry into the processes whereby men and women suffering from language loss were transformed into the "aphasic," an entity amenable to scientific scrutiny and capable of yielding insights about the fundamental workings of the brain. But what became of the subject's human identity? Lost Words explores the links among language, humanity, and mental presence that make the aphasiological project one of continuing fascination.

There is currently considerable focus on psychosocial issues for persons with aphasia and their significant others. However, there has been little unifying work that brings diverse interdisciplinary perspectives together to understand the impact of aphasia and other neurogenic communication disorders on the social construction and mediation of self or identity. In this book, the authors explore this idea of social construction of self as it relates to the human need to create, share, and modify life stories, particularly when confronting major life changes. Their premise is that impaired communication can have a profound impact on one’s perception of self and one’s ability to negotiate the social reconstruction of self in the context of a neurological disorder. The nature and extent of impact varies, as seen in the book’s in-depth examination of narrative self for persons living with aphasia, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia, as well as those aging without impairment. The authors present theoretical grounding for using the concepts of self and the idea of a social and cultural tool kit that enables clients to interact with others and to define themselves in the context of those around them. The text moves from theory to qualitative analyses of living with neurogenic disorders to implications for clinical interventions for individual clients and their significant others.

Why do many people with disorders of communication experience a sense of demoralization? Do these subjective experiences have any bearing on how such problems should be treated? How can professionals dealing with speech, language, hearing and other communication disorders analyse and respond to the subjective and relational needs of clients with such problems? In this book, authors in the fields of communication disorders analyse the psychological, social and linguistic processes and interactions that underpin clinical practice, from both client and clinician perspectives. The chapters demonstrate how it is possible to analyze and understand client-clinician discourse using qualitative research, and describe various challenges to establishing relationships such as cultural, gender and age differences. The authors go on to describe self-care processes, the therapeutic use of the self, and various psychological factors that could be important for developing therapeutic relationships. Also covered are the rarely considered topics of spirituality and transpersonal issues, which may at times be relevant to clinicians working with clients who have debilitating, degenerative and terminal illnesses associated with certain communication disorders. While this book is geared toward the needs of practicing and training speech, language and hearing clinicians, other professional such as teachers of the deaf, psychotherapists, nurses, and occupational therapists will find the ideas relevant, interesting and easily translatable for use in their own clinical practice.

Fred Johnson's book is valuable, then, not only as a testament to the courage and determination of one man but for the lessons it provides for medical students and health care professionals.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.