"It's like if the language area of your brain was a library and it has had an earthquake. All the books are on the floor. So, the words are there but when you go to speak you just can't find them. The breakdown is from thought to putting it into language.
"This korero club is an opportunity for these guys to work on communicating independently. Their spouse isn't here to help them, we can just talk about what they want to talk about, get their brains firing to find the words and get them out.
"Of course, wives and family members just want to step in to help, but situations like this are good because you are basically rewiring the brain. When you have aphasia you do lose some independence - we're working on getting that back."
📣June is Aphasia Awareness Month ‼️
Watch this space to learn more about aphasia and AphasiaNZ over the month of June....
Posted by AphasiaNZ on Friday, May 27, 2022
She says she has definitely seen improvements in the group through meeting regularly.
One of the men in the group, Richard Hood, says having aphasia can make him feel anxious while communicating. His wife died about a year after his stroke and the korero club has been an opportunity to get out of the house and socialise as well as work on his communication.
"All the names feel quite scattered," he says.
Mel says names are particularly hard. With words for physical objects like chairs and tables, you have something to associate them with, but names "just kind of float around in your brain".
Ron Collard says his speech is a lot better than before he started attending the group.
"I can understand better. Anything that is in your head, you can think, but when I go talk sometimes it's 'oh bugger'."
Ron has found a love for photography since his stroke, a hobby that allows him to express himself freely.
Mel says there are more people in New Zealand living with aphasia than there are with Parkinson's disease, but it is still not a disorder that a lot of people are aware of.
"For most people, they only find out about aphasia when someone they know has a stroke. Our awareness month is to raise awareness so people can understand what aphasia is and, most importantly, so they know it is not an intelligence issue. It's just the language.
"It's also so when these guys go in the community people have a bit more understanding and patience with them, to help make communication a bit more relaxed."
Communication tips
These are the strategies you can use to make communication easier with someone with aphasia:
• Speak slowly and clearly, pausing at natural breaks such as commas and full stops.
• Give them time to respond.
• Avoid background noise/distractions/more than one person speaking at once.
• Use short clear sentences - one question/piece of information at a time.
• Use easily understood gestures to support what you are saying.
• Have a pen and paper handy to write things down, or draw pictures. Some people read or write better than they can speak.
• Ask yes/no questions e.g. "Do you want a cup of tea?" not "What do you want to drink?".
• Offer choices e.g. "Do we need to go to the bank or the post office?".
• Be honest if you don't understand and check that they have understood you.
• Be flexible - use any way to communicate - understand their message, don't aim for perfect speech.
• Ask for help.
