Aphasia

CindyBum

My poor DW. Her aphasia is now to the point where she really, really struggles to get a full sentence out. Many of her "sentences" are just a mix of random words, but she really thinks she's telling me things.

Her frustration is growing and now she thinks I'm not understanding on purpose or not listening to her. I had done so dang good for so long using context and our shared history to finish her sentences, but she's moved beyond my ability to do that.

Anyone have any luck at approaches to help alleviate her frustration. I can't imagine redirecting will help, because she is often rather urgently trying to tell me or ask me for something and I have no idea, most of the time, what in the world she is trying to tell me. Sigh

Quilting brings calm

I wonder if a picture board would help. I’ve seen it used ( mostly in tv shows)- but it would have pictures of food, drink, bathroom, medication, bed, etc. You could add photos, or cutouts from magazines for whatever you could think of.

annie51

I am going through the same thing - I can see how frustrating it is for DH and I feel it too. Sometimes I can figure it out just from the fact that he’ll use the same wrong set of words for the same thing. But most of the time I guess or I’m completely clueless. If he gets frustrated I have to stop myself from showing my own frustration- I’ve tried using this phrase “I’m sorry I can’t understand what you are wanting to tell me” - this came from a good book another member told us about: Did I Remember To Tell You? By Pam Kovacs Johnson. His frustration doesn’t usually last because he forgets what he wanted to communicate but at least it shows some empathy for an instant.

SDianeL

I found that when i looked at my DH when i spoke to him and kept my sentences short and spoke slowly he could understand me better. I would just nod and say uh huh and that helped. Some say use pictures or get a board they can draw a picture on. That wouldn’t have worked with my DH. He couldn’t write or draw. A speech therapist tried to help him but gave up after 2 visits. Here’s a link to some things you could try. https://aphasia.org/aphasia-resources/communication-tips/#:~:text=Minimize%20or%20eliminate%20background%20noise,reduce%20your%20rate%20of%20speech.

Biggles

We are in the same boat with APHASIA CindyBum. It’s so frustrating for both my DH and myself. Like you I used to fill in the sentences and help with a thought pattern but lately it’s been too hard and like you my DH thinks he is telling me something and I haven’t a clue what he is talking about. This happens especially during the night when he will have a terrific long chat, problem is I don’t know what he is saying. I mumble things like “oh” and “maybe” and “I’m so tired let’s talk about it in the morning “ that works but he is starting to get very frustrated during the day and will say things like ‘you know’ and if I say something like could you say that again he says yes and then nothing else. I’m very busy finding distractions but I have to be quick. Annie51 I’ve just read your response, it’s the same, goodness me it’s so good to know that I’m not alone.