You may have heard that two of our smallest and most portable speech-generating devices (SGDs) got a makeover. It’s true! Now, the TouchTalk and MiniTalk SGDs have several new features that make our SGDs more compatible for users with a wider array of speech and language disorders. As such, we’re outlining exactly what these updates means for you and your clients.
June is Aphasia Awareness Month! We’re partnering with aphasia centers, support groups, university centers, and individuals to raise awareness with a campaign called, “Faces of Aphasia.” Read on to learn more about aphasia and see how you can get involved!
As many as two million Americans have aphasia, but many people don’t even know about it! We’ve outlined the basic facts about aphasia below.
Do you have a catch phrase? What about a joke you repeat often? How about a sports chant for your favorite team?
These phrases capture your personality and show your friends and family how you think about the world, life, and your friends. If they suddenly were gone or stuck on the tip-of-your-tongue, communicating would be incredibly frustrating and disappointing.
By Denise McCall, MA, SLP-CCC
Imagine you’re a successful accountant running your own small business. Every day you manage budgets, address clients, and work hard to grow your business. During a stressful day you feel lightheaded and end up in the hospital. A doctor explains that you’ve had a stroke. Your words are jumbled and you have difficulty processing language. A second doctor tells you that you have aphasia.
This week, several members of our team are joining hundreds of thought leaders, speech-language pathologists, and aphasia advocates in Boston for the first inaugural AphasiaAccess Leadership Summit.
For many years it was widely believed post-stroke survivors with aphasia would essentially plateau six months into their recovery. In an effort to test this assumption and support the community of adults with chronic aphasia, we studied the effectiveness of our speech-generating devices in the recovery and improvement of speech for adults with aphasia long after onset. Our research proved that adults can improve significantly beyond six months with the help of a speech device.
We're kicking off March as YappGuru's first featured developer for 2015! YappGuru is a unique platform managed by a team of dedicated speech-language pathologists who provide therapy services for patients during the day and run YappGuru by night. They're passionate about speech therapy and committed to sharing the latest apps with the community of speech-language pathologists (SLPs). To say they work hard is an understatement.
It seems like just yesterday I was preparing 2013’s year-in-review blog post and planning for 2014. What a year it’s been! As it turns out, we saw a lot of changes to our industry in the past year – from speech-generating device coverage reminders to capped rental to the expansion of the online therapy world. As we close the year, we look forward to building new relationships, expanding our offerings, and adding additional resources to help clinicians, individuals, and their caregivers.
