After a stroke, speech is weakening, sometimes until silence. However, thanks to the Alternative and improved communication (CAA)many patients find today the power to express their needs, their ideas and their emotions.
Understand stroke and its impacts on communication
Each year, nearly 140,000 people suffer a stroke in France, according to the Regional Health Agency (ARS). This is the first cause of disabled disability in adults, the first cause of female mortality, and the second cause of intellectual decline. These pathologies plunge many patients and families in difficulty.
When a stroke affects language -related brain areas, it upsets everyday life: speech sometimes becomes jerky, difficult, or even absent. Post-AVC aphasia then manifests itself by difficulty finding the words, building coherent sentences, understanding conversations or even reading or writing. The production of language becomes difficult, and each attempt at communication can be accompanied by frustration, for the person as for those around him.
These disorders can be expressed differently depending on the location and extent of the brain lesion. Some patients retain a good understanding but struggle to articulate, while others form fluid but often incomprehensible sentences.
In so -called global forms, the loss of speech and understanding is almost total. To these language difficulties are sometimes added other sequelae: memory disorders, loss of mobility, fatigue or feeling of isolation.
Find applied exercises to re-educate post-AVC communication (aphasia) in our dedicated exercise notebook.
More than a tool: the CAA, a new dimension of interaction
Faced with these challenges, alternative and improved communication (CAA) turns out to be a precious ally. This global approach brings together techniques, tools and methods intended to compensate for the loss of speech. The main objective of the CAA is to restore patients the possibility of interacting, expressing their needs, reconnecting with their loved ones and their environment.
Communication tools can take the form of notebooks on which exchanges are registered, or personalized cards adapted to current situations. For those who can, digital supports (tablets, specialized applications) equipped with vocal syntheses allow you to go further, like Snap Core First of Tobii Dynamovox, designed for aphasic people.
Resume its place in the exchange thanks to the CAA
Finding a form of relational autonomy is often based on the association of several solutions: combining the look, the movements of the hands, the visual supports and the digital aids according to the situation and the fatigue of the moment. It is a learning, sometimes slow, which requires patience and involvement of those around them.
In France, several centers and associations offer personalized support, supported by the latest technological and human advances.
