Using Books as "Discussion Starters" for Families Dealing with Aphasia
While writing Love After a Stroke, the author envisioned families using the book as a "discussion starter" or book therapy--a way to talk about concerns, fears, and changes with children whose lives are impacted by their family members' stroke and aphasia.
Tips on using Love After a Stroke as a discussion starter with children:
1. Ask children what they know about "stroke." How has it changed their loved ones? Provide short, honest answers to repair gaps in knowledge.
2. Use the book's illustrations to ask about why characters said what they said or showed specific emotions. Reassure them that sadness, frustration, disappointment, and other difficult emotions are natural when someone has been impacted by a stroke. It takes time for healing to occur and for people to discover new ways to communicate.
3. Use Ben's Grandma to compare effects of the stroke to a child's loved one with aphasia to show that all strokes are different.
4. Reassure children that stroke does not affect a person's personality or intelligence. People who have aphasia just communicate differently after stroke.
5. Brainstorm with the child about ways he or she can communicate with the loved one with aphasia. A speech-language pathologist can provide you and the child with special training to make communication with the person who has aphasia easier and better.
Tips on using Love After a Stroke as a discussion starter with children:
1. Ask children what they know about "stroke." How has it changed their loved ones? Provide short, honest answers to repair gaps in knowledge.
2. Use the book's illustrations to ask about why characters said what they said or showed specific emotions. Reassure them that sadness, frustration, disappointment, and other difficult emotions are natural when someone has been impacted by a stroke. It takes time for healing to occur and for people to discover new ways to communicate.
3. Use Ben's Grandma to compare effects of the stroke to a child's loved one with aphasia to show that all strokes are different.
4. Reassure children that stroke does not affect a person's personality or intelligence. People who have aphasia just communicate differently after stroke.
5. Brainstorm with the child about ways he or she can communicate with the loved one with aphasia. A speech-language pathologist can provide you and the child with special training to make communication with the person who has aphasia easier and better.
