aphasia

Fast Takes - Episode 31

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Funding source: Part of this work was supported under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR; grant number no. 90IFDV0001).

Learn more about:
Dr. Peii Chen at 
The peer-reviewed article
and podcast host Joan Banks-Smith 

Co-authors: Emily Esposito, Grigoriy Shekhtman 

Tuned in to our podcast series lately? Join our listeners in 90 countries who enjoy learning about the work of Kessler Foundation. Be sure and subscribe to our SoundCloud channel “KesslerFoundation” for more research updates. 

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

This podcast was recorded on May 17, 2021, remotely, and was edited and produced by Joan Banks-Smith, Creative Producer for Kessler Foundation.

Joined with the head of the SLP department, Bob Serianni, a clinical educator and Salus students talk about the Aphasia Support Group (or ASG) at the Speech-Language Institute and how students play a major role.

To learn more about our podcast series, visit salus.edu/podcasts

Joined with the head of the SLP department, Bob Serianni, a current student and a clinical educator talk with a Speech-Language Institute client about how she utilizes and benefits from the clinical facility.

To learn more about our podcast series, visit salus.edu/podcasts

It’s August 2007. Lauren Marks is a 27-year-old actor and a PhD student, spending the month directing a play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She’s in a bar, standing onstage, performing a karaoke duet of ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’…and then a blood vessel in her brain bursts. When she wakes up in hospital, days later, she has no internal monologue, and a vocabulary of only about forty words. 

This is a rerun of an all time fave Allusionist, but with a few extra little bits added. Content note: this episode is about a medical crisis (everyone survives, though!), and has some Category A swears in it.

Find out more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/totaleclipse, and more about Lauren at http://astitchoftime.com.

The special music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs at palebirdmusic.com or search for Pale Bird on Bandcamp and Spotify, and he’s @martinaustwick on Twitter and Instagram. 

The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Support the show by becoming a patron at patreon.com/allusionist. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionists how and instagram.com/allusionistshow.

Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stroke survivors need to be their own healthcare advocates. Unfortunately, not everyone gets the opportunity to be an advocate, especially for people with aphasia. It would help if you had someone who is taking care of you as a stroke survivor. Having a health advocate in the room will be essential for staying healthy. If you can speak after a stroke, then you need to be your own caregiver as you start to take your independence back.

Meet Marcia Moran

After successfully building her business over the last twenty-plus years, Marcia Moran thought she had life by the tail. Little did she know what was in store. Marcia has written over fifty business plans, and helped entrepreneurs strategize over how to differentiate their companies in changing environments. After helping other entrepreneurs start their companies, she decided to found her own business consulting practice, Performance Architect, in 2012 and co-founded Positive Business DC that same year.

She suffered a major stroke in 2014. Marcia applied her skills in planning and strategy as she strived to become whole. She never gave up. Over time she learned to walk again, but Marcia struggled with aphasia, a language disorder. She joined Toastmasters International® hoping to regain her speaking abilities. It helped some, but in August 2017 she discovered a technological breakthrough that minimized her speaking disability. She then pushed beyond her comfort zone to become a Toastmasters International Club Officer in 2017, then Area Director in 2019.

Marcia created Stroke FORWARD because she felt there is a need to share hope with stroke survivors and their caretakers. Learning to become her own health advocate one step a time and exploring holistic methods for healing are keys to her recovery. Marcia speaks and shares her message of hope, inspiration, healing, and a way forward as she goes across the country. She welcomes new opportunities to help individuals affected by major health crises move ahead.

Marcia lives with her husband Jim, two very loud cats, and two birds near Washington, DC. Jim played a role of caretaker and advocate. His observations and experiences are also captured in Stroke FORWARD. On weekends, Marcia, Jim, and the cats go to Deep Creek, Maryland where Marcia paints watercolors. In the evening Marcia and Jim sit out on the deck and watch fireflies flit by.

Marcia holds a B.S. in Political Science with a magna cum laude from the University of North Dakota and a Master’s in Business Administration, from Chapman University, in California. A woman of many talents, she attended school in Sandefjord, Norway to study art. She also earned a certificate in Well-being Foundations of Personal Transformation from the Personal Transformation and Courage Institute in Virginia.

Resources

Top 12 Tips for Recovery: https://www.strokeforward.com/bookbonus
Website: www.StrokeForward.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StrokeForward
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Stroke_Forward
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marciamoran/

Marcia Moran created Stroke FORWARD to share hope with stroke survivors and caretakers on their journey to recovery. Marcia tells the chilling details of her catastrophic stroke that happened in 2014. We dive into the differences between ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, and Marcia explains the advantages and disadvantages of administering tPA (tissue plasminogen activator). Marcia also discusses the medical technology that helped her overcome her inability to speak after the stroke (otherwise known as Aphasia). Tune in as Marcia speaks about how to become your own healthcare advocate on your recovery journey. 

In This Episode:

• [03:30] Marcia tells the story of her catastrophic stroke that happened in 2014.
• [07:15] The difference between ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. Plus, the advantages and disadvantages of administering the tPA.
• [10:50] What it is like learning how to talk again after a stroke.
• [16:15] Advice for stroke survivors on becoming their own healthcare advocate.
• [24:40] Marcia gives her last pieces of advice for stroke survivors.

Key Takeaways:

• Eighty percent of strokes are preventable.
• The National Aphasia Association says that if you're not cured within the first two or three months of having aphasia, you will probably have it for life.
• Take your healthcare recovery into your own hands; you are your best advocate.
• Don't ever give up; you can get better as long as you think you can.

Meet Marcia Moran: 

After successfully building her business over the last twenty-plus years, Marcia Moran thought she had life by the tail. Little did she know what was in store. Marcia has written over fifty business plans, and helped entrepreneurs strategize over how to differentiate their companies in changing environments. After helping other entrepreneurs start their companies, she decided to found her own business consulting practice, Performance Architect, in 2012 and co-founded Positive Business DC that same year.

She suffered a major stroke in 2014. Marcia applied her skills in planning and strategy as she strived to become whole. She never gave up. Over time she learned to walk again, but Marcia struggled with aphasia, a language disorder. She joined Toastmasters International® hoping to regain her speaking abilities. It helped some, but in August 2017 she discovered a technological breakthrough that minimized her speaking disability. She then pushed beyond her comfort zone to become a Toastmasters International Club Officer in 2017, then Area Director in 2019.

Marcia created Stroke FORWARD because she felt there is a need to share hope with stroke survivors and their caretakers. Learning to become her own health advocate one step a time and exploring holistic methods for healing are keys to her recovery. Marcia speaks and shares her message of hope, inspiration, healing, and a way forward as she goes across the country. She welcomes new opportunities to help individuals affected by major health crises move ahead.

Marcia lives with her husband Jim, two very loud cats, and two birds near Washington, DC. Jim played a role of caretaker and advocate. His observations and experiences are also captured in Stroke FORWARD. On weekends, Marcia, Jim, and the cats go to Deep Creek, Maryland where Marcia paints watercolors. In the evening Marcia and Jim sit out on the deck and watch fireflies flit by.

Marcia holds a B.S. in Political Science with a magna cum laude from the University of North Dakota and a Master’s in Business Administration, from Chapman University, in California. A woman of many talents, she attended school in Sandefjord, Norway to study art. She also earned a certificate in Well-being Foundations of Personal Transformation from the Personal Transformation and Courage Institute in Virginia.

Resources:

Top 12 Tips for Recovery: https://www.strokeforward.com/bookbonus
Website: www.StrokeForward.co
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StrokeForward
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Stroke_Forward
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marciamoran/

We get more technical in this fourth episode of our series on language. We continue with the gradualist theory of the origins of language by looking at three key areas: the brain, speech production and gestures. We consider whether there are regions of the brain associated with language, whether there is a language gene and how the speech apparatus works. We also consider sign language and gestures and discuss whether these could have been the origins of language in humans and hominids like Homo erectus. 

Show notes
The Here and Now Podcast Language Series
The human language faculty as an organ. S. Anderson & D. Lightfoot (2000)
Masters of the planet: The search for our human origins. I. Tattersall (2013)
Natural language and natural selection. S. Pinker & P. Bloom (1990)
The evolution of language – W. T. Fitch (2010)
The faculty of language: What is it, who has it and how did it evolve? (Hauser, Chomsky & Fitch, 2002)
Internal cranial features of the Mojokerto child fossil (East Java, Indonesia) (2005)
Broca’s area network in language function. B. Bernal, A. Ardila & M. Rosselli (2015)
Birds share language gene with humans
FOXP2 - Wikipedia
Language is in the genes
Diverse genome upends understanding of how language evolved
Evolution of a single gene led to language
Mirror neurons and the evolution of language. M. Corballis (2009)
How language began: Gesture and speech in human evolution. D. McNeill (2012)
The descended larynx is not uniquely human. W. T. Fitch & D. Reby (2001)
From grunting to grabbing: Why humans can talk
The truth about language: What it is and where it came from. M. Corballis (2017)

The Here and Now Podcast on Facebook

All speech and language Pathology are not the same especially in a Neurological setting. Host Polly Swingle talks with Andrea Bettis, Speech and Language Pathologist about the Broad scope of Speech Therapy in Parkinson's and Brain injury patients. 

Host:
Polly A. Swingle,  PT, GCS, CEEAA

Polly joined the Recovery Project in 2003, after graduating from Ohio University in 1986 with a BS in Physical Therapy. Her accreditations and certifications include: Neuro development treatment – adult (NDT), Geriatric clinical specialist, Burdenko, Registered yoga instructor and certified exercise expert in the aging adult. Before coming to The Recovery Project, Polly was the Director of Outpatient Services at The Rehab Institute of Michigan and the Director of Rehab Services at Good Samaritan Medical Center. She was recognized as Crain’s Healthcare hero in 2016, MDA Clinician of the Year in 2015 and Clinical Instructor of the year in 2007. She loves to do yoga in her free time.


Guest:
Andrea, Bettis, Speech Pathologist

Andrea graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences. She received her Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology at Eastern Michigan University. Andrea became interested in specializing in neuro following an internship at Special Tree Rehab Services. She was later hired there and became a certified brain injury specialist (CBIS). Wanting to expand her experience in neurological disorders, Andrea began working at The Recovery Project in 2018. She is specialized in the treatment of voice and speech disorders in individual’s with Parkinson's Disease through certifications such as LSVT LOUD and SPEAK OUT!

Other certifications: Vital Stim (FDA approved treatment of swallowing).

therecoveryproject.net
Instagram @RecoveryProject
Facebook @TheRecoveryProjectLLC

Learn more about The Recovery Project!

• View our website at www.therecoveryproject.net
• Call us 855-877-1944 to become a patient
• Follow us on Instagram
• Like us on Facebook

Thanks for listening!

Read the transcript.

“The stress of caring for stroke survivors can affect the mental and physical health of caregivers and lead to decline in quality of life. These negative effects can be exacerbated when recovery is complicated by spatial neglect, a common but hidden disability that affects 30% to 50% of survivors. Spatial neglect increases the risk for falls, prolongs hospitalization, and impedes rehabilitation outcomes,” explained Dr. Chen, “and complicates the job of caregiving provided by family members. Documenting stress levels and triggers is essential to developing interventions that lower stress and burden among family caregivers.”

In this episode, I spoke with Dr. Peii Chen, Senior Research Scientist in our Center for Stroke Research at Kessler Foundation to talk about her latest study, “Ecological Momentary Assessment for Burden and Stress among Stroke Caregivers,”

Funding sources for this study is the New Jersey Health Foundation.

View the press release.

Learn more about Dr. Peii Chen at and podcast host Joan Banks-Smith

Be sure and subscribe to our SoundCloud channel “KesslerFoundation” for more research updates. 

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

This podcast was recorded on Wednesday, October 7, 2020 remotely and was edited and produced by Joan Banks-Smith, Creative Producer for Kessler Foundation.

My Life As A Research Assistant: Salma Omai on Meeting New Stroke Participants

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*** Originally recorded on June 9, 2016, updated September 8, 2020. ***

*** Salma is currently a marketing associate at T-Fal Cookware.***

Welcome to our podcast series, “My Life As A Research Assistant”. This series is brought to you by Kessler Foundation, where we are changing the lives of people with disabilities.

Research assistants are on the front lines of our research studies—collecting data, conducting interviews, testing subjects—and are the face of Kessler Foundation to our research study participants. In 2020, Kessler Foundation was ranked among one of the Best Nonprofits to Work For and Best Places to Work in New Jersey (kesslerfoundation.org/press-release/…ork-new-jersey)!

Throughout this series, we’ll meet up with research assistants from our centers for mobility, spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and neuroscience and neuropsychology who have been with the Foundation for over a year, and some who are now senior research assistants, nurses, medical students, graduate students, and post docs, and those who applied their experience to other professions.

In this episode, I met up with Salma Omai who worked as a research assistant in our Center for Stroke Research in from 2015-2017, where she worked with patients recovering from stroke and assessed them for various resultant cognitive deficits. Currently, Slama is a marketing associate, at T-fal Cookware in Northern New Jersey. Listen in as Salma talks to Joan Banks-Smith, Creative Producer for Kessler Foundation about her experience at the Foundation.

Read more about Salma Omai and host Joan Banks-Smith

======================================================
Interested in working at Kessler Foundation? Check out our career opportunities.

Interested in joining a study? 

Tuned in to our podcast series lately? Join our listeners in 90 countries who enjoy learning about the work of Kessler Foundation.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This podcast was recorded on, June 9, 2016 at 300 Executive Drive, West Orange, NJ and was edited and produced by Joan Banks-Smith, Creative Producer for Kessler Foundation.

Vietnam War Navy Veteran Dave Hume suffered a major stroke while admitted to James Haley Veterans’ Hospital on Feb. 2, 2017. Nurses and doctors rushed to Hume’s side and managed to stabilize his condition. But when the doctors came the next morning to check his condition, Hume realized that he could not speak.

After his stroke, Hume was diagnosed with Global Aphasia, a communication disorder which impairs a patient’s ability to process language. Unable to express any words or ideas, Hume thought his life was over. Yet, three days after his stroke, he met the person who would prove him wrong.

On this week’s episode of Borne the Battle, Navy Veteran and stroke survivor Dave Hume shares the journey of how he went from only expressing three words after his stroke to writing his own blog and becoming a motivational speaker. Pathologist Karyn Pingel, who joins him on this episode, is at the center of his rehabilitative journey.

Pingel works closely with Hume to help him relearn how to speak and read. Under her guidance, Hume has made impressive progress. He actively writes a blog and talks to doctors and medical students interested in speech therapy.

The two developed a close relationship and Hume happily calls Pingel a close friend. Even with COVID-19 keeping them apart, Pingel utilizes VA Telehealth Services to continue Hume’s therapy routine.

Pingel notes that any Veteran enrolled for healthcare with the Veterans Health Administration is eligible to receive VA speech language pathology services if they need help in any of the following areas:

• Speech
• Language
• Swallowing
• Voice
• Cognitive-communication disorders

Hume and Pingel hope his story will inspire other Veterans eligible for pathology services to begin talking with their primary or specialty care providers to get a referral.

Borne the Battle Veteran of the Week:

• Air Force Veteran Chuck Yeager

Additional Links:

• Borne the Battle episode 160: Benefits Breakdown, Assistive Technology Program 
• 82.6% of people have never heard the term “Aphasia”
• An interview Dave Hume gave alongside his wife, Kathy Hume, in 2018

My Life As A Research Assistant: Michele Barry on the Importance of Recruiting Research Participants with and without Disabilities

Read the transcript

*** Originally recorded on June 9, 2016, updated September 8, 2020. ***

*** Michele is currently a project manager at Mt. Sinai Health Systems in Northern New Jersey.***

Welcome to our podcast series, “My Life As A Research Assistant”. This series is brought to you by Kessler Foundation, where we are changing the lives of people with disabilities.

Research assistants are on the front lines of our research studies—collecting data, conducting interviews, testing subjects—and are the face of Kessler Foundation to our research study participants. In 2020, Kessler Foundation was ranked among one of the Best Nonprofits to Work For and Best Places to Work in New Jersey (kesslerfoundation.org/press-release/…ork-new-jersey)!

Throughout this series, we’ll meet up with research assistants from our centers for mobility, spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and neuroscience and neuropsychology who have been with the Foundation for over a year, and some who are now senior research assistants, nurses, medical students, graduate students, and postdocs, and those who applied their experience to other professions.

In this episode, I met up with Michele Barry who worked as a research assistant/research coordinator in our Center for Stroke Research from 2015-2019, where she worked with patients who have suffered from a stroke and assessed them for various resulting cognitive deficits. Currently, Michele is a project manager at Mt. Sinai Health Systems in Northern New Jersey. Listen in as Michele talks to Joan Banks-Smith, Creative Producer for Kessler Foundation about his experience at the Foundation.

Read more about Michele Barry and host Joan Banks-Smith
======================================================
Interested in working at Kessler Foundation? Check out our career opportunities.

Interested in joining a study?

Tuned in to our podcast series lately? Join our listeners in 90 countries who enjoy learning about the work of Kessler Foundation.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This podcast was recorded on, June 9, 2016 at 300 Executive Drive, West Orange, NJ and was edited and produced by Joan Banks-Smith, Creative Producer for Kessler Foundation.

My Life as A Research Assistant at Kessler Foundation Series: Emma Kaplan on Seeing Real Rehabilitation Research Results

Read the transcript

*** Originally recorded on June 9, 2016, updated July 17, 2020.***

*** Emma is currently a Research Coordinator at the Center for Stroke Rehabilitation Research at Kessler Foundation (https://kesslerfoundation.org/research/stroke/rehabilitation).***

Welcome to our podcast series, “My Life As  A Research Assistant”.  This series is brought to you by Kessler Foundation, where we are changing the lives of people with disabilities.

Research assistants are on the front lines of our research studies—collecting data, conducting interviews, testing subjects—and are the face of Kessler Foundation to our research study participants. In 2020, Kessler Foundation was ranked among one of the Best Nonprofits to Work For and Best Places to Work in New Jersey (kesslerfoundation.org/press-release/…ork-new-jersey)!

Throughout this series, we’ll meet up with research assistants from our centers for mobility, spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and neuroscience and neuropsychology who have been with the Foundation for over a year, and some who are now senior research assistants, nurses, medical students, graduate students, and post docs, and those who applied their experience to other professions.

In this episode, I met up with Emma Kaplan, a research coordinator in our Center for Stroke Rehabilitation Research. Emma begin working at Kessler Foundation in 2013 and was promoted to research coordinator in July 2019.

Read more about Emma

For more about the Host: Joan Banks-Smith.

Interested in working Kessler Foundation?  Check out our career opportunities.

Interested in joining a stroke study?

Tuned in to our podcast series lately? Join our listeners in 90 countries who enjoy learning about the work of Kessler Foundation. 

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This podcast was recorded on Friday, July 22, 2016 at 300 Executive Drive, West Orange, NJ and was edited and produced by Joan Banks-Smith, Creative Producer for Kessler Foundation.

For those living with aphasia, things as simple finishing a sentence or reading the newspaper can become monumental challenges after having a stroke. And more importantly, the frustration and isolation that many people with aphasia experience can be just as difficult to manage. So, this week we spoke with Ali Finkelstein to dig deeper into our understanding of aphasia.

To learn more about our podcast series, visit salus.edu/podcasts

Freeing yourself from the compulsion to achieve a goal in a certain way and at a certain time keeps you open-minded. You are available to recognize opportunities you may have never noticed had you been fixed on a too rigidly set course. There is no way to know in advance the path that will lead you to achieving your goal. In this episode, we explore how to use Flexible Goals in your and your child’s life.

In this podcast, Anat Baniel and Neil Sharp discuss:

• the purpose of the 9 Essentials is to create conditions where the brain can do its job better, and how you carry out your goals will affect your and your child’s learning; 
• “If he could, he would; if she could, she would.” Asking a child or an adult to do something that she or he cannot do grooves in experiences (and patterns) of failure in the brain; 
• the Flexible Goals Essential offers opportunities for you to find creative ways to begin where your child is at and with what your child can already do;
• instead of focusing on the performance of a specific skill, focus on the brain and ask yourself: What can I do now to get my child’s brain to do its job even better?;
• practical tips and examples of how to use Flexible Goals with children with special needs;
• related questions from the audience. 

Support this Show: https://alzheimersspeaks.com/donate-now/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.