DVD to educate about aphasia
CSD student research contributes to national education effort
Aphasia is an acquired neurological communication disorder that may affect individuals who have experienced brain injury, generally resulting from stroke, trauma, or tumor. Aphasia affects the ability to understand and use spoken and written language, yet it does not impair intelligence. Aphasia affects about one out of every 275 people in the United States. Nationally there are more than one million people living with aphasia today.
Unfortunately, it is common for people who come in contact with someone with aphasia to think that they are: under the influence, disoriented, or cognitively challenged. This past spring, a 15-minute DVD, Aphasia: Education for Emergency Personnel, was completed with the goal of increasing public awareness of this generally unfamiliar condition.
Two CSD alumnae, Genevieve Pearson ’08 and Gretchen Olson ’08, collaborated with David Halloran, a community member who has aphasia, and UNH Media Services staff members, Kevin Connelly and Scott Jones. Last spring, Olsen presented this project as a research poster at the Undergraduate Research Conference and her poster has informed this short article. To see a pdf of her poster, click here.
The DVD is designed as a training tool for emergency personnel to help them understand what aphasia is and how to communicate with someone who experiences aphasia. Although geared toward EMTs, police, and firefighters, the DVD is appropriate for any audience.
Viewers will learn about aphasia, how to identify someone with aphasia, ways to proceed when communicating, and the special needs of someone with aphasia.
For example, to communicate effectively with someone with aphasia:
- Speak slowly and clearly;
- Do not rely on speech alone; present information through speech and other means (visual aids);
- Be patient, give time for a response;
- Verify what you heard;
- Let the person know if he or she was understood, pretending does not help;
- Always speak directly to the person who has aphasia.
The filming was in Durham and on the UNH campus in everyday settings such as traffic situations and grocery stores, featuring individuals with aphasia, EMTs, and police as actors. Professors from the Department of Communications Sciences and Disorders Fred Lewis and Michael Fraas were interviewed as experts on aphasia.
In addition to being shown in hospitals and fire stations in New England, the DVD will be used at UNH in classes for instructional purposes. Also the National Aphasia Association has received a grant to allow for wider distribution. To learn more about aphasia advocacy or to order the DVD, visit the Aphasia Advocacy Foundation on the Web at http://www.aafnh.org/.