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Self-directed therapy can be fantastic for increasing the amount of therapy you get, or continuing to improve your communication skills once your rehab program has finished. Communication is, however, a complex task and if you find yourself struggling to make improvements or unsure of what to do next, it is best to consult a Speech Pathologist. Alternatively, ring us on StrokeLine Ph. 1800 787 653, Mon-Fri 9am-5pm to discuss your activities and goals or post a message below.

We would love to hear about the activities that you find helpful!

Here are a few exercises you may like to try:

Write down some useful phrases that you say regularly and practise, practise, practise!

Look through photo albums and practice naming family members.

Practise your writing by copying people’s names, writing shopping lists and Christmas cards.

Name all of the items in the room that you are in. You can attach labels to items if reading helps.

Try to think of as many words as you can that start with ‘A’ in one minute.

Try to think of 3-5 things that belong in a particular category. E.g. Furniture, boy’s names, transport, things that are sharp, things that bounce etc.

Pick an object and describe it. What colour is it? What shape is it? How does it sound and feel? What can you do with it? What category does it belong to?

Look at pictures in a magazine and describe what is happening in the picture.

Take 3 words from the dictionary and construct a sentence.

Play games and puzzles. Do crosswords and word searches, play hangman. Play Scrabble, Upwords, Taboo, Pictionary and Articulate.

For clear speech when you are reading, make sure you slow down and say every sound in every word. Exaggerate!

Read short snippets of information in short stories, magazines, newspapers or recipe books. Start with short phrases and gradually increase the length of material. Re-print on a colourful background or in large print to make it easier to read.

Read sentences or paragraphs and tell someone the main points that you recall.

Listen to the news and then discuss it with a family or friends.

Free programs online:

Accessible Reading Therapy (stories, news recipes etc.): http://aphasiareadingaccess.blogspot.com.au

Read recent news. Each story has three levels of difficulty: http://www.newsinlevels.com

Vidtionary. Short videos that define a word and concept: http://www.vidtionary.com

Scenari-Aid. Practice your half of the conversation in everyday interactions: http://www.scenariaid.com

The English Picture Dictionary has over 2000 picture illustrations of words: http://www.dicts.info/picture-dictionary.php

Melita (Speech Pathologist for StrokeLine)

Wow , what great suggestions , I particularly like the tip about slowing down your speech. I still get excited and trip up on my speech , so slowing down and thinking about what I am saying is important for me.

I know reading to our children when they were young gave me the chance to be very animated in my speech and using lot of expression was a way of making what I spoke about sound interesting to me when I was struggling with other areas in recovery.

I use a free app (computer, iPad or smart phone) called Quizlet.

It is basically an app for word and definitions. People use it for learning foreign language or study vocabulary. What I like about it is that I can practice listening and reading a variety of lists and short phrases that I take for an article.

I don't setup it with 'word - definition', instead 'word - word.' It is a little to explain (aphasia gets in the way), but if you are interested in this, reply and I can send you a link with all my lists - 57 sets.

For example:

Consonant Sound /sh/ spelled "s" or "ss"

Consonant Sound /v/ spelled "ve" (3-4 syllable)Consonant Sound /n/ spelled "kn"

Consonant Sound /n/ spelled "kn"

Another good page is:

http://www.languageguide.org/

A lot of common words for reading and listening.

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/index.html

A variety of levels, daily news in simple article ( it is for people who are studying English), lots of puzzles, missing works, dictation (listen to the short sentence or paragraph, and then type the words/phrases).

http://www.themostdangerouswritingapp.com

Just write anything. If you stop writing, it will shut down. It is a little difficult for me because I can't find the word I am looking for, but with practice can go for 5 minutes of writing.

http://www.listenaminute.com

479 Listenings, 9-Page Handouts & Online Quizzes

Hi Sue,

Yes, slowing down is often a great way to improve the clarity of your speech as it gives the muscles time to get into the right position so the sounds can be made accurately.

Great tip re: reading to the kids for your speech practise!

Kind regards,

Melita

Speech Pathologist for StrokeLine

Hi Mal,

Thanks for letting us know about the Quizlet app. It looks like a great way to practice reading words and phrases or to revise spelling or definitions. I like that you can tap the word/phrase and have it read aloud so you can see and hear it at the same time.

Kind regards,

Melita

Speech pathologist for StrokeLine