This UConn Today article came out last summer. I forgot to post it but it has some good information about how stroke and aphasia impact the whole family. This is rarely acknowledged, but so critical!  If you know a family member who would benefit from talking to others in their shoes, please send them our way!

We celebrated the end of the semester with a hot cocoa bar, pizza, treats and a visit from Jonathan the Husky. Wishing everyone a restful holiday and a peaceful and healthy 2024!

Group members with aphasia, family members, and students came out to watch the women Huskies play against Southern Connecticut State University at Gampel this afternoon. We were thrilled to have excellent seats where we could see everything including Coach Geno working with the women during time outs.

The Academy of Aphasia’s yearly conference took place in Reading, UK this year. Amanda Wadams, PhD, presented the results of her dissertation: Therapeutic Effect of Metacognitive Treatment for People withAphasia: A Pilot Study.  

Anna Barnes, MA presented the results of her MA thesis: Environmental Enrichment for People with Aphasia.

Tonight, Allison Shane, presented her work which investigated if and how aphasia treatment generalizes to the home environment.  She won a SURF award to do this work and presented at Frontiers. Allison is a senior undergraduate who will be graduating after only three years. She hopes to stay at UConn for her Master’s work. Congratulations Allison!! We are so proud of you!

 

Amari DeBerry & Jana El Alfy from Women Huskies came to visit some of their biggest fans!  We asked them questions about practice, their nutrition, and their coach and found lots of similarities between aphasia recovery and being a division one college athlete! You work hard, you practice hard, you stay as healthy as you can by eating the right foods and being smart about exercise and you take help to get better– even when it isn’t easy.

We got to go watch them practice on the court the following week! GO HUSKIES!

Congratulations to Amanda Wadams who completed her PhD in August, 2023! She has begun a position as an Assistant Professor at St. Louis University.  She will be presenting her work focused on adding a metacognitive component to aphasia treatment this fall.  Come see her in Marseille, France at the Society for the Neurobiology for language or in Reading, UK at the Academy of Aphasia Conference.

Congratulations to our  undergraduate research assistant, Allison Shane, who was awarded a grant from the Summer Undergraduate Research Fund for her her honors thesis work!  Her work is going to help us to understand how treatment translates to the home environment. It’s great that someone gets better in therapy, but does this mean that these improvements are reflected at home???  Follow Allison’s work to see.

This panel talk was given at the 2022 ASHA conference. I’ve received multiple requests for it so am posting it here for easy access. It is based on our book which is a compendium of stories from each of these caregivers’ perspectives. The book is great support for other caregivers. It also provides a critical and often overlooked perspective for SLP graduate students. Those planning to work with people with aphasia need to understand the way the family is impacted and how they might be helpful to the rehabilitative process.

1st year MA student, Lisa Esposito, designed and edited this year’s newsletter. This year she gives a glimpse into what our group members are doing when they’re not with us in aphasia groups. They are making music, art, landscaping, traveling, home decorating, fishing, and more.  An impressive group of individuals make up our aphasia language support and book clubs!  These are the folks who push themselves to the limit! Take a look: Aphasia Group Newsletter Spring 2023