Caring for Someone Who Can’t Speak After Stroke

Many people have some difficulty speaking after a stroke. This is called aphasia.  Aphasia can also affect the person’s ability to understand speech, read, and write. Caring for a loved one with physical impairments can be very difficult. When you add aphasia to the equation, providing care can become a bit trickier.

If your loved one has trouble speaking after stroke, here are some things you can do to help support their communication.

Communicating with a Stroke Survivor with Aphasia

• Make sure you have the person’s attention before you start
• Be patient and give him or her time to speak
• Resist the urge to finish sentences or offer words
• Minimize or eliminate background noise (e.g. TV, radio, other people)
• Ask yes/no questions
• Speak in a normal voice at normal volume
• Allow the person time to process the information and respond
• Resist the temptation to answer questions for him or her
• Simplify your own sentence structure
• Reduce your rate of speech
• Don’t “talk down” to the person with aphasia (e.g. no “baby talk”)
• Write down keywords as you speak
• Draw pictures to emphasize what you are saying
• Use common, meaningful gestures
• Use visual supports (e.g. pictures on your phone, communication board, yes/no cards)
• Verify that you are both understanding and following the conversation

One of the most important things to remember when communicating with a person with aphasia is that, aphasia does not affect intellect. We always want to acknowledge that the person with aphasia is a competent adult who has thoughts and ideas to share. The deficit is not in their thinking, but in their ability to verbalize or produce these ideas and thoughts.