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New CHP program aimed at aphasic adults

by Chris West
Public Relations
Chatting is an action we take part in everyday, but most of us take it for granted. For the six stroke survivors who participate in the new CHAT Program, it is an opportunity to speak and be heard.

Conversational Help for Aphasic Talkers (CHAT), in the College of Health Professions (CHP) has high hopes for the improved care and aid given to people with aphasia, a common result of stroke that impairs one’s ability to communicate. The goals of the CHAT program are three-fold: to provide a much needed community for adults with aphasia, to train the graduate students to effectively communicate with aphasic persons and to conduct research in small group communication skills of adults with neurological disorders.

Aphasia is more common than Parkinson’s disease, affecting more than one million American adults, but is less known about and understood. CHAT’s presence in Charleston is particularly important considering the Lowcountry is in the heart of the stroke belt region. 

“Strokes can leave patients socially isolated by robbing them of their mobility and independence,” said Gail Pashek, Ph.D., CHAT program director. “Aphasia furthers their isolation by limiting their ability to communicate with friends and family.”

While aphasia primarily affects stroke survivors, it can also arise from trauma to the head, brain tumors or certain types of infection.

Aphasia attacks communication skills in many different ways. Some forms affect the ability to produce recognizable words for things patients see around them. Some understand no written or spoken language at all. Others may have very mild effects that simply make the ability to complete sentences harder or may render the patient’s speech delayed or halting.

Communication facilitation after aphasia focuses on strengthening the methods of communication that remain, training in the use of new methods of communication and maximizing the available speech. “This is often very successful in that it is rare to find a patient who can’t be helped to significantly improve his or her communication skills in some regard,” Pashek said. “This usually consists of some combination of verbal and non-verbal strategies with the use of individualized communication aids, including word books and electronic devices.”

“In sessions, we use a variety of methods and visual aids to stimulate conversation,” she said.  “Maps, picture and art books, videos and reference books can all significantly spark conversations. We encourage participants to discuss topics that they want to talk about; shopping, movies, personal stories, things they want to share.”

CHAT meetings consist of individual and group sessions. The individual conversational skills session helps determine the best methods of communication available to each participant, and the group sessions offer patients the opportunity to practice and exercise those skills with each other.

“The sessions are strictly for the group members and their communication facilitators,” Pashek said. “We want to challenge each person to express themselves, not have a family member do all the talking for them. Excessive helpfulness on the part of family members may reinforce dependency and counteract the work of CHAT.”

The program aims to keep intervention costs low. Since speech and language therapy tends to be a long process, amounts of health care reimbursement for traditional speech therapy are rapidly becoming depleted. This results in a lack of affordability for long-term consultation which is key for success. At a cost of $480, CHAT is priced to offer affordable conversation skills training.

The program runs for 10 weeks and consists of three hours of consultation per week. These are broken down into individual conversational skills sessions and group sessions designed to practice conversational skills. 

“A long-running myth associated with aphasia is that maximum recovery is attained in six months of treatment,” Pashek said. “More recent findings suggest that improvements can continue to be made for months, sometimes years after stroke.”

Six individuals between the ages of 44 and 74 currently attend CHAT, but according to Pashek, “age is not a criterion for participation.” The group is also multi-racial and co-educational.

“CHAT participants have the opportunity in group sessions to communicate with people who have similar disabilities,” Pashek said. “Even though every aphasic individual is different, CHAT provides a setting where they are not excluded, but amongst people with similar characteristics. This helps with the psychosocial and isolation problems often associated with aphasia.”

CHAT is aimed at lending support, conversational opportunities and facilitation in communication. “One of our main goals is to create communication networks of aphasic individuals and their families to maximize community activity within the Charleston area,” she said. “If we achieve this, our goals for the program to grow and flourish will have been met.”

Acting as communication facilitators within the program is Barbara Peterson, speech-language pathologist. Peterson has more than 20 years of experience in working with adult communication disorders. Communication science  and disorders graduate students, Allison Loring and Kristie Bean are also being trained through the program. 

Pashek is also the regional contact for the National Aphasia Association and can be reached at 792-0400.