When I went to graduate school for speech, I was sure that I would pursue a career working with the elderly because I specialized in post-stroke therapy and traumatic brain injury (and, yes, my life plans changed, but that's a story for another time). I enjoyed my clients at the clinic because I always thought that they were fascinating people who had lived such full lives... professors, veterans, educators, artists, and even former rock-n-rollers. However, they often couldn't tell me about those parts of their lives because of the one thing that they sought me out for: treatment for their aphasia.
When a person has aphasia, it makes it really hard for them to retrieve words. Sometimes it can be milder, with their only symptom being anomia (difficulty finding words) or it would be more severe like global aphasia (with very little to no produced words at all).
One of my most memorable and challenging clients was a globally aphasic individual who had spent many years chasing and finally meeting Picasso. They once ran an art gallery with their spouse and was a big fan of the band Chicago. When they had a stroke, they could only say two words: "wow" and "love." They couldn't talk about art anymore, write their own name, or even say their spouse's name. It was hard to tell if they could recognize the names of their children, their address, or foods that they liked.
One day, in between sessions, I decided to play a video of a collaboration between Dali and Disney. It was an old animation set to a musical score, with Dali's melted clocks drooping off of trees and dynamic painted figures moving across the screen. I had hoped that this would give the client's mind a break between some difficult tasks. However, it became more than just a break - it became a reminder for them, their spouse, and all of us at the clinic of the kind of person they were and still are despite the communication barrier. For five minutes, we sat in silence and I just watched my client, observing the light in their eyes as they immersed themselves in the moment and in their love for art.
It's important to remember how all of us, young or old, are multi-faceted people. We should celebrate all aspects of personhood... parenthood, singlehood, brotherhood/sisterhood, and all the ways that we are connected. It's easy to forget to look at a person holistically when we get wrapped up in the more challenging minutiae of being human. However, when we take a moment to step back, you might just get a different perspective.
When my client left at the end of the summer, they gained a few new words and determination to get back into the world of art. I gained some perspective that day too - and a valuable lesson that I have carried with me in all of the work that I've done over the years and with all of the people whose lives I've been a part of and who have also been part of mine.
Committee Members
- Katherine Ellison, Glen Grove Principal
- Aurora Joaquin, Glen Grove Speech-Language Pathologist
- Katelyn Kelleher, Glen Grove Psychologist
- Hedy Helfand, Glen Grove English Langauge Learning Teacher
- Pam Leister, Glen Grove English Langauge Learning Teacher
- Lisa Funke, Glen Grove Learning Resource Center Director
- Nicole Bright, Glen Grove 4th Grade ClassroomTeacher
- Marie Chang-Pisano, Glen Grove Reading Intervention Associate
- Sylvia Gorski Duarte, District Title III Family Resource Teacher
- Lindsey Lurie, District Multilingual Instructional Coach
- Amina Terry, Mongolian Community Coordinator
Email: GGCommunityProject@gmail.com
