Imagine losing the ability to communicate, express yourself, or understand others…
During Aphasia Awareness Month, we're thrilled to unveil the first part of our captivating Home Helpers Water Cooler Chat two-part series, "Breaking Barriers: A Dialogue with an Aphasia Expert." Get ready to be inspired as we dive into the world of Aphasia with the incredible Stephanie Lomazov, a renowned speech-language pathologist. Stephanie is the founder of Neuro Speech Therapy in Sarasota, Florida, and is on the board of directors with the Aphasia Community Center.
Discover the answers to questions you never knew you had:
🔍 What is Aphasia and its prevalence in our society?
🔍 What are the different types of Aphasia and the causes behind them?
🔍 Can someone with Aphasia recover? If so, what is the timeline for recovery?
Stephanie's expertise shines through as she shares profound insights and an incredible success story that will warm your heart. You won't want to miss this incredible opportunity to learn and grow.
Make sure to stay tuned for the second part of this series, where we'll continue our enlightening conversation.
Let's raise awareness and understanding together! ❤️🌍
#EmpoweringAphasiaRecovery #AphasiaAwareness #NeuroSpeechTherapy #HomeHelpersWaterCoolerChat
To reach out to Stephanie Lomazov or to learn more Neuro Speech Therapy, there are a number of ways to get in touch:
Contact Stephanie Lomazov, M.S., CCC-SLP
Direct: (941) 259-4827
email: stephanie@neurospeechtherapy.com
Website: neurospeechtherapy.com
Main Phone: (941) 263-8240
Address: 5969 Cattleridge Blvd STE 100, Sarasota, FL 34232
Transcript
[Jonathan] Did you know that June is National Aphasia Awareness Month? This is part one of a two-part series of Home Helpers Water Cooler Chat with Stephanie Lomazov. Stephanie is a bilingual, both Russian and English, medical speech-language pathologist with clinical specialty and training in speech, language, cognition, and swallowing disorders. Stephanie is the founder and owner of Neuro Speech Therapy in Sarasota, Florida, and she's also on the board of directors with the Aphasia Community Center.
Are you ready to learn more about aphasia? Let's go.
So, hey, Stephanie, how are you doing today?
[Stephanie] I'm good. How are you, Jonathan?
[Jonathan] I am doing great. I just want to thank you for joining us today on this edition of Home Helpers Water Cooler Chat. So, let's go ahead and dive into it. So first, Stephanie, can you tell us a little bit about what aphasia is?
[Stephanie] Yes, that's a very common question that I get all the time in my practice. So aphasia is a condition that typically is a result of something after a stroke or a brain injury. And it's a condition that's acquired and it affects language. So the best way I can explain it is it affects all aspects of communication, whether it be talking, reading, writing, or understanding information. But what it doesn't impact is intellectual ability. So a lot of people always wonder if it's an intellectual-based condition, but it really is all about communication. And that's what aphasia is. It's a disorder of communication.
[Jonathan] As a follow-up to that, so what causes aphasia, and how common is it in the world or in our community?
[Stephanie] Yeah. So like I said before, aphasia is most typically a result of a stroke. I do have patients who experience aphasia after a brain injury, you know, different conditions that would affect the brain in general. But most commonly, it is after a stroke that would lead to somebody having aphasia. And it's quite common, about 25 to 40% of stroke survivors actually have this condition of aphasia afterward, and it affects a large group of people in America. I believe it's 2.5 million Americans actually have aphasia after a stroke, which is more common than Parkinson's disease or even cerebral palsy. So, So it's a very common condition. And the crazy thing is that it affects so many Americans, but about 85% of Americans actually don't even know what aphasia is. But it's a very common condition as a result of a stroke, typically.
[Jonathan] Okay. So, Stephanie, are there different types of aphasia? And if so, what are they?
[Stephanie] So aphasia is actually pretty diverse in regards to how it comes about in each individual person. There are technically eight different kinds of aphasia, and it's typically broken down into two main categories. We have fluent aphasia and non-fluent aphasia. Most commonly, you'll see people with non-fluent aphasia, and that's basically where somebody has a really hard time just getting words out. You'll notice that the person just doesn't really talk very much. Their speech is very halting, very cut off, and maybe they only get one or two words out at a time, if that.
And then you have fluent aphasia, which is really the complete opposite. And that's where a person's very fluent, meaning they talk like nothing's really wrong, but it's word salad, so it's just random jargon words that will come out filler words. But you really don't know what they're talking about the entire time. That's fluent aphasia, both affect language, just in different capacities. And then with that, there are also branches off of those categories that also affect your writing, your reading, and your understanding of things. So you might have a conversation with somebody who has aphasia and they sound perfectly fine, but they really don't understand what you're telling them. So, it can be in either direction, but it has such a variety in terms of what you might see with somebody who has aphasia.
[Jonathan] So, let me ask you, I guess there's a recovery period for aphasia in some cases. So how long can it take to recover from aphasia?
[Stephanie] That really depends on the person. Yeah, I get that question a lot from families and from patients. What's the time frame of recovery? Unfortunately, it's not like a muscle where it'll heal. You know, we can give a specific time frame. So it really depends. We have some people who have aphasia symptoms that might only last for a few months and then they recover really well from that. But there are cases where if somebody is not recovering after maybe 2 to 3 months, it's more of a progressively longer condition that could take years or even decades to recover from. So really, improvement is quite slow, but there has been evidence to show that even though it might be slow, it incrementally does get better, but it can be a lifelong condition for some people.
[Jonathan] So, you've been doing this for a while. Can you tell us about any memorable moments or success stories that you have personally seen when working with those with aphasia?
[Stephanie] Yes, absolutely. You know, each person that I work with is so unique and special, and I have such a variety of patients that I've seen over the years that have made so much growth and progress, even with starting off with the really severe, non-fluent aphasia as we described, where it's just a few words. A memorable case that I worked with was a patient who was near and dear to my heart. He was one of the very first patients that I ever worked with aphasia, and he was a really kind and brilliant professor, actually, in engineering. He had a stroke that landed him with this condition of aphasia, where he had very few words. His goal was to get back to being a professor in engineering. So we worked together for two years, and we actually got him back into the classroom as a professor. With some modifications and adjustments, and teaching the students how to engage with him, he got back to being a teacher and a professor at a really big university for engineering. It just gave me the inspiration that you can live with aphasia and you can get better. It just takes time and a lot of perseverance. In his case, he was one of those shining stars in my mind of somebody who lived so successfully with aphasia.
[Jonathan] Wow. That's a great story, Stephanie. Well, listen, that's all the time we have for today, but we're going to invite you back for part two that we're going to share here in the next few days. Stephanie, thank you for joining us today. And until next time, to our audience, stay hydrated with great conversations from Home Helpers Water Cooler Chat. Take care.
[Stephanie] Thank you.
HOME HELPERS OF BRADENTON
Home Helpers of Bradenton is one of the region's leading home care franchises specializing in comprehensive services for seniors. Home Helpers' sole mission is to make life easier for clients and their families. Based in Bradenton, Florida, the company serves all of Manatee County, including the communities of Anna Maria, Bradenton, Bradenton Beach, Ellenton, Holmes Beach, Lakewood Ranch, Longboat Key, Palmetto, and Parrish. For more information or to request a free in-home care assessment, contact our office at (941) 499-5946 or visit our website at www.homehelpershomecare.com/bradenton
