My partner, Alice McCormick, is making substantial progress following the Aphasia Network’s second annual Spring Workshop last weekend.  Suzanne Gardner, inspirational force behind Aphasia Network, and Lisa Bodry, director of programs, oversaw the network’s second annual workshop attended by more than 60 people who filled a study room in Pacific University’s Berklund Hall at Forest Grove.

Tim Lundgren and Kamran Lehman, two graduate speech pathology students who are well on target for master’s degrees, gave four hours of their expertise to Alice and me.  (Each survivor and his or her caregiver received more than empathy; each participant received hands-on attention from other budding speech pathologists.)

Alice began our unique four-man session by regaling us with shaky pronunciations so comical that anyone within earshot couldn’t help guffawing at her side-splitting bastardizations.  Portland’s professional basketball team became known as the “Trailer Blazers,” and her attempt to say “word” came out as “turd.”  Alice wasn’t embarrassed either; her tendency to laugh at herself reveals an ability to transcend frustration that led the four of us into a productive lighthearted session.

Lundgren and Lehman showed ways to break through communication gaps while Alice transforms thoughts into intelligible conversation.  One useful tip given was to locate a target picture (or flashcard) that identifies the relevant topic.  Then one should narrow the subject down as to whether it relates to a larger group, some kind of use, an action, an association, a particular location or if it relates to one property of the topic.

Through the process of elimination, roadblocks caused by stumbling can be overcome, our guides explained, as long as a recovering person and caregiver take their time.  In other words, get plenty of oxygen.

A good part of the four hours spent with Lundgren and Lehman explored numerous cellphone or tablet applications as useful restorative therapy for users with aphasia.  Many of the apps, however, seemed unnecessarily expensive or limited to iPhones or iPads.  Alice and I have Android phones; fortunately, Alice discovered “Talkpath Therapy” by Lingraphica, and she is using it daily ever since.  (We hear quizlet.com is helpful, also.)

During a sandwich-laden lunch break at the workshop, two couples affected by aphasia participated in a panel discussion, revealing how they have coped after a stroke or suffered brain damage.  Attendees learned a loss of self-identity can lead to depression and that depression can be manifested without words.

A number of speech-therapy notables attended the workshop, among them Dr. John White, program director and professor of Pacific University’s School of Occupational Therapy; Aphasia Network vice president Lynn Fox; speech pathologist Christine Chambers, who works with the Veterans Administration; and University of Washington representative Diane Kendall, who recruited Alice and me to participate in a research study with the University in cooperation with Portland State.

Our future in communicating is improving, and we have nowhere to go but up.  And if you’re wondering about Alice’s disposition, a trip we made to the Coast two days before the workshop reveals the splendor she experienced from a surfer-populated cove at Oswald West State Park south of Cannon Beach.  Being enraptured by the Pacific Ocean at this scenic treasure brought Alice to tears, the kind an artist loves to shed.