Frequently Asked Questions
Will my speech come back on its own without speech therapy?
Some people do have some early natural recovery and this is best harnessed with a speech and language therapist to really optimise recovery. However, if we think about it, we didn’t develop speech and language quickly as child, it took years to develop. It is the most complex and sophisticated skill we have as human beings. You would not be alone in thinking it will come back quickly, many people think this, and I think this is because for those with fully functioning brains, they speak without thinking; it’s easy for them. But for those with injury to the brain it is most often not a quick fix. If it was, it would have come back on its own. I also commonly hear “Is conversation enough?” Certainly conversing with a person with aphasia can be helpful, even more so if you are trained in conversational facilitation techniques for people with aphasia, but it is not a replacement for the multitude of therapies available for the rehabilitation of speech and language in adults.
What does the speech therapist mean by using a ‘Total Communication approach?’
The Total Communication approach allows therapists to explore and treat all aspects of expressive communication in addition to speech, as speech for many can be the most difficult aspect of communication to show signs of change. Ultimately the person with a communication difficulty needs to communicate their needs, wishes and desires to the outside world somehow in order to minimise frustration. Communication changes in the case of stroke are sudden, and indeed life changing. Any possible means of self expression is actively encouraged in therapy. Family members are trained for free in therapy sessions to use this model.
Will I recover like my Father did when he had a Stroke?
Every person has a totally unique stroke, and everybody’s brain is as unique as they are as individuals. Also unique & individual is the recovery process. Stroke is no respecter of where in the brain it injures, nor the extent of injury it causes.
My husband needs to return to work and quickly. He has Aphasia and Dysarthria. Can speech therapy help?
The first step is to have a Speech and Language Assessment. As a therapist well accustomed to walking with people in the transition back to work, I can tell you this will involve a therapeutic process for your speech, language and likely cognition as well. You could consider getting friends and family to assist you in the therapy process, and I provide free training for them. “Quickly” doesn’t describe neurological rehabilitation. Better to know this from the start. You didn’t develop those high level cognitive and language skills you use at work overnight, and so you will need time for recovery. You might also be experiencing post-stroke fatigue and cognitive overwhelm, which will need attention before returning to the workplace to make a healthy transition.
How much Speech Therapy will I need?
The Journal of Medical Internet research, in July 2022, reported decisive evidence to conclude that 4 days per week is the sweet spot for therapy; where therapy really pays off for your speech and language journey, for at least one year. Sadly a recent study of NHS SLT provision, as reported by the Journal of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, reported a national average of 4-10 hours total intervention from hospital to home. This will vary across the nation. However, you may chose Private Practice for this reason. For this reason you might consider Therapy programmes to receive SLT in a more affordable way. This is all explained during the assessment process.
How can I afford to have Speech Therapy 4 days per week when we have have physiotherapy and care costs too? Mum cannot work now, so our income is lower now too?
This is an excellent question and one I am passionate about offering a solution to. The truth is, particularly if you have a severe and enduring communication difficulty, you are going to require long term rehabilitation. These are conditions that are ‘lived with’ and they do not have quick remedies like say for e.g. a broken arm or a need for new glasses. This means if you are choosing Private Practice you may have 2-3 years of rehabilitation costs ahead of you if you are responding well to therapy. It is for this reason that I have developed programmes of my life’s work in speech therapy. I want you to have as much speech therapy as you can possibly handle! Because we know this is going to give you the best possible chances of improvement to your own level of optimal recovery, which is different for everybody. With my programmes I am providing the therapy to you daily via recorded programmes that you log into, simply by logging into a website. You can do the therapy when you are alert, feeling well, have support of family and friends with you, and you can do as much as you can feasibly cope with, as long as you are able to respect rest time and other life and therapy requirements also.
How do I know if Speech Therapy will work?
The truth is, and I will say this about any kind of therapy, you have to give it a chance and that takes a leap of faith. You have to do the therapy and work hard and then we can monitor your progress over weeks, months and years. This is the truth about therapy. Brain rehabilitation is no small matter, nor an easy process. What we do in neuro-rehabilitation is we are trying to work with an injured brain, that has experienced a lot of cell death in the stroke and try to stimulate it through therapeutic techniques to rewire itself and make new areas of the brain to take on speech, language and cognitive functions the brain once had. Your Therapist will be able to assess you at baseline, so we have a bar by which to compare your progress. The Therapist cannot do the work for you, but they can provide you with the very best of their skills, knowledge and expertise with their therapies. Should you embark upon the journey, you are doing so in full knowledge that you want to give therapy a go. You want to see what is possible. You want to give your recovery its best chances. My role as a Consulatant Therapist is to support you during this process.
Do I have to pay for programmes upfront?
People told me that when paying for therapy it would be helpful for them to have a payment plan, so I have made this available to you. After four months you will have paid the total cost. From your very first payment you have access to the whole course. You also have access to the therapy programme for 5 years. If after five years, you want to keep your access, just email me and I will arrange that for you.
How do we use the Programmes?
With the programmes you may want me to work alongside you initially for a while, or you may wish to follow the programme with family, both are entirely possible. You may choose to check in with me from time to time to look at your progress and offer further therapy solutions. This is quite a common way people access my services to keep their costs down, rather than having me treating them the whole way through.
You may wish to have some direct speech therapy when you buy the course so your friends and family can take advantage of the free friends and family training I offer. It is a great pleasure to work with families. I never work in isolation, wherever possible, because when I’m not there, you want everybody around you to be able to support you in your communication. As Roald Dahl said when his wife Patrician Neall had four strokes…
‘It takes an Army!”
Who buy your Courses?
Patients I am actively treating, in the clinic, opt for the courses, as they are able to see clearly the benefit of being offered daily therapy, without the cost of seeing me directly five days per week. Making much more available to them. People see change when they increase the frequency of therapy they receive. This is not an assumption, but an evidence based truth, reported in clinical research.
How do we access the course?
Once you have purchased a course, it is then available for you to access any day, any time and for as long as you wish. The therapy programme is simply provided as a webpage. All you need is internet access and a tablet/ laptop or desktop computer. It is organised as a school and has a syllabus. The courses are designed in a pattern of re acquisition, based on years of clinical practice, and as so can be played from the beginning. The course has an automatic continuous play function, so once you press play, it runs for you. Ideally, I like to direct you on where to begin and encourage you to check in with me regularly.
Haven’t found an answer to your question here? Please use the contact form to ask your question directly to Kellyann.