Drawing to encourage speaking
START WITH...
Teaching the person with Aphasia, to hold a pen or pencil, by moving their hand around the paper. (Refer to my Blog entitled 'Bruce Willis has Aphasia...' to provide you with more insight into what Aphasia is).
Begin to support the person with Aphasia to:
Trace pictures of objects, which are frequently used or mentioned, such as:
Cup
Pen
Arm
Then encourage copying pictures of objects, and finally drawing these objects from memory.
Write the target word beside each picture, and encourage the person with Aphasia to copy the word, and then to fill in gaps to make it more difficult, such as 'c_p' for 'cup'.
Next, ask the person with aphasia to copy your pronunciation of the word 'cup', and to answer questions such as 'what do you use it for?' With the answer being 'to drink'.
Search 'Use of Drawing to Improve Word Retrieval in Chronic Nonfluent Aphasia', for more information on drawing to support word finding difficulties.
Leeanne Mark
L A Mark Speech therapy
Speech and Language therapist
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