People with an acquired brain injury

Communication

For people with an acquired brain injury

An acquired brain injury (ABI) is any trauma to the head which disrupts the function of the brain. Common causes of ABI include stroke or a head injury such as following a road traffic accident. 

Following an acquired brain injury, a person may experience difficulties with many aspects of communication. These can include:

  • Speech: This can be due to muscle weakness (e.g. dysarthria) or an inability to control the muscles used to form words (apraxia)
  • Expressing oneself through language: A person can experience difficulties with finding words (word-finding difficulties) or with putting together grammatically correct sentences 
  • Organising thoughts and ideas: A person may find it difficult to organise and express their ideas, thoughts and feelings
  • Social communication: A person may experience difficulties with following the rules of normal conversation
  • Thinking and reasoning: A person may find it difficult to reason things through using language
  • Memory: A person may struggle with remembering new information
  • Fatigue: A person with ABI can tire quickly and communicating can require a lot of concentration and effort

Services

Typically a person will get rehabilitation through a multi-disciplinary team when they are in hospital, and will then transition to outpatient or community services over time. I provide services to people once they are back living in the community. Reasons that people access my services include:

  • Filling a gap before they are seen in the community
  • Providing speech and language therapy if this is not available through the public system
  • Working alongside the public therapist in providing intensive speech and language therapy
  • Providing a second opinion

Speech & Language Therapy Services

For more information about my services please get in touch.

Testimonials