Neuro Connections

Tomorrow is National Speech-Language Pathologist Day!

What is the one thing you wish everyone knew about SLPs?!

✨✨It's finally here! The High Level Word-Finding Workbook!! 🧠🧠🧠

I've seen it asked a million times in the Facebook groups... "What are your go-to ideas for high level word finding?"

This is a 34-page PDF that incorporates the following:

1. Engaging Content: Features a blend of visuals, examples, and exercises to teach effective word-finding strategies.

2. Personalized Learning: Encourages clients to create their own examples, fostering deeper engagement and understanding.

3. Metacognitive Approach: Helps clients to reflect on and choose effective strategies for different situations.

4. Real-Life Application: Emphasizes the importance of cognitive load and real-life communicative demands of word-finding.

5. Practice Exercises: Includes several decontextualized exercises using moderate to complex targets for clients who require additional practice.

6. Strategy Tracking and Home Programming: Home tracking to monitor usage and effectiveness of strategies.

My goal with this resource is to make you feel CONFIDENT in providing evidence-informed care for clients with "high level" or subtle word-finding challenges!

Click the link in my bio for your copy!

It's that time of year! Let's celebrate Speech and Hearing Month by spreading the word about the important work that SLPs do!

Our goal is to raise public awareness about our role in the treatment of communication and swallowing disorders.

Our scope of practice includes
✨Cognition/Cognitive-Communication (attention, memory, problem-solving, executive functions)
✨Speech Sound Production (articulation, phonology, motor planning)
✨Language (verbal expression, auditory comprehension, reading, writing)
✨Social Communication and Pragmatics
✨Feeding and Swallowing
✨Voice and Resonance
✨AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication)
✨Literacy
✨Fluency (stuttering and cluttering)
✨Aural (re)habilitation
✨and more!

Do all SLPs treat ALL these areas?! Usually not! Many SLPs have a single (or several areas) of clinical focus.

At Neuro Connections, we LOVE cognitive-communication and language.

What are your favourite areas to treat? Which area of practice do you think many people are not familiar with?!

Let's set the stage:

💡You're sitting under the bright fluorescent office lights
🔊The incessant hum of the HVAC system filling your ears, accompanied by snippets of the next-door office conversation that you can't help but overhear.
🗣️Now in the midst of this chaos, your practitioner is rapidly firing off information, each new piece a potential puzzle you're scrambling to solve.
🤕As the information builds, so does your headache, throbbing with the relentless noise.
❓You're trying your best to grasp the flood of details coming your way, feeling lost by the minute.
🧑‍⚕️Just as you're piecing your thoughts together, you're asked, "Any questions?" Inside, you think, "Probably,' but what you really need is a moment to process everything.

Scenarios like these happen far too often.

You have the right to be supported in your communication needs.

Don't hesitate to ask for what helps you engage most effectively.

Have you ever encountered a similar situation? What helped you?

🧠🏋️‍♂️Cognitive Load: The mental effort or cognitive resources required to process information, communicate, and perform various cognitive tasks.

⚖️Factors that impact cognitive load:
➡️External distractions (busy, noisy environment)
➡️Familiarity of topic
➡️Complexity of topic
➡️Pressure/high stakes
➡️Number of communication partners
➡️Speed of conversation
➡️Amount of information and how well it's organized
➡️Emotional state
➡️Sleep/Fatigue
➡️Pain or physical discomfort

Understanding cognitive load can help us recognize factors that impact communication and help us to develop and advocate for more supportive environments.

How do you adjust your environment or daily routines to manage cognitive load? Do you feel comfortable advocating for environments that better support your communication needs?

Communication will never be perfect. And, it doesn’t need to be!

Human communication is dynamic and complex.

Ask yourself, what is the goal of this conversation?

Being genuine, empathetic, and adaptable communicators helps us create more meaningful and authentic connections.

What do you think fosters connection?

The invisible injury - unseen and often misunderstood.

What lies beneath the surface? What struggles do people not see?

Brain injuries can happen to anyone, anywhere, and at any time.

Navigating through these challenges requires support, empathy, and patience.

How have you effectively conveyed your struggles to help others understand?

So, what might word-finding problems actually look like?

➡️Word substitutions/Paraphasias (i.e. may be similar sounds or related by meaning)
✨Neologisms (i.e. made up words)
🕵️Vague language (e.g. “thing” or “stuff”)
🤔Metalinguistic comment (e.g. “I can’t think of it.”)
🗣️Filler words or phrases (e.g. “um” or “you know”)
🔁Word or phrase repetitions (e.g. “ She read... she read...”)
⛔False starts (e.g. “She had to - I got it from them.”)
🔇Silent pauses (e.g. “My dog is a............ cockapoo.”)
⏱️Abandoned sentences (e.g. “One day they went to...”)

Now, does everyone experience these errors from time to time? Absolutely!

But, if they are happening often and impact our ability to communicate effectively, they can be very frustrating.

What errors do you notice most often?

💡Did you know?! After a traumatic brain injury (TBI), 67% report difficulties with word-finding.

Although word-finding difficulty can be extremely frustrating, there are self-cueing strategies that can help such as:
⏸️taking a pause
✅❎using a synonym or antonym
🔁circumlocution (talking around the word - describe it's use, category, shape/colour)
🖼️visualization
👌 using a gesture
🗣️sentence completion
🔤using the first sound/letter
📝 writing out the word

It's important to remember that the goal is 1️⃣ to get your message across
and 2️⃣ continue the flow of conversation.

It often doesn't matter if you retrieve that specific word or not (unless you're playing trivia 🙃!).

Which strategy do you find the most helpful?
Olver JH, Ponsford JL, Curran CA. Outcome following traumatic brain injury: a comparison between 2 and 5 years after injury. Brain Inj. 1996 Nov;10(11):841-8. doi: 10.1080/026990596123945. PMID: 8905161.

Time for a re-introduction (since it's been over 2 years 😲!).

✨swipe to read✨

Tell me about yourself! Are you an SLP, a brain injury survivor, or a loved one of a brain injury?

Any specific content you'd like me to share to support your journey? Let me know! 📚✨

Any guesses on where all my travel photos were taken?! 😀✈️🌏

After the brain sustains an injury, even seemingly simple tasks like deciding what to have for breakfast or when to go to the grocery store can become incredibly taxing. 🧠💤

Decision-making fatigue occurs when the brain's cognitive resources are depleted more quickly than usual, leading to difficulty in processing information, analyzing options, and making choices.

What's involved in decision-making? Let's break it down -

🔎 Identify the decision.
📝Gather relevant information
🤔Generate possible options
⚖️Weigh and evaluate each option
🔮Predict or consider possible consequences
🎯Make and communicate the decision!

What strategies do you use to help make decisions or reduce decision-making fatigue?

🧠🌎 Happy World Brain Day 🌎🧠

Healthy brains mean a healthier life!

Here are some tips to keep your brain healthy:

🏋️‍♀️Exercise regularly
🍎Eat a healthy, balanced diet
📚Learn new things
🤝Socialize and connect with others
😴Prioritize quality sleep
🧘‍♀️Manage stress
🌿Get out in nature
🍷Limit alcohol and avoid smoking

What else would you add to the list?!

Inspired by a lovely client of mine. 💛

🌱Embracing a journey of self-discovery and growth can be challenging, but every step forward is a testament to your strength and resilience. ✨

What affirmations would you place in your jar?

Attention can be impacted by SO MANY factors in our daily life.

It is critical that we recognize and address these influential elements in order to optimize our capacity for attention and focus.

🪫Fatigue: Physical and cognitive fatigue can have a huge impact on our attention levels. Pacing and fatigue management strategies can be helpful tools to maintain our focus.

👁️Vision: Vision and visual processing difficulties can compromise our ability to concentrate. Refer to a neuro-optometrist!

⚡Pain: Persistent pain can make it challenging to sustain our attention. Effective pain management strategies are crucial to minimize its impact on attention.

🥴Substance Abuse: Substance use can profoundly impact attention and cognitive abilities.

👂🏼Hearing and auditory processing disorders: The ability to process and comprehend auditory information is closely intertwined with attention. Get your hearing checked!

😩Anxiety and Depression: Mental health issues can significantly impact our ability to concentrate. Seek professional help!

💊Medication: Some medications impact attention and concentration - talk to your healthcare professionals!

😴Sleep Disturbances: Quality sleep is the foundation for strong attention and concentration skills. Prioritize healthy sleep habits.

Do you screen and discuss the impacts of these various factors? 🙌

Bayley, M., Ponsford, J., Velikonja, D., Janzen, S., Harnett, A., McIntyre, A., ... & Bayley, M. T. (2023). INCOG 2.0 guidelines for cognitive rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury, part II: attention and information processing speed. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 38(1), 38-51.

Another tool🔧 for our memory toolbox!🧰🧠

Categorization can be used as both an encoding strategy and a retrieval strategy.

✅Encoding - we can group these tasks into categories based on similarities helping us process that information at a deeper level.

AND

✅ Retrieval - When trying to recall or remember the items, we can think of the categories as cues to help us retrieve that information.

But.

How many repair projects use only one tool?!

It can be helpful to know and use different tools when trying to remember new information depending on the situation, environment, people, and topics being discussed!

What other strategies are in your toolbox? 🧰

Grab your free memory strategy handout and subscribe to our newsletter to access exciting updates and special offers to expand your toolbox! Link in Bio.

Have you heard "but you look fine!"?!

So many have. And many are not fine.

They need support, understanding, and patience.

Recovery is long.
Recovery is a twisted journey of many ups and downs.

June is in Canada! So what can we do? We can better educate ourselves and others about and the challenges that many face every single day.

A 🧠MUST READ💡 for anyone in the world of cognitive rehabilitation.

They've made it soo easy for us to know the best evidence for the BEST outcomes.

All articles are OPEN ACCESS.

Post a "🙌" if you've read INCOG 2.0!

Join us in increasing awareness and understanding of those living with Aphasia! 🗣️🧠

Aphasia affects millions of people worldwide. It's a communication disorder that affects someone's ability to speak, understand, read, and write.

And just a reminder (as stroke is the number one cause of aphasia) -

BE FAST and recognize the signs of a stroke!

😵Balance - Loss of balance, headache, dizziness
👁Eyes - Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes
😏Face - Facial droop or uneven face
🙌🏼Arm - Weakness on one side of the body
🗣Speech - Slurred or difficult to understand speech
📞Time - Call 911!

Let's celebrate Speech and Hearing Month by spreading the word about the important work that SLPs do!

Our goal is to raise public awareness about our role in the treatment of communication and swallowing disorders.




Our scope of practice includes
✨Cognition/Cognitive-Communication (attention, memory, problem-solving, executive functions)
✨Speech Sound Production (articulation, phonology, motor planning)
✨Language (verbal expression, auditory comprehension, reading, writing)
✨Social Communication and Pragmatics
✨Feeding and Swallowing
✨Voice and Resonance
✨AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication)
✨Literacy
✨Fluency (stuttering and cluttering)
✨Aural (re)habilitation
✨and more!

Do all SLPs treat ALL these areas?! Usually not! Many SLPs have a single (or several areas) of clinical focus.

At Neuro Connections, we LOVE cognitive-communication and language.

Which area of practice do you think many people are not familiar with?!

Your ✨100%✨ will look different from day to day.

And that's okay.

Have you heard "but you look fine!"?!

So many have. And many are not fine.

They need support, understanding, and patience.

Recovery is long.
Recovery is a twisted journey of many ups and downs.

March is Brain injury awareness month in 🇺🇸! So what can we do? We can better educate ourselves and others about brain injury and the challenges that many face every single day.

So simple, yet so effective!

Many of my clients come to anticipate the following questions-

What went well?
What didn't go well?
What would you do differently next time?

Did you know that Metacognitive Strategy Instruction is a Grade A guideline recommendation in cognitive rehabilitation per INCOG 2.0?! (see citation below)

"Metacognitive strategy instructions (e.g, goal management training, plan-do-check-review, and prediction performance) should be used with individuals with TBI for difficulties with a range of executive functioning impairments that may include problem-solving, planning and organization, and other elements of executive function. Common elements of all metacognitive strategies are self-monitoring, incorporating feedback into future performance, and emotional self-regulation training. These strategies should be focused on everyday problems and functional outcomes of personal relevance to the person."

How often do you include metacognitive strategy training in your sessions?
Jeffay, E., Ponsford, J., Harnett, A., Janzen, S., Patsakos, E., Douglas, J., ... & Green, R. (2023). INCOG 2.0 Guidelines for Cognitive Rehabilitation Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Part III: Executive Functions. The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 38(1), 52-64.

Will this person be perceived as rude? Self-centered? Disorganized? Disinterested?

Think of the implications on our ability to create or maintain social or romantic relationships!!

It matters.

Communication matters.

As speech-language pathologists, it is our job to figure out the underlying issue. Is it attention? Memory? EF/Organization?

From there, we can choose an appropriate treatment approach or strategy.

What's an effective strategy you use?

Why does procedural memory training work?!

Unlike declarative (or explicit) memory, procedural (or implicit) memory is usually spared after a brain injury.

WHY?

Declarative memory relies heavily on the hippocampus which is specifically vulnerable to loss of oxygen (e.g. hypoxia or anoxia).

It is believed that procedural memory relies on other brain structures not so vulnerable to oxygen loss.

This technique takes advantage of the intact procedural memory pathways to learn new information by recalling that information over increasingly longer periods of time.

Have you used this technique?