Speak Out August 2013

Start the Conversation... Margaret’s story

and sentences that she is able to show people in her everyday environments to communicate e.g. the type of bread or meat she requires at a store. She also asks the checkout person to write the amount down that she is required to pay, as she is unable to understand when an amount is spoken. As Margaret began to accept her condition and the effects it had on her life, she wanted to learn more about stroke and help other people who had suffered a stroke. She has been an active member and leader of the Albury Wodonga Stroke Support Group for the past eight years. Margaret also loves to regularly catch up with several of her girlfriends, who also have aphasia, to do craft activities, and have a chat and a laugh about the challenges of living with aphasia. Margaret shares her experiences and knowledge with the Allied Health Assistant Course at Wodonga TAFE. She has worked with these students on a local Communication Access Project where Albury Wodonga businesses and service providers are provided with strategies to improve access for customers/clients with communication difficulties. They have also approached local government and attend Albury ACCESS meetings, networking with groups such as Age Concern and other disability services. Margaret has also been involved in the Client Tutor Programme in the Speech Pathology course at Charles Sturt University for the past ten years. She provides groups of six to eight third-year students with real-life situations and examples of the difficulties that people with aphasia are faced with every day. This hands-on approach provides invaluable information that cannot be learned through textbooks alone. The students, in turn, help Margaret with particular communication challenges that she wishes to overcome, for example, developing a list of common written sentences that she can select from when writing an email. Each day presents new challenges and successes and these keep Margaret optimistic. She truly loves to teach and interact with her students. She, in turn, has the opportunity to provide a service that will help others, and she feels valued and needed. It is through advocating and promoting knowledge of strokes and communication disabilities where she feels like she is making a difference. This work has had an immensely positive effect on her self- esteem and confidence. by Jenny Kilo

The story of Margaret Bashford is an inspiring one! Margaret was a highly respected receptionist at Charles Sturt University in Albury. She loved gardening, and creating including sewing and craft. Margaret also enjoyed socialising – being with her family and friends. All this changed when Margaret, aged 44, suffered a stroke in 2001. Luckily her sons Michael, aged 18, and Paul, 13, were on hand to ring an ambulance. She suffered right-sided weakness and aphasia and spent several months in hospital. Returning home after rehabilitation, visits from some friends became less frequent. She was having trouble communicating – her only means was a pen and paper, writing down words and people guessing the rest of what she wanted to say. This left her battling depression, with feelings of emptiness, despair and extreme loneliness. Margaret had extensive speech therapy to help her regain her speech. Her main aim was to say her own name. After this achievement, she felt immense guilt that she could not say her husband or sons’ names – she began calling her husband “Man”, her sons “Little man” and “Little person”, and she called Kayla, the cat, “Little little person”. She also hated having to rely on them to help her with everyday activities like reading and understanding recipes, cutting pumpkin, using a tin opener or vegetable peeler, getting dressed, doing up buttons, and even brushing and styling her hair. She felt like a child again. She also had many very embarrassing experiences, such as at her son Paul’s soccer match where she accidently called out to her son “Good girl”. Feeling isolated, alone and waiting for family or friends to visit, unable to go out or visit others, Margaret was determined to find independence. Learning to drive was a great challenge but after one year she accomplished this dream and got her licence back. She loves the freedom that this has given her; to attend meetings, visit friends and go shopping. When buying petrol, she uses either pump 2 or 4 as they are the numbers that she is able to say. She still finds it very difficult to read letters, let alone books that she once so passionately enjoyed. Margaret now communicates in a range of ways, including now being able to say so many more words, names, phrases and sentences. It took her five years to be able to say her close friend Jenny’s name. Margaret now writes or types words on her iPad that she is still unable to say. She has a communication book that has pictures, key words,

Marion Vile Senior Speech Pathologist, Albury-Wodonga Health

Speak Out August 2013

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www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au