Constant Therapy Progress Reports Encourage Stroke Survivor to Find a Path Forward

Isabelle is from the UK, and is the caregiver for her husband who is a stroke survivor. Here is her story of how Constant Therapy helped reshape their lives with incremental gains achieved over time. Isabelle says they have found a path forward.

“I try to focus my husband on the here and now and on the small gains achieved so that he doesn’t feel overwhelmed by the huge task ahead.  Recovery from aphasia doesn’t come in huge leaps, but I see improvement and progress on a weekly basis…” ~Isabelle

My husband suffered a stroke 5 months ago aged 46, cause unknown.  He has been left with acute expressive aphasia, and consequently is unable to communicate either verbally or in writing.  He also has difficulty processing the sequence of things.  He is bilingual in Spanish (his native tongue) and English, so it is important for him to be able to practice each language and very luckily he still understands both perfectly.

Since his return home 3.5 months ago, we have been working on a mixed approach to his recovery, from one-to-one speech therapy 3-4 times a week (in Spanish), as well as other exercises that he can do alone.  One of those is Constant Therapy, which we found through the listings on a UK charity dedicated to aphasia.

Constant Therapy offers a mix of exercises which are cleverly tailored to suit his level, and the level may vary from exercise to exercise. He doesn’t have to worry about being good at one thing and not at another, Constant Therapy continually adjusts his session to the most appropriate level.

He receives regular reports on his progress which helps us both to understand his strengths and weaknesses, allowing my husband to see that he is making progress (it is very easy for people suffering with aphasia to not feel the progress being made as it is slow and comes in tiny steps, which can then lead to depression).  The feedback also acts as an encouragement for him to keep going with the therapy, as the more regularly he does it, the more benefit he will derive.

He can also do it as and when he pleases, giving him some cherished control back, with or without my or anyone else’s help. The voices used in Constant Therapy are American but neutral, so for those of us with British English, it still works very well.

I am very glad that we found this practical and flexible therapy at a reasonable cost and would recommend it to anyone who is, or who has a loved one, suffering from aphasia.  It is crucial to get the brain stimulated early on and on a continual basis (without overdoing it) for the best long-term recovery possible.

I try to focus my husband on the here and now and on the small gains achieved so that he doesn’t feel overwhelmed by the huge task ahead.  Recovery from aphasia doesn’t come in huge leaps, but I see improvement and progress on a weekly basis in my husband’s case and Constant Therapy forms part of the mix helping him in his recovery, for which we are very grateful.