LATEST NEWS
UNIVERSITY STUDENT PRIZES
Over the last six months The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia has reviewed their University Student Prize scheme. The original purpose of the prize was to raise the profile of aphasia amongst the Speech and Language Therapists of the future. The anecdotal evidence is that this has worked, but we were delighted to discover that other benefits have emerged. We spoke with all the participating universities the unanimous response to the prizes has been very positive. The Trustees are pleased to confirm that these prizes will continue for the foreseeable future.
Read more about the review and what the universities have to say about the prizes.
THE APHASIA ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND'S CONFERENCE 2011
The Association hosted its biennial conference in mid-November 2011. The aim of this conference is to raise awareness about aphasia and encourage people to discuss it publicly. In addition, the conference provides an opportunity for people with aphasia, their family and friends, as well as professionals, to get together, share ideas, feelings and thoughts in a supportive environment.
The two international keynote speakers were Dr Robyn O’Halloran, from La Trobe University, Melbourne and Dr Jenny Dautlich, founder of AphasiaNow in the United Kingdom.
Henrietta, Duchess of Bedford, who opened the conference, and Nicole Campbell from the The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia, attended the conference, which was held in Rotorua on 16-18 November. “We were so impressed by this three day conference. It was the perfect balance of people with aphasia, carers and professionals who work in the field of aphasia. Everyone was welcome to attend all the sessions, but there was one afternoon symposium that was dedicated to academic papers and discussion. It was a very uplifting and interesting few days”.
The conference focused on the theme ’I am still me’. Robyn O’Halloran spoke on Creating Accessible Environments for People with Aphasia. During her insightful talk, she announced that an international sign for communication disability was being launched that week in Australia, by an organisation called Scope. As we understood it, initially this sign is intended for use in shops, where the staff will have been trained to understand something about communication disabilities.
Jenny Dautlich gave two inspirational keynote speeches about her experience of stroke and aphasia and her approach to recovery. The theme of her two talks was ‘helping yourself’ and ‘helping others’. Jenny’s talks were filled with insight and practical steps that she had taken. Both talks were a powerful and moving testimony of how someone can turn a traumatic event, which could have been only negative, into something personally enriching and which she has used for the good of so many, through her work at Glos Speak and Aphasia Now.
Throughout the conference there were a number of workshops including music, games, singing, art, aphasia therapy software and personal stories. One afternoon was dedicated to a symposium that covered subjects as diverse as ‘Intensive Communication Therapy’ by Dr. Patty Govender, Massey University to ‘The value of aphasia groups in fostering positive identity’ by Dr Maxine Bevin.
The trustees of The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia were thrilled that two of the recipients of its University Student Prizes, NZ, given for excellence, presented papers at the Conference: Annette Rotherham, Canterbury, spoke on ‘The benefits of groups for people with aphasia – the insider’s perspective’ and MeghannGrawburg , also from Canterbury, spoke on ‘Third party disability in aphasia: family members report how they have been affected by having a relative with aphasia’.
Overall, both Henrietta Bedford and Nicole Campbell thought it one of the best conferences that they had ever had the privilege of attending. They want to congratulate the organisers, especially Kate Milford, Clare McCann and Emma Castle who worked so hard to produce such an excellent event.
Jenny Dautlich, Henrietta Bedford, Nicole Campbell, Patty Govender surrounded by the team from Massey who were attending the Conference.
THE APHASIA ALLIANCE
In November this year, NETA hosted the autumn meeting of the Aphasia Alliance. The focus of the meeting was to discuss issues relating to aphasia and the use of computers / technology / software. It was a very useful and informative day. Please see below for a list of the guest speakers and the topic they covered. Everyone was very grateful to NETA for organising and hosting a wonderful day.
Guests Speakers:
Computer use at Speakeasy
Gill Pearl, Chief Executive, Speakeasy
The use of computers in aphasia Rehabilitation
Brian Petheram, Co-Director, Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit at French Hospital, Bristol
User led technology events within NETA
Rose Hilton, Support worker at NETA
Designing Technology: Current Projects
Madeline Balaam, Lecturer in Interaction Design for Health and Wellbeing in the School of Computing Science
Sheffield Anomia Rehabilitation Therapy Programme - STAR
Ruth Herbert, Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield
A StepbyStep approach to aphasia therapy
Jane Mortley, Clinical Director, Steps Consulting Ltd
SWORD software: intervention for apraxic/aphasic speech production problems
Rosie Varley, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience/Speech and Language, University of Sheffield
Poster presentation:
Survey of Internet Use
Fiona Menger, S<, Northumbria Healthcare Trust
Members of the Aphasia Alliance present:
- BAS – Janet Webster
- Chest, Heart, Stroke, Scotland – Linda Morrow, Sharon McGrory
- Connect – Sally McVicker
- Different Strokes - Jerry Johnson
- Dyscover – Gill Jackson
- NETA – Janet Speight and Julie Morris
- Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists – Anne Cameron
- Speakability – Diana Goodwin
- Speakeasy - Gill Pearl and Judy Hancock
- Stroke Association – Aileen Donald
- Tavistock Trust for Aphasia – Nicole Campbell
Guests present: Julie Ward, IT officer at the S< Research Unit, Frenchay
Apologies: Jenny Dautlich, AphasiaNow
THE ROBIN TAVISTOCK AWARD 2011
APHASIA INSTITUTE
including THE PAT ARATO APHASIA CENTRE Toronto, Canada
The Trustees of the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia are delighted that the Aphasia Institute, incorporating the Pat Arato Aphasia Centre, in Toronto, Canada is the recipient of The Robin Tavistock Award 2011, the first international recipient.
APHASIA SOFTWARE FINDER
An Exciting New Free Online Resource for People with Aphasia.
The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia is pleased to announce the launch of a new free, online resource designed for people with aphasia, their carers, as well as for Speech & Language Therapists.
- The aim of the website is to help people with aphasia, their families and friends, speech and language therapists and/or academics to find software that could help improve communication.
- The plan is to gather onto one website information about all available aphasia treatment software programmes in the English language.
As information technology becomes ever more a part of everyday life, many people are looking to find software programmes that can help people with aphasia. This resource will enable them to specify their area of language difficulty and be immediately given a list of available relevant treatment software programs. Detailed information is then provided regarding each program, enabling an informed choice to be made. This tool will make the search and selection process quick, simple and objective and help people make informed choices.
The website has been developed under the leadership of Dr Brian Petheram at the Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol. A group of people with aphasia have contributed to the design. It has no links to any software suppliers or developers.
To read more about this project , please click here to go to the dedicated page on this website.
The Aphasia Software Finder can be found at: www.aphasiasoftwarefinder.org.
The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia would like to thank the Eranda Foundation for their generous support for this project.
THE TAVISTOCK TRUST