Regaining speech after a stroke

[willhetalk]

My Dad, who is in his 80s, had a stroke 5 days ago which has affected his speech.

He can say a few words and simple phrases and is now trying to say longer sentences (which he wasn’t at first), but they come out as sounds and words that don’t make sense.

It is early days as yet but I am wondering if anyone you know has been in this situation and has then gone on to regain their speech or a lot of their speech?

My Dad is going to have speech therapy but I also wanted to know how we can help him as well when we interact with him.

Also, he is English but lives in Italy. He can understand what we are saying in both languages and the words he is saying are in both languages but I am wondering whether the speech therapy should be in his mother tongue (which is English). Though we might not be able to choose.

Rebuilding damaged parts of the brain is a slow process that takes a tremendous amount of energy. Loss of speech is incredibly frustrating, not only for those around the sufferer but intensely so for the victim.

The speed and completeness of recovery depends on the exact damage and the resources available - rest, nutrition and emotional support as well as therapy. My mum did really well but reverted to slurring and garbling when she was tired.

If he's fluent in Italian, I'm not sure the language used in therapy will matter much. He'll no doubt have his own views which he can share with the SLT.

My dad did, sort of. But It took a long time and lots of sleep (very taxing on the brain) and he got to the point where he could communicate but it was still a big effort and rather slurred.
He would have been around 80 now but unfortunately he was 57 when it happened.

By way of encouragement, it sounds like his difficulties are to do with speech production rather than language processing.

When we talk, we have to process a thought into words and then make hundreds of tiny, controlled movements to produce intelligible speech. (I'm not a medic; these are probably not the right terms!)

If the links between thoughts and words are gone, you're looking at re-learning the whole business of talking. That takes years for an infant, and is a heck of a lot harder for an adult with brain damage. With speech, it's a matter of building new pathways to produce the required movements in the correct order. It's difficult but, like any fine motor skill, is largely a matter of repetition and patience.

Wishing him the best 🙂

My MIL had a stroke four years ago when she was 82. Different from your dad because her speech was not affected but she was physically paralysed on her left hand side. We were told that most of the recovery would occur during the first six months after the stroke, and this proved to be correct. She worked very hard at her physiotherapy exercises and regained some movement in her left arm and leg, but after about six months she hit a plateau and hasn't improved much since then despite still doing the exercises. I'm not sure if it's the same with speech, but it might be as it's apparently related to the plasticity of the brain. So the next few months are crucial IME.

My MIL had a stroke about 3 yrs ago at 78 but has not regained her speech. A lot of that is down to the fact she wouldn't do the exercises the speech therapist set, so she never progressed, at best she can say a few words that aren't very clear. We don't really know why she didn't try, but she has a strong impatient streak in her personality. It's hard work. This has been extremely frustrating for my DP but there's not a lot one can do if the person doesn't try.

Is it true that trying to sing along to favourite songs helps?