I was working a shift in my role as a Speech Pathologist in an outpatient setting when I met Kevin for the first time. I learned that Kevin had experienced a stroke, had left-side weakness, and had difficulty finding the right words to complete his thoughts. In...

June is Aphasia Awareness Month, a time when many people focus on educating the public about the communication disorder, which affects a person's ability to speak, understand, read, and write. It frequently results from brain damage, stroke, or head injury, but it...

Consider how the same conversation might sound differently across time when one of the speakers has been diagnosed with a progressive neurological condition: One Conversation, Three Moments At first, in the earliest stages, nothing feels very different. You’re sitting...

When it comes to helping people with communication issues, here’s something that doesn’t get said enough: Communication challenges don’t magically disappear when someone becomes an adult. The truth is, many adults on the spectrum still need reliable, consistent ways...

In my role as a Speech Language Pathologist and founder of APP2Speak, I’ve consulted with a number of people prior to surgery for head and neck cancer. These were people being proactive, seeking AAC prior to surgery. And I can tell you, by doing so, they put...

When someone has a stroke, life can change in a single afternoon. One minute they’re talking. The next minute, the words won’t come. They know what they want to say. They can see it clearly in their mind. But their mouth won’t cooperate. Or the wrong words come out....

When people ask, “What is augmentative and alternative communication,” they’re usually given a broad, technical answer. Accurate—but incomplete. Because AAC looks very different when it’s used by nonverbal adults who once spoke fluently, worked jobs, raised families,...

A few days ago, I sat down to review the blog posts I’ve published on APP2Speak.com this year. And when I did so, I expected to see a wide mix of topics. And I did. But I also noticed something else… There were a handful of themes that kept showing up again and again....

November always feels like a gentle tap on the shoulder, reminding us to slow down and soak in what (and who) we’re grateful for. But for adults who can’t speak because of stroke, ALS, Parkinson’s, brain injury, or surgery like a laryngectomy, sharing those emotions...