Ideas and Suggestions for friends
- Don’t disappear – stay in touch – it’s harder to make contact again later on
- Early on – think about how to spend time together
- Sometimes its helpful to visit with another friend
- Bring photos to help you talk early on about your friendship and shared experiences
- Adapt – be flexible, try new ways to hang out together e.g. meeting at different times to avoid getting too tired, playing internet scrabble as a way to be in touch, plan your outings to avoid the crowds
- Do things you can enjoy together without too much talking – eg listening to music, watching football, fishing, walking the dog
- Relax - don’t be embarrassed
- Manage your fear and embarrassment – ‘when they are worried I cant communicate!’
- Learn how to shut up!
- Slow down - Don’t interrupt
- ‘Okay letting silence drift’
Keep distractions down - Find out what helps communication – don’t be afraid to ask – ask the person with aphasia, their family, the therapists
- Read Better Conversations – lots of good advice for family and friends on how to communicate
- Communicate creatively (both of you) – write it down, use drawings and photos, some people like poetry and music - ‘I feel like that but cant say it’
- Use technology to help conversations e.g. Using an Ipad to chat with friends, thumbs up/ down on Facebook, telling jokes with photos on your phone
- ‘lighten up’ - keep a sense of humour
- Sometimes there’s a lot of emotion flying around – don’t take it personally – remember there’s a lot going on after a stroke
- Time, time, time!
- It takes a lot of time to get your head round aphasia and stroke
Recovery goes on for years and years - Give it time –for friendships to get back on track