Aphasia (uh-fay'-zhah) n.
Loss of the ability to speak or understand speech caused by stroke, traumatic brain injury or birth defect.
An aphasic stroke left the author completely without words. She could not speak, read or write and had difficulty understanding spoken words.
“To realistically portray the early aphasic experience . . . Crossing the Void should have been told as it was then. Silently, on empty pages . . . wordlessly. But how could you have understood, and how could I have written . . . without words?”
With the language part of her brain permanently damaged, in an unorthodox approach to re-learning speech and writing, she taught herself to visualize words to prompt her speech. Hers is the inspiring story of a woman determined to overcome a major disability and, now, to help others do so as well.
“Crossing the Void” is the story of her courageous journey back.
Her captivating narrative of recovery is a ray of hope for those with aphasia and a compelling human interest story for all readers. Speech and language therapists, medical personnel, families and advocates will find this book especially helpful.
As only can be done by one who has been there, Ms. Schultz speaks for the speechless by describing each stage of her aphasia: the onset of her stroke, her medical and speech therapy experiences, the social and psychological aspects of being aphasic and the painstaking learning process that enabled her to move from being a person without words to becoming an author.
“Having thoughts in your head is different from having words for them.”
Crossing the Void: My Aphasic Journey
By Carol Cline Schultz
List of topics covered in the book.
Carol has started a
speech recovery forum blog.