Yay! We have finally published our first unique adult speech therapy book - and it is so, so beautiful and professional (thanks Marilyn)!I am particularly excited because as far as I know (and if you know different I would love to hear from you and perhaps we can help each other?...) this is the first speech therapy book - "What I Mean Is..." - for higher functioning adults with language challenges.
I'm so excited I don't know where to start!
- I want to tell you about the book itself...
- And about how it was written...
- About how it can be used...
- And about how quickly and 100% safely you can order it online...
I guess I'll start at the end... Which some would say is typical of me! I wanted to check out the company - www.Lulu.com - that's fulfilling the orders for the book for us and make sure they really are 100% reliable and that your credit card details are totally safe. I have been blown away by their integrity and professionalism - I'm delighted to say... Ordering the book was easy and quick and just over a week later (they sent me 2 emails meantime to let me know where they were in the fulfillment process) I received my book. As you can see it arrived in a cardboard package, firmly sealed inside in a protective bubble. Quick, easy, safe, guaranteed professional in every way...
This book can be used directly by clients with some help from either their own speech therapist, an occupational therapist or other rehabilitation therapist, a nurse or caregiver... If you or a loved one have suffered a stroke, chemobrain or another brain injury and need help expressing yourself fully and with ease, this book is for you. This book works best when there is a non-injured person working with the client - although I admit that I worked on parts of this book in the waiting room with the other brain injured patients in my group!
Hilary Dibben wrote "What I Mean Is" because there was no text book or workbook (other than for young kids) out there to help the thousands of us who can speak... But who are unable to express themselves in a way that is satisfying and meaningful to them. The technical name for us (I am part of this group) is the "higher functioning speech impaired" and we fall through the cracks when it comes to our need for therapy. Yes we can form words and ask for our basic needs. But we can't fully express all the thoughts in our minds. With help we can get better and there is hope that we can live as fully as we did before. We need to re-file and thousands of bits of information that have been exploded everywhere by our brain injuries. This book is the answer we've been waiting for."What I Mean Is..." started out as a collection of worksheets and gradually grew from there. The development of this book was completely in step with
- the needs of the client and
- what worked.
I love this book! It's the one - or the contents are similar anyway - as the one I used myself in neuropsych-rehab at my local hospital. I had no idea that I had need of language therapy - I knew deep down that I had difficulties... But everyone else seemed to think I was 'good enough' and I was very happy not to rock the boat and have to admit that, in fact, I was not OK... Before this round of rehab no-one had every suggested that I seek out speech therapy. However as speech therapy was part of this neuropsych-rehab package - and not wanting to miss any potential improvements - I went to my first session with Hilary. Amazing! I had no idea and it was my brain... Here was a woman who knew what was going on inside my head when even I didn't!
The exercises here in "What I Mean Is..." seem simple. In reality they are very powerful. I've always been able to write my thoughts down... Now I can speak my thoughts too. And the best thing of all is that I can now see clearly what my difficulties are - which is the first step to healing and real improvement. Now I know what it is I need to re-learn. And how to do it.
Words and language is such an incredibly important part of 'me'... Thank you Hilary.
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