The Suspect Speaker brought enjoyment, sadness, pathos and – for some – a realisation of how people cope, or not, with aphasia.
More Suspect Speaking (Edition 2) features
another fifteen short
short stories featuring people who have difficulty in spoken communication. People with aphasia.
[Aphasia is the loss of a previously held ability to speak or understand spoken or written language, due to disease or brain injury.]
Rather than a biography or an academic text, these stories reflect the everyday experience of people with aphasia, their supporters and carers. In these tales, they will see themselves or their loved ones.
The vocabulary of these stories are deliberately adult because aphasia doesn't diminish intellect.
People with aphasia have individual communication difficulties:
- some can't read very well, or their attention span is fatigued;
- some have lost some of their vision so it makes it hard to read text;
- some can't find the sense in the syntax;
- some lack contextual understanding, or comprehension of ideas;
- some understand the words, but they can't pronounce them;
- some insert other words or phrases instead of the ones they actually mean.
More Suspect Speaking stories give a taste of what aphasiacs go through.
More of the frustrations and blessings of life with aphasia.
Every day.
Every conversation.
Each story (except the last one) has three versions: A, B and C.
The A version is people who have an effort or difficulty in reading. The sentences are compact, the layout is spacious, and descriptions are sparse – perfect for people recovering from the effects of aphasia.
The C versions are for people who can read ('recovered' aphasiacs?) or people with aphasia who enjoy been read to – by carers, family members, supporters.
Or, for non-aphasiacs, these stories contain an inkling of what people with aphasia deal with.
The B versions are in-between. For some people with aphasia, re-reading the stories in their recovery could be therapeutic.
[The second edition of the paperback/softcover has bigger font for the A and B versions (easier to read for people with aphasia) and footnotes rather than a glossary for Aotearoa/New Zealand or unfamiliar terms.]
Enjoy.
A review from the President of National Aphasia Association (USA): Darlene Williamson, MA, CCC-SLP,
The Suspect Speaker series by James Stephens
The Suspect Speaker series [The Suspect Speaker & More Suspect Speaking] is very unique and emotional, and the books are aphasia friendly! In each book author James Stephens presents a series of stories describing events with aphasia. Most importantly, each story has three levels of reading to accommodate readers with aphasia: an easy level, an intermediate level, and a more advanced level. A perfect way to tell his stories and reach all people with aphasia. Highly recommended for readers with aphasia and their supporters and care partners.
The Suspect Speaker: https://books2read.com/suspectspeaker
More Suspect Speaking: https://books2read.com/moresuspectspeaking
National Aphasia Association
https://www.aphasia.org
Home page -> Resources -> Helpful Materials -> Books
James is a New Zealander. He was a teacher, actor, musician and music director, a journalist and event manager - as well as a husband, father and grandfather. He was a voracious reader, a fluent writer and confident speaker. In 2015, he suffered a hemiparesis, a middle cerebral artery territory infarct. In a word, a stroke. He collapsed, paralysed on his right side, and couldn't speak or write. The hospital intervention was rapid and his limbs were free but his speech was absent. He had/has aphasia.Aphasia is the loss of a previously held ability to articulate ideas or comprehend spoken or written language, resulting from damage to the brain caused by injury or disease - in this case, a stroke. With expert therapists in speech, music and eurhythmy he has re-invented himself. He has a positive and optimistic outlook, electing to view his stroke as a 'stroke of luck'. But his speech is still - suspect."My aphasia forced me to look at my life differently. My expected biography has changed. Now, I am an author - apparently." email: james.stephens.dms@gmail.com facebook: https: //bit.ly/3bH6kZr
