June marks Aphasia Awareness Month, and we’re proud to recognise the resilience of individuals living with aphasia and to celebrate the meaningful work of our Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) team, who provide valuable support to help patients navigate and overcome the challenges of aphasia.
What is Aphasia?
Aphasia is a language disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate. It can impact speaking, understanding, reading, and writing, creating obstacles to everyday interactions and all aspects of communication. Often caused by stroke or brain injury, aphasia affects over 350,000 people in the UK alone and around a third of people who have a stroke will have aphasia. Aphasia does not affect someone’s intelligence.
Despite how common it is, aphasia remains largely under-recognised. That’s why awareness is so important, not only to support those living with it, but also to promote empathy, understanding, and better rehabilitation approaches.
What Our Patients Say
“My husband had a major stroke in January 2024. He hadn’t had any of the classic risk health issues so it came as a complete shock. He was left with mobility issues on his right side, with limited movement in his leg and negligible in his arm.
He also had expressive aphasia. I had never heard of aphasia before – I was aware that stroke patients often struggled initially to talk due to paralysis of the facial and mouth muscles on their affected side, but was not aware of the inability to “ find” the word they wanted to say. The best description of aphasia is the difficulty in saying the “meaningful part “of the sentence. It is inconsistent and frustrating- just because he has said a word today, doesn’t mean he would be able to say it tomorrow.
He was in hospital for 2 months and had minimal speech therapy. Whilst there, the concentration in hospital was on physical therapy and this continued on his release from hospital. We learnt that there was no NHS Speech Therapy being offered to stroke patients in the community due to a shortage of speech therapists. So we turned to Hobbs and started seeing Sophie twice a week initially. Our sessions were at home which enabled him to relax and concentrate in a familiar environment. Sophie tailored our sessions to make them interesting, relevant, practical and targeted at topics he was interested in. As someone who doesn’t usually follow football she became an expert!!
Speech therapy gave him techniques and the confidence to talk round the subject so it was easier for me to guess what he was trying to say. It taught him to use more gestures and facial expressions than he was used to, to help convey the meaning of what he was trying to say. He will often use the wrong words or a connected/ similar word in the place of the words he can’t express. However with gentle help from our Sophie over the year we have both learnt ways to communicate.
There are frequent frustrations on both sides and communication is heavily affected by fatigue, but we have both gained confidence. Enough confidence for us to take a driving holiday through France and Spain. Sophie worked with us up to the holiday practising navigating with maps, looking at road signs and practising potential conversations in hotels, restaurants etc.” – Linda and Simon, at Hobbs Rehabilitation South East
Empowering Voices with Speech and Language Therapy
Our Speech and Language Therapy team at Hobbs Rehabilitation work closely with individuals affected by aphasia, helping them overcome barriers with speech, language, and communication.
Every person’s experience with aphasia is different, so our therapists work collaboratively with patients to set personalised goals that reflect their unique requirements, with the overall aim of supporting them to rebuild their confidence, reconnect with their daily routines, and feel more comfortable with their communication. From finding alternative ways to express themselves, to retraining speech and language pathways, our therapists provide holistic, bespoke support at every step.
It’s not just about clinical outcomes, it’s about helping people feel heard, seen, and empowered again.
‘Being able to communicate and connect effectively with others is such a fundamental part of life. Aphasia can be incredibly isolating and frustrating, impacting on all aspects of someone’s life and affecting relationships, work, social life and hobbies. It can have a huge impact on someone’s independence and confidence.
I love working with patients with aphasia and supporting them to achieve goals that are meaningful to them and will have real-life impact. Helping to break down communication barriers and watching someone regain confidence is incredible. As an SLT team we work with the individual – working to rehabilitate their language and supporting them to use compensatory strategies and alternative communication and technology when needed. However, the other vital aspect of our role in aphasia rebab is working collaboratively with the patient’s communication partners, helping them to become skillful in supporting their loved one’s communication.
I always strive to provide person-centred therapy that is meaningful to the patient, tailoring therapy materials to be relevant and interesting to them. Above all working hard to ensure sessions are positive and most importantly that the person navigating the huge changes that aphasia brings feels heard and supported’. Sophie Wilson, Speech and Language Therapist at Hobbs Rehabilitation South East
A Student’s Perspective
At Hobbs Rehabilitation South East, we recently said goodbye to Amarleen, a Speech and Language Therapy student who had been with us on placement since October 2024. During her time here, she worked closely with our Speech and Language Therapist, Sophie.
As part of our ongoing commitment to raising awareness and understanding of aphasia, we asked Amarleen to share her perspective as a student entering this complex and rewarding area of rehabilitation. Here’s what she had to say about her experience.
How have you found working at Hobbs Rehabilitation?
I really enjoyed working at Hobbs throughout my third year! Sophie and the team were all extremely helpful, kind and supportive.
Sophie provided me with balanced feedback throughout, and gave me excellent guidance on all SLT guidelines, resources, and skills. I always felt I was learning each day at Hobbs, and observing Sophie at work has taught me lots about the profession. I feel I have positively developed very valuable clinical and professional skills.
Do you have any memorable moments that stood out to you?
One key moment was when I visited the Stroke Association group and had the opportunity to speak with so many different people, observe their speech and language difficulties, and participate in various activities.
I also thought it was very interesting to observe clients’ physiotherapy sessions, as I could understand how the Hobbs team worked together to help with the client’s rehabilitation.
What did a typical day look like for you at Hobbs?
Usually, clients had their allocated session times throughout Tuesday, so I would see around 3-4 clients a day, depending on the timetable. Either I would plan and run the SLT session myself, or I would observe Sophie running the client’s session. Throughout the session I would take detailed notes, and at the end of the day I would clinically write them up. However, every Tuesday was slightly different, making it very interesting for me, as I sometimes got to observe physiotherapy and occupational therapy sessions too. All the clients I met throughout were all so welcoming and friendly; I really enjoyed talking to so many different people and learning their stories.
What impact has your experience at Hobbs had on your SLT journey?
I am very grateful that I had this experience, as it put all the theoretical knowledge that I am learning at university into clinical practice. I discovered new techniques of how to help clients, and I interacted with clients of different language difficulties. Sophie has taught me so much about various different swallowing, speech and language difficulties, and has patiently discussed with me all types of assessment and management to help support clients. I have found this placement to be very interesting, and I will carry the knowledge with me throughout my academic and work life.
Closing Thoughts
At Hobbs Rehabilitation, we’re proud to support individuals living with aphasia through a collaborative, person-centred approach. Whether it’s through the expertise of our Speech and Language Therapists, the resilience of our patients, or the fresh perspective of future SLTs like Amarleen, each story shared helps build a more informed, compassionate, and empowered community.
If you or a loved one would benefit from Speech and Language Therapy at Hobbs Rehabilitation, please visit our webpage for more information or contact us here.