Use your camera for fun speech therapy activities

Use any camera (including the one on your phone) for therapy at home and to be more comfortable in social situations.

These days, nearly everyone has a camera on their phone. And it makes a great therapy tool. You can use it to remember things. I take a picture of my daily "to do" list, and information I might want again, like my hotel room, or the parking garage level my car is on.

Survivors can also use it to make a list of the things they couldn't communicate. Maybe people who's name they couldn't remember. Or household objects or activities. Or use those photos as speech therapy clip art. Many people add their photos to our speech therapy software for unlimited, personalized practice.  A nurse wrote us about a great activity she did with a survivor.

The caregiver snaps photos on their iPhone as they go through their weekly routine &  adventures.  Then we review their week in pictures with the patient supplying explanations.

Kelly Connolly Lundis, Speech-Language Pathologist

Nurse helps survivor use his camera for speech therapy

By Jacque H.

I have used photography with my client, Mike, from the beginning. He knew how to operate a camera and was pretty good before his stroke so right away, we went throught he process of relearning how to operate his camera. Next, I planned “treasure hunt” fieldtrips with a short list of items to find and photograph. A sample treasure hunt list might be to find an object of a particular color, a tool, or different noun objects.

 We progressed to more abstract ideas: Something that make a person “happy” for instance. Next, I would have Mike come home, choose pictures to have printed at our local camera store, and put them in a book with captions. [Editors note: you can also upload them and print them at Walmart, Walgreens, etc.]  Going through this process, he was able to construct longer, descriptive sentences and even paragraphs. He is ready to make a Shutterfly book with his pictures files that he can upload to their program and type in the dates and a description.

Mike was the genealogist in his family and has ALL his family photos. What a nice gift to make for his family- getting all the pictures into one book that they can order online!

I’m sharing this success that we have had in case you’d like to share the idea with someone else that might benefit!

PS: I found the first ventures (and beyond) out into the world are intimidating. The camera provides some distance and a place to retreat when needed. Stopping and talking briefly, then getting back to business works well. People come up and talk to you when you have a camera
around your neck and are interested in the world.  [Editor's note:   I was a bit shy at college parties until I started working as a Party Pic photographer.  That let me hide behind the camera (or the role of photographer). It gave me something to do with my hands. Made me much more comfortable in social situations.]

Mike was able to take a trip to Italy and we set the camera to easy to use default settings. He was able to take pictures on his trip and have them to reminisce for a long time to come. It was so fun having him share his pictures and tell me all about places I had never been, with the pictures doing most of the talking. A picture really can be worth a thousand words.

PPS:
Mike and I have had to take a break due to COVID 19 but I’m hoping that soon I will be able to make us each a copy of the workbook [from the free speech therapy course] and we can make our way through it using video-chat.  I appreciate all of your efforts and I always enjoy trying out new resources you send.

Sincerely,
Jacque H.
Nurse, Photographer, and Aphasia rehab tutor

Want more home therapy ideas?