One Aphasia Action is a set of small, actionable activities you can do from home that will help you retain speech progress.
You have something lurking in a closet or on a shelf that could be a great therapy tool: jigsaw puzzles! What do puzzles have to do with aphasia? Plenty.
First and foremost, they’re visual, so they’re stimulating visual processing centers in your brain. They also force you to use fine motor skills and engage in movement. But jigsaw puzzles also involve creating systems and organizational skills. Do you fill in the borders first or last? Aim to get all the same-colored pieces in piles or focus on shape? You’re forcing your brain to think hard when you’re trying to put a puzzle together.
Doing a puzzle with someone else also stimulates language. You need to talk about the pieces as you search for them. At the very least, you can practice phrases such as “found it!” or “I did it!” You can describe the puzzle picture or talk about the section you’re working on.
So grab a puzzle—whether it’s 50 pieces or 500 pieces—and put it together today.
You can find all of the One Aphasia Action activities on this list. This works best if you start on Day 1 and work at your own pace, even if you’re finding this project long after it has started. Try every activity, even if you only do it once. Keep doing the activities you like, repeating them the next day along with the new activity, and drop the ones that don’t work for you.