Brain Friends Dr. D. Seles Gadson and Angie Cauthorn

Does it take a village to recover from a stroke? In this episode of Brain Friends, we talk about aphasia support with Angie's care partner Kiehl Cauthorn. We discuss the difference between caregivers and care partners, the stages of care in post-stroke aphasia, and advocacy with insurance companies. We give tips to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and other practitioners on how to include the caregiver/care partner in therapy. Finally, we remind aphasia survivors that "you are be...

In this episode of Brain Friends, we explore primary progressive aphasia or PPA. Dr. Seles unravels the complexities of PPA versus other aphasia types and describes the difference between a stroke and frontal temporal dementia.Angie shares analogies highlighting the key differences from other forms of aphasia.The impact of PPA on individuals, their families, and communities is ongoing. This episode of Brain Friends is a must-listen for survivors, students, and health professi...

In this episode of Brain Friends, we discuss reading and writing difficulties that can co-occur with aphasia. "Alexia" is an acquired reading disorder with difficulty seeing and reading words or understanding the meaning of written words. "Agraphia" is the loss of a previous ability to write. Angie discovers new terms related to her aphasia and the connection in the brain. Dr. Seles shares clinical stories on navigating alexia in therapy and the role speech-language pathologists pla...

In this episode of Brain Friends, we invite Dr. Roy Hamilton, Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of Penn’s Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation (LCNS), for a part 2 discussion on Neuroplasticity. We begin with the fundamental concept that brains are plastic and designed to change based on experience. Dr. Roy shares how the quality of care in recovery wil...

In this episode of Brain Friends, we discuss aphasia treatment and ways Speech Language Pathologists support recovery.Treatment settings and strategies from automatic speech tasks to errorless learning are explained with examples. Dr. Seles discusses health equity in aphasia and how to avoid implicit bias. How insurance demands dictate treatment tasks and ways SLPs can write treatment goals to align with function. Angie shares the importance of inclusion in research, treatment, and the use of...

Brain Friends Season 2 kicked off with Angie interviewing Dr. Seles on Aphasia Research. We discuss sampling biases and how to make sure research is demographically representative. Dr. Seles shares 3 tips on how to recruit a diverse sample in research and the role stakeholders have in health equity.Finally, we confirm that research is told by who holds the pen and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration.