What is Aphasia?
Imagine if in this next instant you were unable to talk to your family, read a newspaper, write a check, or understand what someone was saying to you. Aphasia is a communication impairment caused by brain damage typically resulting from a stroke, and affects more than one million individuals in the united States. While intelligence remains intact, the ability to speak, comprehend, read and write may be lost or reduced. Although there are more people in the United States with aphasia than muscular dystrophy or Parkinsons’s Disease, few people have ever heard of aphasia. Communication is an essential life skill that is inextricably woven into the demands of daily living. Aphasia causes a profound impact on the lives of stroke survivors and their families. Besides causing individuals to be cut-off from their friends and families, aphasia often leads to total disenfranchisement from society. And aphasia does not just affect seniors -- more than two thirds of the participants at our Center are between the ages of 30 and 60.

What is the mission of the Aphasia Center of California?
The Aphasia Center of California opened its doors as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in September 1996. Housed at the Senior Center on Grand Avenue in Oakland, we are the first nonprofit in the United States dedicated to providing therapy to individuals with aphasia. The mission of the Aphasia Center of California is to encourage and expand communication and psychosocial well-being for those with aphasia. We are dedicated to helping families and stroke survivors understand the ramifications of aphasia on their daily lives and to improve the quality of life for those affected. We believe in giving voices back to our clients and their families through their active participation in program development and representation on our Board of Directors. Our long term vision is to create an integrated community center that would not only support the communication needs of participants, but also their physical, occupational and recreational needs. Currently, we provide six 90-minute group communication treatment groups and a caregiver group each week for those experiencing stroke and aphasia, and have already provided more than 1200 group visits since opening our doors. In addition, we are collaborating with the Adult Education Department of the Oakland Unified School District to provide a co-facilitated drawing and painting class.

Is the treatment provided at the Aphasia Center of California effective?
Our aphasia groups began two years ago when the National Easter Seal Society funded a research study for us to investigate the efficacy of group communication treatment for aphasia. We felt that it was vital to have both valid and reliable data on the effectiveness of our treatment before establishing a program. The results of this randomized, controlled research study were extremely positive. These data indicate that individuals who received group communication treatment showed statistically significant improvement in their communication and psychosocial function. In addition to statistical significance on standardized outcome measures, many individuals who participated in our research project are now venturing outside of their homes and returning to the community for the first time since their strokes. Given the current changes in health care reimbursement, and the emerging dominance of a managed care model, group communication treatment offers an innovative and effective way for stroke survivors and their families to continue to receive much needed but presently often unavailable help beyond the acute stage of this disability.

Who attends the Aphasia Center of California?
Participants with aphasia travel to our groups from five counties in the Bay Area and some from more that 60 miles away, as our groups are innovative in addressing the otherwise unmet needs of stroke survivors and their family members. Our organization is currently run by volunteers -- none of us is accepting any compensation until we have a fiscally sound organization that can be assured of providing services to those with aphasia for years to come. Out speech-language pathology staff have already donated more than $15,000 of their professional services over the last nine months to help the Center gain a strong infrastructure in order to meet the challenges ahead. We are dedicated to keeping our program fees affordable and also to reducing fees of needy participants in order to allow anyone who will benefit attend our Center. We are proud to have provided more than $3,000 worth of scholarships since opening in September 1996.