More Suspect Speaking

<p><strong><em>The Suspect Speaker</em></strong> brought enjoyment sadness pathos and - for some - a realisation of how people cope or not with aphasia.  </p><p>Aphasia is the loss of a previously held ability to speak or understand spoken or written language due to disease or brain injury.</p><p><strong><em>More Suspect Speaking</em></strong> features another fifteen short <strong>short </strong>stories featuring people who have difficulty in spoken communication. People with aphasia.</p><p><br></p><p>Rather than a biography or an academic text these stories reflect the everyday experience of people with aphasia their supporters and carers. In these tales they will see themselves or their loved ones.</p><p>The vocabulary of these stories are deliberately adult because aphasia doesn't diminish intellect.</p><p><br></p><p>People with aphasia have individual communication difficulties: </p><ul><li>some can't read very well or their attention span is fatigued; </li><li>some have lost some of their vision so it makes it hard to read text;</li><li>some can't find the sense in the syntax;</li><li>some lack contextual understanding or comprehension of ideas;</li><li>some understand the words but they can't pronounce them;</li><li>some insert other words or phrases instead of the ones they actually mean.</li></ul><p><br></p><p><em>More Suspect Speaking </em>stories give a taste of what aphasiacs go through. More of the frustrations and blessings of life with aphasia. </p><p>Every day.</p><p>Every conversation.</p><p><br></p><p>Each story (except the last one) has three versions: A B and C. </p><p><br></p><p>The A version is people who have an effort or difficulty in reading. The sentences are compact the layout is spacious and descriptions are sparse - perfect for people recovering from the effects of aphasia.</p><p><br></p><p>The C versions are for people who can read ('recovered' aphasiacs?) or people with aphasia who enjoy being <em>read</em> to - by carers family members supporters. </p><p>Or for non-aphasiacs these stories contain an inkling of what people with aphasia deal with. </p><p>The B versions are in-between. For some people with aphasia re-reading the stories in their recovery could be therapeutic. </p><p><br></p><p>Enjoy. Or be enlightened</p><p><br></p><p>ps: I got feedback about <em>The Suspect Speaker</em> from a person who had English as a second language. He said that the A B C versions were incredibly helpful for increasing his English vocabulary!</p><p><br></p><p>pps: The second edition has bigger font for the A and B versions (easier to read for people with aphasia) and footnotes rather than a glossary for Aotearoa/New Zealand or unfamiliar terms.</p><p><br></p>