Neurogenic Communication Disorders: Life Stories and the Narrative Self

Barbara B. Shadden, Fran Hagstrom, and Patricia R. Koski

There is currently considerable focus on psychosocial issues for persons with aphasia and their significant others. However, there has been little unifying work that brings diverse interdisciplinary perspectives together to understand the impact of aphasia and other neurogenic communication disorders on the social construction and mediation of self or identity. In this book, the authors explore this idea of social construction of self as it relates to the human need to create, share, and modify life stories, particularly when confronting major life changes. Their premise is that impaired communication can have a profound impact on one's perception of self and one's ability to negotiate the social reconstruction of self in the context of a neurological disorder. The nature and extent of impact varies, as seen in the books' in-depth examination of narrative self for persons living with aphasia, ALS, Parkinson's disease, and dementia, as well as those aging without impairment. The authors present theoretical grounding for using the concepts of self and the idea of a social and cultural tool kit that enables clients to interact with others and to define themselves in the context of those around them. The text moves from theory to qualitative analyses of living with neurogenic disorders to implications for clinical interventions for individual clients and their significant others.

Reviews

• Lynn Elwood, MHSc, Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (2009):
  "The authors have made a daring and commendable attempt to translate important concepts of narrative and self into the clinical realm of speech-language pathology. For readers and researchers interested in exploring the literature on narrative precesses and self, the content and the exhaustive reference will be helpful."

• Rozanne Barrow, UPDATE, a publication of the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (2009):
  "[Four chapters] help the reader to consider issues surrounding the negotiation and preservation of self with groups of people who would frequently avail of a SLT service and addresses issues about how personhood, self and construction of identity should contextualize therapy rather than the impairment alone. ... I would recommend this text to both practicing SLTs and to SLTs in training as it provides a way for us to articulate much of the work we do that is seldom recognized. ... It challenges us to develop systematic ways to track change when the focus is on this complex yet important area of our work which defies quantification."

Details: 257 pages, Illustrated (B/W), Softcover, 7 x 10"

ISBN13: 978-1-59756-136-5

Release Date: 01/05/2008