The Suspect Speaker

The Frustrations and the blessings of life with aphasia

By: James Stephens

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Paperback | 11 June 2022

At a Glance

Paperback
250 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.59 x 13.97 x 1.45

Paperback

$20.99

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The Suspect Speaker

There are fifteen short short stories in this volume.

All the stories are about people who have difficulty in spoken communication.

People with aphasia.

Aphasia is the loss of a previously held ability to articulate ideas or comprehend spoken or written language, resulting from damage to the brain caused by injury or disease.

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.

These stories contain a taste, an inkling, of what it is to have aphasia: the frustrations, the anger, the acceptance and the blessings.

People with aphasia have individual communication difficulties:

Some can't read very well, or their attention span is fatigued.

Some have lost some vision.

Some can't write but their vocabulary is adult.

Some can't find the sense in syntax, or they lack context or comprehension.

Most understand the words, but can't pronounce them.

Each story here has three versions: A, B and C.

The A version is for people who have aphasia that have difficulty in reading. The sentences are compact and descriptions are sparse.

The C versions is for people with aphasia who can read, or who like to be read to, by their supporters/carers.

The B versions are in-between - a therapeutic 'sandwich'. People who have aphasia can get the gist of the stories from the A version, and in recovery, over time, can extend their reading ability for the B or C stories.

Industry Reviews

A review from the President of National Aphasia Association (USA): Darlene Williamson, MA, CCC-SLP,

The Suspect Speaker series [The Suspect Speaker & More Suspect Speaking] is very unique and emotional, and the books are aphasia friendly! In each book author James Stephens presents a series of stories describing events with aphasia. Most importantly, each story has three levels of reading to accommodate readers with aphasia: an easy level, an intermediate level, and a more advanced level. A perfect way to tell his stories and reach all people with aphasia. Highly recommended for readers with aphasia and their supporters and care partners.

Darlene Williamson, MA, CCC-SLP, President of NAA (National Aphasia Association-USA)

The Suspect Speaker: https://books2read.com/suspectspeaker

More Suspect Speaking: https://books2read.com/moresuspectspeaking

His stories are both moving and funny. They are also encouraging and uplifting. AphasiaNZ highly recommends Stephens's book to anyone with experience of aphasia.

AphasiaNZ (https://www.aphasia.org.nz)

Very often, we hear what the protagonist is thinking, and wince at what happens when they try to get it out. It's a helpful device, but it's also Stephens's truth, and the truth for thousands of other New Zealanders hit by strokes or tumours, injuries or primary progressive aphasia.

Catherine Woulfe - Books editor - Spinoff

Stephens's writing will serve to be an inspirational therapeutic tool for many others living with Aphasia and their whanau/families. Thank you for sharing insights into what it is truly like to live with this hidden disability.

Naomi Bondi. NZSLT - NZ Speech Language Therapist

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