Caught Up in the Story: A Researcher’s Reflections on Co-Constructing Personal Narratives about Life with Aphasia
Location
DeSantis Room 2060
Format Type
Plenary
Format Type
Paper
Start Date
16-1-2020 9:45 AM
End Date
16-1-2020 10:05 AM
Abstract
Storytelling is a fundamental aspect of being human. Our concept of our own identity is based largely on making a coherent story of our past experiences, present situation, and future goals. Our evolving stories are the principle vehicle by which we make meaning out of our experiences and through which we develop our identity. Making meaning out of traumatic life events can contribute to a healthier identity. Language plays an important role in a person’s ability to create and tell a story about themselves and the telling of stories is critical for social interaction. However, people with aphasia are disadvantaged in participating in this social, meaning-making experience due to their reduced language capacity — a necessary tool in storytelling. Interest in how the process of co-constructing stories relates to identity renegotiation has gained interest in aphasia research. Speech-language pathologists (SLP) are particularly well suited for supporting identity renegotiation through narratives using their skills and expertise. Further, SLPs report having a role in supporting the renegotiation of identity in their clients with aphasia, yet also report not having the knowledge or skills to target such work directly. This autoethnography explores the experience of a researcher trained as a SLP and the experience she had co-constructing stories about life with aphasia. The work explores the differences in roles of the co-construction experience to traditional impairment-based intervention targeting language and communication.
Keywords
authoethnography, co-construction, narratives, aphasia, stroke, speech-language pathology
Caught Up in the Story: A Researcher’s Reflections on Co-Constructing Personal Narratives about Life with Aphasia
DeSantis Room 2060
Storytelling is a fundamental aspect of being human. Our concept of our own identity is based largely on making a coherent story of our past experiences, present situation, and future goals. Our evolving stories are the principle vehicle by which we make meaning out of our experiences and through which we develop our identity. Making meaning out of traumatic life events can contribute to a healthier identity. Language plays an important role in a person’s ability to create and tell a story about themselves and the telling of stories is critical for social interaction. However, people with aphasia are disadvantaged in participating in this social, meaning-making experience due to their reduced language capacity — a necessary tool in storytelling. Interest in how the process of co-constructing stories relates to identity renegotiation has gained interest in aphasia research. Speech-language pathologists (SLP) are particularly well suited for supporting identity renegotiation through narratives using their skills and expertise. Further, SLPs report having a role in supporting the renegotiation of identity in their clients with aphasia, yet also report not having the knowledge or skills to target such work directly. This autoethnography explores the experience of a researcher trained as a SLP and the experience she had co-constructing stories about life with aphasia. The work explores the differences in roles of the co-construction experience to traditional impairment-based intervention targeting language and communication.