Episode #91: LPAA Internationally - A Conversation with Ilias Papathanasiou
Welcome to this edition of Aphasia Access Conversations, a series of conversations about topics in aphasia that focus on the LPAA model. My name is Janet Patterson, and I am a Research Speech Language Pathologist at the VA Northern California Health Care System in Martinez, California. These Show Notes follow the conversation between Dr. Papathanasiou and myself, but are not an exact transcript. Dr. Ilias Papathanasiou is a Professor of Speech and Language Therapy at the Department of Speech and Language Therapy, University of Patras, and a Research Associate at the Voice and Swallowing Clinic, the First ENT Clinic of the Medical School of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens Greece. He is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and has received numerous awards and recognition for his tireless efforts on behalf of aphasia awareness and rehabilitation research in the international community. In today's episode you will hear about: considering LPAA values across social, cultural and international norms, increasing aphasia awareness through actions in the local community, mentoring speech-language pathologists who are learning about aphasia and LPAA in countries initiating aphasia rehabilitation services. Dr. Janet Patterson: As Ilias and I start this podcast, I want to give you a quick reminder that this year we are sharing episodes that highlight at least one of the gap areas in aphasia care identified in the Aphasia Access, State of Aphasia report, authored by Dr. Nina Simmons-Mackie. For more information on this report, check out Podversations episode # 62 with Dr. Liz Hoover, as she describes these 10 gap areas or go to the Aphasia Access website. This episode with Dr. Papathanasiou focuses on gap area number seven, insufficient or absent communication access for people with aphasia or other communication disorders, and gap area 10, failure to address family and caregiver needs including information, support, counseling, and communication training. I hope our conversation today sheds additional light on these gap areas. With that introduction, I would like to extend a warm welcome to my friend and noted aphasiologist, Dr. Ilias Papathanasiou. Welcome Ilias and thank you for joining me today on Aphasia Access Podversations. Dr. Ilias Papathanasiou: Thank you very much for this kind invitation. I'm thrilled to be with you and speak about aphasia from a rather international perspective. As you know, I have been trained in UK, I work in Greece, and have been active in many places around the world and working with developing countries, for people with aphasia. Janet: Ilias, I'm just thrilled to have you here, and as a side note to our listeners, Ilias and I have already been talking for about an hour sharing wonderful stories about aphasia and international aphasia. Sadly, most of that won't be caught on this particular tape, but I hope a good bit of it will, because Ilias, you are a fount of information, not only about aphasia, but also about aphasia and the international community. Let me start by saying that our listeners, Ilias, are likely very familiar with the LPAA model, which as we all know, places the person with aphasia at the center of decision-making, to support them in achieving their real-life goals and reduce the adverse consequence of aphasia. How do you think social and cultural norms play a role in understanding the LPAA model? Ilias: This is a very interesting question, which we'll have to answer. But first of all, I think we have to start with what is aphasia and how the implications of aphasia start in the community. I will say, aphasia is a language impairment, first of all, which is related from the focal lesion, which has, of course, great effects on the person with aphasia, on the quality of life, on the social network and the person, on the making friendships, on how the person functions, and the everyday environment. Now, how the person functions in the everyday environmen