Imagine waking up unable to speak. You couldn’t read or write — and had trouble listening. You couldn’t even tell your family you loved them. This is what it’s like having aphasia, a language disorder usually caused by a stroke. This happened to Rebecca Iovino, a married mom of two from New Jersey, when she was working as an architect.
But one night in 2006, Rebecca woke up unable to speak. Aphasia forced Rebecca to quit her job because she couldn’t communicate with the clients. The Iovino family spoke with Steve Adubato, PhD., about their journey, at a benefit for the Adler Aphasia Center on One-on-One with Steve Adubato.
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“When you have a stroke, and you have aphasia, you want to turn in because you can’t communicate,” her husband Joe said. But through the sense of community at the Adler Aphasia Center, patients can gain confidence — and their family members can learn how to handle the disorder as well. “It’s given her confidence, and us support.”
“The center helped us learn about that condition and how we we’re not alone in it,” added Joe, Rebecca’s son.
For more on how Adler Aphasia and the Something Special program have helped this family — as well as many other families struggling with aphasia — don’t miss this edition of One-on-One with Steve Adubato.
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