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ACQ
uiring knowledge
in
speech
,
language and hearing
, Volume 10, Number 1 2008
35
have. It should also help address their isolation, as Angela
Berens writes in her conclusion: “it is reassuring that you are
not alone” (p. 98). I hope it continues to be circulated widely
and offered as a standard resource.
Reference
Worrall, L., Rose, T., Howe, T., McKenna, K., & Hickson, L.
(2007). Developing an evidence-base for accessibility for
people with aphasia.
Aphasiology
,
21
, 124–136.
Forsyth, Kate (author) & Street, Rosalie (illustrator).
(2007)
I am
. Sydney: Macmillan Australia; ISBN 978
14050 38096 6; 24 pages (hbk), $19.95.
Simone Lees
I am
, by author Kate Forsyth and
illustrator Rosalie Street, is a
story about Tim, who is 4¾ years
old, and likes to do many inter
esting and imaginative things
each day including swimming
like a hammerhead shark,
playing knights and making
magic potions out of his mum’s
shampoo!
Kate wrote the story for her
4-year-old son, who was strug
gling to use correct pronouns, in
particular “I”. The book provides various “I” phrases
throughout the story, including “I like”, “I love”, “I can”, as
well as “I am” and “I’m”. The book is being sold as an
“excellent guide for parents to help their children overcome
the difficulty of using pronouns”.
The story is lyrical and flows well when read aloud. There
are no repetitive phrases or rhyming passages though, so
young “readers” would find anticipating the text difficult, at
least initially. The vocabulary and phrasing is also advanced
in parts, given the intended audience of 3–5 year olds, with
phrases such as “wallowing hippo”, “blows bubbles on her
feet”, “with swords drawn” and “claps her hands with glee”
featuring within the more straightforward text. These provide
excellent language enrichment opportunities, but perhaps
detract from the main purpose of the book.
The illustrations by artist Rosalie Street are delightful. They
are brightly coloured and have plenty of detail. Unfortunately,
the illustrations do not consistently link to the more advanced
vocabulary and descriptions presented in the text, which
makes teaching words such as “spider monkey” and “snail
slime” more difficult. The illustrations do, however, provide a
solid source of material for discussion and language stimulation
more generally.
The book would be a useful tool to provide “bombardment”
of the pronoun “I”, and certainly the illustrations lend
themselves to discussion about what “I like”, “I can do”, and
“I think”. For a RRP of $19.95, the book would be a handy
resource to lend to parents of children who are struggling to
acquire this pronoun and need some extra exposure, using
the natural context of joint book reading.
Berens, A., Laney, G., Rose, T., & Howe, T. (2006).
The
Australian aphasia guide
. St Lucia, Qld: Australian
Aphasia Association Inc.; no ISBN, 144 pages, $20.
Available from the Australian Aphasia Association
Inc.
Deborah Hersh
It is abundantly clear to anyone reading this book that it has
been written from the heart, a “labour of love” according
Georgi Laney in her introduction. The first author, Angela
Berens, writes from the perspective of someone living with
aphasia following a burst aneurysm at the age of 27. She, like
many other people with aphasia, had little information in her
early days post-stroke and little guidance in finding out what
supports were available to her and her family. These experi
ences contributed to her drive to be completely involved in
the production of this book, the first comprehensive Australian
information book on aphasia written for people with aphasia,
as well as their families, friends, carers and those with whom
they are in contact in the community. Most notably, this book
is carefully presented to be “aphasia-friendly”, to be accessible
to people with aphasia. Its third and fourth authors, Tanya
Rose and Tami Howe, have researched and published on
accessibility, particularly in relation to written information
and their contribution is apparent (Worrall et al., 2007). Each
of the eight chapters plus the additional sections (references,
service directory and communication charts) are colour-
coded, including colour strips down the sides of the pages,
for easy access. The print is clear and larger than usual, and
key words and phrases are emboldened. Certain sections are
boxed, some information is listed using bullet points and
there are relevant pictures, photographs and symbols used
throughout. The writing style is clear, uses short sentences,
and there is conscious use of paragraphs and clear space to
make most pages reasonably easy on the eye.
The eight chapters explain what aphasia is, how it affects
people’s lives, what speech therapy and the AAA have to
offer, the impact of aphasia on families and carers, strategies
to assist communication, other sources of help, financial sup
port and return to work, and finally driving and transport.
Not only do these chapters include sensible, clear information,
but they also are interspersed with quotes from people with
aphasia which give the advice a very personal touch. The
service directory is useful, not only including contact details
for Australian aphasia supports and Speech Pathology Australia
contacts, but also listing international websites of interest,
national aged care and carer contacts, communication aids
and assistive technology contacts, independent living centres,
stroke and brain injury supports and transport information.
Aphasia is such an isolating and disempowering condition
and a lack of accessible information simply compounds the
problems that people face in coping with it. No one book can
ever please every reader entirely –one gentleman with aphasia
complained to me that it would not fit in his pocket! But this
book is proving very popular and obviously fills a need.
Ideally it (and indeed, membership of the AAA) should be
actively promoted by speech pathologists for each person
they meet with aphasia. This book should answer many of the
questions that people with aphasia, and those touched by it,
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ook
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