CENTER OVERVIEW

1.  Center Speech-Language Pathologists provide direct services for people with aphasia and their families.

The Adler Aphasia Center is a place where people can connect with others who have been diagnosed with aphasia. Our Center was among the first pioneers in 2003 to use group treatment focusing on regaining conversational skills and re-engagement in life, called the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia (LPAA). Our Center members are developing alternate strategies to help them better communicate and enhance their quality of life. By empowering our members to participate in their recovery process, we offer supportive interventions that allow them to more rapidly return to an active life.

Recognizing that family caregivers are confronted with challenges when living with a loved one with aphasia, our Center is dedicated to improving the quality of life for the families and the caregivers through professional support. The Center’s caregiver support groups help our caregivers to learn effective coping skills, build a strong support network, and find respite.

2. We conduct research to prove the impact of our programs and services.

The Adler Aphasia Center is committed to demonstrating the effectiveness of our program model and adding to the current understanding about aphasia. We continue to measure the impact of our service model through conducting annual speech evaluations of our members as well as satisfaction surveys of our members and caregivers. These evaluations and surveys continue to show the positive impact of our program on our member’s functional communication and quality of life.

3. We offer community outreach and education and training to the community in order to advocate for those with aphasia.

The Adler Aphasia Center recognizes the lack of public awareness about aphasia and the need that people with aphasia, family members/caregivers, healthcare professionals, and the broad community, have for relevant information about aphasia. Our members with aphasia are actively involved in these advocacy, community outreach, and education efforts.

Throughout the greater NJ/NY region, we are teaching healthcare professionals, students, service employees and the general public about the challenges of aphasia and training them in strategies to help them communicate with and effectively serve the needs of those with aphasia. Center members participate by assisting in training healthcare visitors to sensitize and educate them, reducing communication barriers between aphasia patients and their doctors.

4. We offer an extraordinary volunteer experience.

The Adler Aphasia Center welcomes volunteers who can commit to a minimum of one hour a week and are available between 10:30 am – 2:15 pm Mondays through Thursdays. Every volunteer receives specialized training in communicating with people with aphasia. The Center values their contributions to our program as they participate in most groups and have the opportunity to run select groups.