OMG....I Can't Read Out Loud!!!!


lydiacevedo

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I'm sitting in the office, with a co-worker. I was asked to read something aloud, so we could both see if it sounded ok. I just discovered I can't do that!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I can read. It is slow, most of the time, and after a while, it stops making sense, but I can read. I cna type and my spelling isn't too bad. I can write blogs and manuals, emails, training information, everything. What I can't seem to do is read aloud!

 

 

I can read. I know what the words are, how they should sound, and what they mean. But that information isn't getting from my head to my mouth!!!!!!!! Just nothing come out!!!!!!

 

At Easter, I gave a homily on one of teh 7 last words of Christ. I know I only looked at the paper once, then launched into it, but that is not unusual. By the time I am ready to do something like that, I've written and rewritten it so many times that it is so familiar to me, that I don't need notes.

 

I haven't actually read anything in church, or anywhere else, for that matter, since the stroke.

 

I'm a little freaked out. No, I'm a LOT freaked out!!!!!!!!!! I can't make the words that I am reading come out of my mouth while I read them!!!!!!!!!!

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Lydia, I am sure that subconsciencely your telling yourself you cant do it. You said yourself its the first time you do it post stroke. Like everything else you will get better with practice. If you were a little scared about the outcome (if you could do it or not) and in front of a co-worker at that, you were not able to do it. Don`t let that stop you. Try it again and again until you can do it. Start in front of a mirror at home first. I just know you can do this Lydia. All the best to you.

 

mc

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I have a hard time noe but I pace myself with the words and breathing. I have a hard time going it but keep trying. The fact you're back to work it great for me.

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Lydia: calm down. Of course you can read out loud. You take your time, you review. Can't do it on spur of the moment. That is Ok. In the morning, quiet time, take the newspaper and just practice. When in doubt, sing. Music comes from a different part of the brain than reading. And mostly, don't let anyone put you in a postion that your are uncomfortable with. New scenerios must be dealt with with family and those who love and support you. Please don't let those fellow co=workers compromise you, you have such little time left there and know they are not your support.

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Lydia,

Please try not to be too upset or freaked out. What is happening is actually pretty normal for a post stroke brain.

What you are really trying to do is multitask. Most of us think of multitasking as answering the phone while typing, but your brain does it too, much like a computer's processor. Just like a computer when your brain i trying to simultaneously process different functions it may become overwhelmed and freeze up.

When you're trying to read aloud what you are asking your brain to do is visually take in the material, comprehend it, then mechanically and audibly output it through your mouth all almost instantaneously in a continuous stream. Not a big deal for the typical brain but that's an awful lot for a post stroke brain to handle. Keep in mind that each function is processed in its own part of the brain, then must cross over to the next area. This now brings in another higher level function; that of being able to incorporate and transfer information between the left and right hemispheres of your brain.

 

When you're reading something you're familiar with or can do by rote, you are eliminating a few of the processes so you are breaking it down to just really reciting it. What you may want to do for now is familiarize yourself with what you may be asked to read aloud for now, not necessarily to the point of memorization, but just so that you're not really focused on reading the words but simply speaking them prompted by glancing over them.

 

Best of luck and please remember you are not alone or out of the ordinary here. Most of your friends here have the same type difficulties and are always here to support you. I hope understanding why helped.

 

Maria :friends:

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Lydia, When I first read your post, I was reminded of a similar experience that I had my first year out. I was going to whisper something to my husband, and found out that when I opened my mouth, nothingcame out! When I first came out of my stroke fog, Icouldn't talk at all, so had to re-learn how to talk. I wasn't aphasic, I just couldn't make sound come out of my mouth. So, when I couldn't whisper, I was alarmed, and afraid I was regressing to not being able to talk. Afterall, I thought, I could talk, and whispering is just using less sound. Wrong! Turns out, according to my ST,less sound = more control of your air flow. Think about it-you need more air to be louder than speaking tone, and less to be softer. But it was months later before I understood that I, like many other strokers I had trouble multitasking. And any time you ask your brain to do more than one thing at a time, can be considered multi-tasking by your brain. So,try giving your brain less to do at once: Try inhaling for a count of 5. On 6, start reading, and allowing yourself to exhale as you speak. Run out of air? Repeat.Play with managing your air flow, and finding what works for you.And,yes, I can now whisper if I think about my air flow first. So,yeah, I agree with Maria, and think that it might be a multi-tasking problem,which I, too,think that you can conquer. Hope this helps, Becky

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That's for the support.

 

I don't think I made myself clear.

 

I was proofing something and the co-worker asked me to read it aloud, so we could both hear how it wuold sond.

 

Without thinking anything about it, I attemped to do just that. the problem was that I could not make my mouth make the shapes or the sounds of the words I was areading.

 

I physically didn't know how to do it.

 

On Easter, I gave a homily at the church. That was speaking in front of a group of people. I have also given orientation presentations 4 times since I came back to work. Speaking in public does not bother me.

 

I am quite literally unable, at this time, to read aloud. I know what the words are and how they should sound, but I cannot get that information from my mind to my mouth. There is a disconnect.

 

 

My mother tells me that my grandmother had the same problem after she started having strokes and that there is speach therapy to deal with it. We will ask the doctor about that next week.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 5 months later...
Guest MaineMoose

I had eight hour.. In which I can would describe what you are feeling. Then the larynx talked to the brain and I felt better. I'm wondering if you got a hold of the neurologist and what she said

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The neuro said it should come back, if I practice reading aloud. So, I have been working on that. What happens is that I read a couple of sentences once, then can half recite/half read them aloud, then I do the same with the next couple of sentences. I've gotten pretty good at it now and the pauses between sentence groups is getting a little more difficult to notice, at least that is what Sam says. I'll just keep practicing until I can actually do it, or perfect my compensating for it. Either way, I've gotten used to it and it doesn't freak me out so much any more.

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Guest MaineMoose

You-Rock.gifthis

hello, the neurologist said you should come back. If what you said is true I would leave it up to do though neurologist. Don't want don't run don't walk. As a aphasia patient, the

neuro , the brain is a funny thing, and the neurologist would best be situated to point you in the correct direction. Whether whether you need a speech therapist like I had over six months or a primary care physicians say are able to will help you. Rock on. One day at a time. Jeff

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Guest furiawill

Lydia, I am sure that subconsciencely your telling yourself you cant do it. You said yourself its the first time you do it post stroke. Like everything else you will get better with practice. If you were a little scared about the outcome (if you could do it or not) and in front of a co-worker at that, you were not able to do it. Don`t let that stop you. Try it again and again until you can do it. Start in front of a mirror at home first. I just know you can do this Lydia. All the best to you.

 

mc

LYDIA,

IAGREE WITH MC, IF IT IS A CONFIDENCE ISSUE, I THINK PRACTICE IS THE KEY, I WILL KEEP YOU IN MY PRAYERS.

-WILL

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm sitting in the office, with a co-worker. I was asked to read something aloud, so we could both see if it sounded ok. I just discovered I can't do that!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I can read. It is slow, most of the time, and after a while, it stops making sense, but I can read. I cna type and my spelling isn't too bad. I can write blogs and manuals, emails, training information, everything. What I can't seem to do is read aloud!

 

 

I can read. I know what the words are, how they should sound, and what they mean. But that information isn't getting from my head to my mouth!!!!!!!! Just nothing come out!!!!!!

 

At Easter, I gave a homily on one of teh 7 last words of Christ. I know I only looked at the paper once, then launched into it, but that is not unusual. By the time I am ready to do something like that, I've written and rewritten it so many times that it is so familiar to me, that I don't need notes.

 

I haven't actually read anything in church, or anywhere else, for that matter, since the stroke.

 

I'm a little freaked out. No, I'm a LOT freaked out!!!!!!!!!! I can't make the words that I am reading come out of my mouth while I read them!!!!!!!!!!

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Hi Lydia, I've read the thread on your predicament and am interested in knowing how you are doing now and what is working for you. I had an aphasic stroke in 1998 and had to learn to speak, read and write. I still read aloud with some difficulty, but I used reading aloud as a means to learn to speak - and write. It is called phonics, but I didn't realize that when it was happening. If you would like to compare notes, give me a shout. Carol@CrossingTheVoid.com

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  • 2 weeks later...

My strokes were just recent and I can read and I can talk. I was going to read a book to my four year old and when I went to read the words out loud I drew a complete blank. I was a bit shocked. I kept trying and one by one the words came out. Thank goodness the book I was reading was a beginner book with simple words and my son was non the wiser. There are times when I cant get out a word so I just skip it. I am sure that isnt something you can do at work though..

 

I too am curious how things are going with you.

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Guest MaineMoose

run don't walk to see Dr. or neurologist. Having seen that stroke is under year, have a doctor look at it. It's may be nothing.

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  • 2 months later...

Lydia were tou able to speak or just not get the words out ? My pro lem is producing words understandable. I have to talk slowly and forget somtimes as my thoughts. One much faster then my mouth can work So reading aloud isn't well either after 17 months

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  • 3 months later...

I know this is an old thread, but it will always be a pertinent one.

Lydia and Littleruthellen - let me say that I find this fascinating. It reminds me of when I was studying Spanish. I watched soaps on tv and understood them. I read latino magazines and understood them. One night while talking to a friend on the phone who also was studying Spanish, I wanted to read her something of interest from one of the Lat. magazines. Oddly, when I started to read it outloud, it was a horrible mess. When I read inside my head, my accent was perfect and the words came quickly. But outloud, my mouth had no idea how to form those same words! It was a matter of realizing that audible speech is a different skill from speech inside your head, and I had to begin working to get my skills of out loud reading up to my silent reading skills. I believe this is the same thing, exactly, that stroke patients experience, who can read in their heads, but find they can't read outloud.

Now my husband has 50% vision loss, so he has to deal with that also. We were trying to read from a child's bood tonight, and it was difficult for him. I try to tell him to do what we were taught in school as children. Follow the words with your finger. We even did it when someone else read. It was good for the eye to learn to follow a line, and it helped focus on the next word you had to say out loud. I know his stumbling on the words is just a matter of practice, like when I needed to practice reading Spanish outloud. Now the part where the words become too much in his head, is another problem. One problem at a time though :)

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