Word-Finding and Chronic Illness

‘Your sandwich is on the sofa’.  Just this morning, I managed to confuse my son with thinking that I had put part of his packed lunch in the most random of places, when all I meant to say was ‘table’.  I have noticed word-finding problems happening more and more frequently, which can be quite alarming, especially for a speech and language therapist!  Luckily, it doesn’t happen that often whilst at work, perhaps because I am usually focusing on strategies to support children with their own ability to find words but, at home, when brain-fog is at its most persistent, the ability to ‘find the right word’ is definitely reduced.

Word-finding Difficulties and Chronic Illness

I have Multiple Sclerosis, which is sometimes described as a ‘snowflake disease’.  This means that not everyone who has the diagnosis has the same symptoms as each other; they are varied and numerous.  However, problems with memory, concentration, problem-solving and multi-tasking are all common complaints for those who have, not only MS, but other chronic illness(es).  This may be known as ‘cog-fog’ or ‘brain-fog‘, or cognitive difficulties. Fatigue, which is often a common factor in chronic illness(es) may exacerbate symptoms such as the ability to find the right word and to think clearly.

Those that have word-finding difficulties may:

• Feel as though the right word is ‘on the tip of their tongue’, they just can’t quite reach it
• Make errors, such as replacing the target word with one that sounds similar (e.g. ‘parrot’ for carrot’) or one that is related in some way (e.g. ‘sofa’ for ‘table’)
• ‘Talk around the word’, describing it rather than using the target e.g. ‘those things that you cut with’, rather than ‘scissors’
• Use a lot of ‘unspecific language’, making it difficult to get their message across e.g. ‘I saw that thing under there‘ instead of ‘I saw the pen under the chair‘.
• Pepper their speech with ‘ummm’, ‘err’, ‘you know’
• Find it difficult to engage in conversation, due to the amount of time it can take to contribute to the discussion
• Feel frustrated and annoyed with themselves for not being able to ‘get the right word’ and may feel embarrassed by others noticing
• Find it impacts on family and relationships, as both they, and their significant others, find it frustrating

It can be a scary prospect to suddenly not be able to find the right label for those everyday words that used to come so easily.  I find that I am more likely to experience word-finding difficulties if I am tired, rushing or I am put on the spot to answer.

How Can I Help Myself?

• Picturing the object in your mind (having a visual clue), or gesturing what you might do with it may help you to find the word
• Give yourself some ‘clues’ about the item e.g. ‘I eat it, it is a fruit, it is round and red… it is an apple’.  This helps to build the picture around the word, which can support word retrieval over time
• Put time aside to carry out activities that can help to boost your word retrieval skills:

1. Name as many items in a category as you can in 30 seconds e.g. animals/furniture/vegetables/things that are round/things you might see at work etc
2. Look at items/pictures and describe them:  What does it look like? What does it feel like?  What does it smell like?  What do we do with it?  Where would we find it?  What does it sound like? (Building up word meaning/semantics)
3. Some word-finding difficulties can be the result of not being able to find the right sounds for the word.  As above, look at some items or pictures and ask yourself the following (let’s take the word ‘bike’): What sound does it start with?  ‘b’.  What sound does it end with? ‘k’ (rather than ‘e’, as that is the letter rather than sound, and is silent).  How many syllables does it have? Tap it out on the table – 1 beat, so 1 syllable.  What does it rhyme with? Hike, Mike, dyke, like, spike, tyke.  This builds up phonological awareness.

• There are apps, created by Speech and Language Therapists, that help to support word-finding.  This one, by Tactus Therapy, guides you to work on thinking of the right words, organising your ideas, improving your efficiency, and speaking clearly.  It is available for iPhone
• Play word games!  I play ‘4 pictures, 1 word’ on my phone and scrabble a lot

How Can Others Help?

By:

• Asking yes/no questions rather than open-ended questions e.g. would you like to go to the cinema?’ rather than ‘what would you like to do today?’
• Offering choices e.g. ‘would you prefer pasta or burgers for tea?’ rather than ‘what would you like to eat?’
• Encouraging you to talk about and describe the item
• Giving you time to formulate your answers
• Being patient and understanding

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Word-finding difficulties can be a frustrating part of any illness but, hopefully, the above strategies can help you to feel as though you are actively engaging in activities to help yourself.  They will also strengthen those connections in your brain to help you retrieve the words more easily.  Let me know how you get on – and I’ll do the same!

Love and light