Speech Problems Post TBI: Hesitant Speech

Speech Problems Post TBI: Michael Part Ten

Michael talks about the kind of speech problems post TBI that have effected him in having conversations. He has somewhat of a stutter when he gets over excited.

What speech problems post TBI do you have with conversation? 

Well, if I get over excited I start to stutter.  If I can’t think of what I need to say next I pause and stutter.  (If) you understand that I do that ,you have no problem with it but sometimes when I’m with average people and their mind works so quick they want to fill in the words for me and I get upset with it.

So what you’re saying is, you’re sort of meandering your way through a sentence –

and people want to jump in and say, you mean –

They, they think they’re helping, but they’re not.

Talk to me about how your speech problems post TBI  bothers you. 

Well, actually it started to bother me when I was down. I think when I first came back to school.  It’s hard for me, but for me to understand I’ve got to be able to come up with a sentence and then if they sort of, if they fill in the word, I forget usually a lot of times what I’m talking about.  And I also think it’s very rude of them.

If you get the sentence out your memory is much better?

Memory is much better. It’s kind of funny.   Say if you and I were just talking and say outside somewhere, there’s a pretty good chance two things could happen; one would be we would be having a good conversation and all of a sudden I forget what we’re talking about, that one’s not the bad one because I usually just ask.

But the other one is rather hard because I’ll forget who you are.  I’ll be like okay, what is his name, what is his name, and I feel really embarrassed to ask you.  I have no problem asking you what we were talking about but I find it very embarrassing to ask who you are.

And most of the cognitive challenges (speech problems post TBI) that you have in what I call the real world, you aren’t having today. 

No. (Meaning correct.)

And why is that?

For one it’s just you and me; two, there’s not a lot of noise going on; three, I think we’re, talking with you, you expect some of my hesitations and some of my comprehending things.   You kind of expect that, to where if I’m with someone else who doesn’t know me very well they don’t understand and they don’t perceive just to let me go.

Next in Part Eleven –  Dog Critical Companion for Brain Injury Recovery

By Attorney Gordon Johnson

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