These SIG 2 Perspectives articles focus on counseling skills for working with persons with aphasia, “counseling+” activities for patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia, and resilience in neurorehabilitation. Topics include counseling skills; counseling roles of SLPs; care partner training; and resilience in persons with acquired brain injury, aphasia, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

First, Alyssa M. Lanzi, James M. Ellison, and Matthew L. Cohen describe “counseling+” activities across the continuum of care for persons with mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Second, Kristin M. Schaffer and Maya L. Henry provide a narrative literature review discussing research on counseling and care partner training in primary progressive aphasia. Third, Rebecca Hunting Pompon introduces a tutorial on using basic counseling skills for building the therapeutic alliance and navigating challenging conversations with persons with aphasia and their families. Finally, Aaron Rothbart and McKay Moore Sohlberg examine the key constructs fundamental to understanding resilience and provide examples of evidence-based practices that can be incorporated into neurorehabilitation practices to establish resilience.

Learning Outcomes
You will be able to:

• explain how to conduct a memory screening and support clients and families during the diagnostic process
• describe existing research approaches pertaining to counseling and care partner training in primary progressive aphasia
• describe example responses within the five basic counseling skills and illustrate their applicability to various situations
• give an example of how to embed the promotion of optimism within a neurorehabilitation session

Assessment Type
Self-assessment—Think about what you learned and report on the Completion Form how you will use your new knowledge.

Articles in This Course

1. The “Counseling+” Roles of the Speech-Language Pathologist Serving Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia From Alzheimer's Disease by Alyssa M. Lanzi, James M. Ellison, and Matthew L. Cohen, published in SIG 2, Volume 6, Issue 5, October 20, 2021
2. Counseling and Care Partner Training in Primary Progressive Aphasia by Kristin M. Schaffer and Maya L. Henry, published in SIG 2, Volume 6, Issue 5, October 20, 2021
3. Basic Counseling Skills: Working With People With Aphasia and Their Families by Rebecca Hunting Pompon, published in SIG 2, Volume 6, Issue 5, October 20, 2021
4. Resilience as a Mainstream Clinical Consideration for Speech-Language Pathologists Providing Post–Acquired Brain Injury Neurorehabilitation by Aaron Rothbart and McKay Moore Sohlberg, published in SIG 2, Volume 6, Issue 5, October 20, 2021