First choir in East Anglia to support people with Aphasia
It's been launched by an academic from the University of East Anglia.
The East Anglia region’s first choir for people with aphasia, a language disorder often acquired as a result of stroke or acquired brain injury, has been launched by an academic from the University of East Anglia.
Led by Elissa Manzi, Lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) at UEA, with support from SLT students and Heather Edwards as accompanist, the Norwich Aphasia Choir is open to all and aims to support those affected by aphasia.
Elissa hopes that the choir will continue to grow with support and interest from members of the UEA and wider Norfolk community:
“We decided to start this choir as we felt it would be valuable for people with aphasia in the local community, as well as providing extra clinical experience and learning for our Speech and Language Therapy students.
“Previous research suggests that taking part in an aphasia choir can improve mood and wellbeing for people with aphasia and we really hope to provide these benefits, as well as a fun, inclusive environment where people can feel relaxed together.
“We know that people with aphasia report reduced social connections and opportunities, so this is also an opportunity for people to get together for a coffee, chat and support. There are a few aphasia choirs across the country but none in East Anglia, so we're really excited to get this started and hope that others will follow suit.”
The choir sessions are currently running on the second and fourth Friday of every month at the Millennium Library in The Forum, Norwich.
More than 350,000 people in the UK have aphasia; it can affect an individual’s ability to understand information, express themselves, read and write. Yet, it is common for people with aphasia to retain their ability to sing or hum a melody.
The impairment in their speech and language is often caused by damage to the left side of the brain, but when we listen to music both sides of the brain are activated, including language-capable regions in the right hemisphere.
Three SLT students at the University – Katie Fletcher, Sophie Borzak and Heather Ogden – have shared their thoughts on the choir’s importance and the different skills they have learned through attending sessions:
Katie Fletcher, a third-year student, said: “I'm really enjoying being able to gain more experience working with people who have aphasia, being able to increase their quality of life and develop my conversational skills. I'm thoroughly looking forward to seeing everyone again, singing more songs, and continuing to help make the extremely positive impact the choir is having!”
Sophie Borzak, who is in her second year of studies at UEA, said: “It has been great being able to put the communication skills that we have learnt into practice and challenge myself to identify and adapt to the needs of people with aphasia attending the choir. It's also been very wholesome seeing everyone genuinely having a lovely time laughing and singing along!”
Heather Ogden, another second-year student, said: “It is fantastic to be able to put our learning about different communication techniques into practice by supporting those with aphasia in the choir. It is lovely to see people at the end of the choir sessions with a smile on their faces.”
In addition to teaching and running the choir sessions, Elissa Manzi is also involved in a research project focused on exploring experiences of people with aphasia who attend the choir and the experiences of students supporting with the choir.