My dad has had a severe brain trauma, he had his skull removed and is now in rehabilitation in a specialist hospital. He has been there for 3 months now.
His speech has been affected, he talks to us but he does not make any sense (almost like he is speaking gibberish). It does not seem to be improving and I wondered if anyone else has experienced this? Is it possible to regain normal speech again and how can we help him to do this?
thank you!
Hi Amy. Sadly the people who suffer the most immediately after serious brain injuries are the loved ones of patients as they're fully aware of the situation. The patient of course is unaware of their plight apart from, such as, agitation, headache and discomfort from the various lines, tubes & catheters.
I learned after leaving hospital that my family feared I'd (as they put it) lost my mind. I apparently talked nonsense none-stop, and believed my daughter was a neighbour and I needed my hands permanently bandaged to keep me from pulling out lines & feeding tubes.
Mine was a life threatening brain haemorrhage but my procedure was far less intrusive than your dad's, so I was discharged after three months. Your dad's slurred speech and 'gibberish' are classic symptoms of a confused brain trying to reconnect with the here and now - something which is gradually relearned as the brain reconfigures.
But after a craniotomy (or craniectomy) there's much more healing and fatigue to overcome, so your dad's progress will be a slower, more gradual process. I later learned how scary and overwhelming the waiting is for loved ones.
But try to hang onto the fact that your dad's situation is far from unusual after a brain injury, and that the passage of time is essential to allow the gradual taking over by other areas in his brain for those compromised by the trauma.
Keep talking to us m'dear. The more knowledge you gain the less weird all this will feel and you can start to recognize subtle improvements, and hopefully significant ones....
All best wishes, Cat x
That is so familiar to me. Apparently I kept pulling out the feeding tube and, as for talking nonsense, I excelled, telling the nurses I worked for the UK government as, in their words, “some kind of secret agent”. My brother had to put them straight thus “Yes, he’s a retired detective but the rest is rubbish!”. 😄 I didn’t know what was going on. One minute, I was in the mirror universe where I had mercy killed all my family to prevent them suffering in the war with Norway, Belgium and Italy and then I found some of them sitting at my bedside with apparent “radiation burns” (sun tan from their holiday!). Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool football manager became a firm friend and protector in my fantasy world and, in real life, after a friend wrote to the club, they sent a card and squad photo that I still cherish. After I had returned home, my hallucinations diminished.
It was a shock hearing stories of my bizarre ramblings. I didn't believe the first account but after it was confirmed by others I was so embarrassed. The hospital is state of the art and pristine but I repeatedly threatened to find stepladders and clean the 'filthy' ceilings 😲 ....and much, much more !
Hi cat,
Thank you so much for your reply it has been really helpful. Unfortunately we are not getting much information from the hospital where dad is (he is in a rehabilitation unit) but we never receive any information about his brain situation and he does not seem to get any form of rehab such as speech therapy which is not good. Hearing your story is really helpful and hopefully there is some hope that his speech will improve.
Thank you again xx
Amy, just to say have you asked to speak with doctors re. your dad's lack of therapy ? You're entitled to ask why, in a rehab centre, your dad isn't having rehab ; there might be a valid reason ?
If you have, but nothing's happening, you could contact PALS ; they're really understanding and can get things moving ......and in a diplomatic way, but only after you've raised the issue with rehab doctors.. x
He does have a speech therapist assigned to him at the hospital but we never see her and she hardly ever sees dad so we feel he is not getting the therapy he needs, he also has no physical rehab which isn’t good as he was in a coma for a long time with no movement and he has also had a stroke which has affected his movement in his right side. He is hopefully being transferred to a better hospital in a few weeks so hopefully this will get better and it won’t be too late.
Thank you for the advice about PALS I will look into it!xx
Hi Amy, my husband was in same situation he has been in hospital nearly 9 months. He's been on rehab for 2 months and he is improving. He was very confused at first and spoke as you say gibberish but he's so much better now. Don't get me wrong he still gets confused but he can hold a conversation now as long as its simple. It's a long road but hopefully improvement will come. Hang in there
Hi!Thank you and I am glad your husband is improving! Hopefully my dad will, he has said a few more words now that we recognise so that is good! He seems to get angry when we respond to him. Maybe is is aware that we don’t understand him, but I’m sure with time he will improve
I went through the angry stages and it wasn't nice, I think alot is frustration at not being able to say what they mean. John is sometimes a bit grumpy but a big improvement on before. We are 8.5 months in from his accident. Hopefully it will improve with time. Keep going, it's not easy but it gets better
Hi AmyI think your dad may have aphasia. My husband has quite severe aphasia after a severe stroke in 2018. He has improved a little but communication is difficult. My husbands type is where he finds it difficult to find words but if you give him the initial letter he can say the word. There is a type of aphasia where you talk fluently but it makes no sense. From what I have read a person with this type of aphasia is unaware they are not making sense.
With any type of aphasia speech therapy is vital. A speech therapist can give you loads of suggestions to improve communication.
Hope this helps. Hope things improve for your dad.
Thank you for your reply. Although we haven’t heard from the hospital ourselves it does seem that he has aphasia and like you said he is unaware he is not making sense. He has made progress, as a week or two ago he could only said the word ‘yeah’ that we could understand and he has said a few more now, I think it will be a slow process. My dad also had a stoke while he was in a coma so maybe this had had an effect on his speech.
Unfortunately the speech therapy in the rehabilitation unit is not very good. He has only seen his speech therapist 2 times since he has been there, so I may look at things I can do to help his speech.
Thank you for your message it has been so helpful to hear your story!x
Hi AmyGlad things are slowly improving.
Swearing comes from another part of the brain and seems to remain intact as does the words to songs so we found singing along to his favourite songs on YouTube helpful as it is using the correct muscles to form words. Hope things continue to improve for your dad.
Just wanted to say we were very up tight about not getting sufficient speech therapy whilst in hospital. However, on reflection there is no magic wand just a lot of repetition of quite basic things you can do with your dad.
Hi Amy, my husband had a craniectomy 14 months ago and is still awaiting cranioplasty. At first it was like he was speaking a foreign language. He didn't understand that he was saying the wrong words for what he meant but was speaking fluently. Gradually he came to understand that he was getting mixed up and not getting things right. He has had speech and language support and is now much better. He still has to search for words and substitutes words for the wrong ones. At times he finds this frustrating but he can usually make himself understood. He was given a card at the rehabilitation centre to show people to explain his problems. These are also available from Headway. He has never used it though as he tends to tell people he has had an injury that has caused trouble with his speech. Fortunately, people have been very kind and understanding.
It's not a quick fix and I'm not sure if my husband will be like this permanently. At the moment I think he is still making improvements so there is definitely hope for your dad to improve too. All you can do is be patient and keep the conversation going. Repeating back some of the words correctly when responding might help but for now I'd avoid pointing out errors to him until it seems appropriate and helpful. Hopefully, you dad will receive input from a speech and language therapist soon if he isn't already. My husband had regular therapy whilst in rehabilitation but when he came home he had to wait for it to restart again, with a therapist (or support assistant) visiting him at home. I guess the waiting lists will vary from area to area.
Hi! Thank you so much it is so helpful to hear your story about your husband.
Like you said it is like he is speaking a foreign language but he thinks he is making sense. He talks to us loads but we just don’t know what he is saying. He is still able to swear fine for some reason haha! And he makes us laugh still through facial expressions so that is a good sign.
Unfortunately the speech therapy and the rehabilitation unit is not great, he hardly ever receives any so that is a worry for us. But I hope if we keep talking to him regularly that will help.
Unfortunately my dad had a stoke after his skull removal surgery while he was in a coma, I think this is why his speech is so bad.
But hopefully over time he will get there, after hearing your story I feel more hopeful so thank you
recovery after 19 months
Strategies to move forwards after head injury 
How many people work after a bad head injury?
Progress slow speech therapy 
Is short term memory most common problem after head injury?
