Send us Fan Mail

The 2026 Guideline for Adult Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association is a major update to how we understand stroke rehabilitation, recovery, and long term care. This is a conversation about the evidence, the gaps, and what happens when stroke rehabilitation recommendations meet the people actually living them.

In this episode of Brain Friends, Angie sits down with Dr. Lorie G. Richards, PhD, OTR/L, FAHA, occupational therapist, stroke rehabilitation researcher, and Chair of the 2026 Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery Guideline Writing Group, to unpack what the latest evidence says and what it means for stroke survivors, care partners, clinicians, and rehabilitation professionals.

Dr. Richards discusses key topics including:

• Stroke rehabilitation and neuroplasticity
• Restoration versus compensation after stroke
• Physical, cognitive, communication, and emotional recovery
• Post stroke depression and mental health
• Cognitive changes and cognitive fatigue after stroke
• Aphasia, AAC, reading, writing, and communication support
• Motor recovery and brain pathway damage
• Caregiver education and support
• Reassessment after formal rehabilitation ends
• Insurance, access, and gaps in stroke rehabilitation services
• Community reintegration, independence, work, and daily life after stroke
• What stroke rehabilitation research still does not know

The conversation also explores an important message from the new guideline: stroke recovery does not end when formal therapy ends. Rehabilitation can extend across the recovery continuum, with continued reassessment, support, and strategies that help people participate in everyday life.

The 2026 Guideline for Adult Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery: A Guideline From the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association was published in Stroke.

Learn more about Brain Friends, Neuroplasticity City, and Conference Voices at RiversSpeaking.com.

This podcast is for education and discussion and is not medical advice. Talk with your physician or rehabilitation team about your individual care, not a random podcast

https://www.cognitiverecoverylab.com/seles

https://aphasia.org/stories/announcing-the-davetrina-seles-gadson-health-equity-grant-program/

Our beloved colleague, Dr. Davetrina Seles Gadson, passed away January 11, 2025. Dr. Gadson was an extraordinary speech-language pathologist and neuroscience researcher who devoted her energy to studying health disparities in aphasia recovery. She was a fierce advocate for improving services for individuals with aphasia, particularly Black Americans. Her research transformed our understanding of these health disparities and shed light on how we can address them. We were privileged to have Dr. Gadson as a cherished member of our lab community for four years, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as an Instructor of Rehabilitation Medicine. She was still a close collaborator and friend to many of us at the time of her passing. Dr. Gadson was an incredible person—compassionate, inspiring, and full of life. Her dedication to advancing equity in aphasia recovery and her profound impact on our community will never be forgotten. We are committed to honoring her memory by continuing to push our field forward and fight for equitable services for all people with aphasia.

Send us Fan Mail

A stroke doesn’t always arrive like a movie scene. Sometimes it shows up as a dragging leg, blurry vision, a face that won’t smile straight, or speech or language that suddenly changes. And the scariest part is that you may still feel “fine.”

That’s why Angie sits down with Nurse Karrima Owens, clinical nurse specialist and stroke program coordinator at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, known around West Philly as the Stroke Lady. Her message is simple and urgent: you don’t know what you don’t know, and when stroke symptoms appear, time matters.

The conversation explores how stroke and brain injury can affect awareness, attention, memory, language, speech, judgment, and other cognitive functions, sometimes making it harder for a person to recognize what has changed. Nurse Karrima shares what she hears from patients and families every day, including the common misconception that a stroke must be painful or dramatic. They also talk about why stroke is often called a “brain attack,” why “time is brain,” and how recognizing symptoms quickly can change what happens next.

You’ll leave with practical tools, including B.E. F.A.S.T. stroke warning signs: Balance, Eyes, Face, Arms, Speech, and Time. Nurse Karrima explains why even one sudden symptom is enough to call 911 and breaks down major stroke risk factors, including high blood pressure, smoking and vaping, diabetes, high cholesterol, irregular heart rhythms, sleep apnea, physical inactivity, and more.

The episode also gets into what happens after the emergency, including Angie’s “discharge cliff,” stroke recovery resources, support groups, preparing questions for medical appointments, and simple ways to stay organized when reading or writing is difficult.

If this episode helps you understand stroke a little better, subscribe to Brain Friends, share it with someone you love, and leave a review so more people can learn the signs before they need them.

https://www.cognitiverecoverylab.com/seles

https://aphasia.org/stories/announcing-the-davetrina-seles-gadson-health-equity-grant-program/

Our beloved colleague, Dr. Davetrina Seles Gadson, passed away January 11, 2025. Dr. Gadson was an extraordinary speech-language pathologist and neuroscience researcher who devoted her energy to studying health disparities in aphasia recovery. She was a fierce advocate for improving services for individuals with aphasia, particularly Black Americans. Her research transformed our understanding of these health disparities and shed light on how we can address them. We were privileged to have Dr. Gadson as a cherished member of our lab community for four years, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as an Instructor of Rehabilitation Medicine. She was still a close collaborator and friend to many of us at the time of her passing. Dr. Gadson was an incredible person—compassionate, inspiring, and full of life. Her dedication to advancing equity in aphasia recovery and her profound impact on our community will never be forgotten. We are committed to honoring her memory by continuing to push our field forward and fight for equitable services for all people with aphasia.