Aphasia Center of Acadiana, Inc.

06/15/2026

Mark your calendars for summer fun with ACA! ☀️🍉

Out and About Group starts NEXT WEEK!

Text 225-302-0811 to get weekly reminders! 📱

06/10/2026

That’s our VP of Research 🎉

Doing research people with aphasia care about and have asked for! 🫰

University of Louisiana at Lafayette researchers are examining ways to help people living with aphasia more effectively communicate with their friends.

06/06/2026

Exciting day this week as we watched Governor Jeff Landry sign HB 1244, now known as “Riley’s Law”, into law.

Under this legislation, individuals with a brain injury may request, with appropriate medical documentation, that a designation be placed on their Louisiana driver’s license or state ID indicating they have a brain injury. This optional identifier is intended to help law enforcement recognize that they are interacting with someone who has a brain injury and to support more informed, appropriate communication and response during encounters.

BIALA is also excited to collaborate with the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement to provide education and training for law enforcement professionals, helping to build greater understanding of brain injury and improve responses in the field.

Sending BIG thanks to Representative Lauren Ventrella, Pamela Donahue, Katie Mayers, Kim Lanclos-Smith, and BJ Smith for their help in making this law a reality.
BrainArt Alliance

06/05/2026

Led by a counselor in conjunction with a person with aphasia!

Lafayette Aphasia Support Group
⏰9:30 AM
📍Main Library (2nd floor)
301 W. Congress St.
Lafayette LA 70501

Hope to see you there!

05/30/2026

Our first stroke support group in Thibodaux was AMAZING 🤩

Big shout out to Hayden and Bill for taking the lead on getting this huge group together! We are all stronger together 💪

05/22/2026

Dr. Jamie and Rose were able to meet up with Hope Therapy's Lake Charles' Stroke Support Group this month. Thank you so much for having us and for being a continuation of support in the greater LC area. Shout out to Kristen Marcantel, SLP extraordinaire, for helping run this group!

05/21/2026

Save the Date!!!
On June 24, 2026, we will have our fifth annual Independence After Stroke fundraising dinner at Cafe Sydnie Mae!

We are still looking for sponsorships for our upcoming fundraising dinner. We are so grateful for any and all donations. Help us to raise enough money to keep our groups free, and expand our service offerings, every dollar makes a difference! 💙

With the funds we received last year, we were able to accomplish several of our goals which have given people with stroke and aphasia FREE therapy services throughout the year. Here are a few highlights of our growth over the last year:
➡We provided FREE counseling services with a licensed counselor to people with aphasia.
➡We amped up our Outreach Visitations with Ochsner Rehabilitation Hospital, where we provide two informational support visits to people with new strokes and aphasia before they discharge into the community.
➡We continue to run multiple community groups that meet outside of UL Lafayette and are run by volunteers or a paid speech-language pathologist.
➡Last summer, we continued our intensive comprehensive aphasia program (ICAP) for the 2nd time. This is the highest level of evidence for treatment that we have in our field, and often it costs up to $15,000 per person to receive this service across the country. People with aphasia received 60 hours of therapy across 4 weeks; this is more speech therapy than people with stroke and aphasia receive across inpatient and outpatient rehab combined. We enrolled eight people (2 more than last year!) with aphasia at no cost.

Purchase tickets on our website!
https://aphasiacadiana.square.site/product/cafe-sydnie-mae-fundraiser-dinner-tickets/9?cs=true&cst=custom

Our annual fundraiser dinner is June 24th at Café Sydnie Mae in Breaux Bridge. The bar will open at 5pm. At time of purchase, please use text box to note your dinner choice(s) and preferred seating arrangements (e.g. persons you'd like to be seated with).Options for Main Course: Steak, Chicken,...

05/16/2026

It’s been a special weekend for these remarkable women! 👸

Congratulations to Ashley Hartley Kidd for receiving her PhD and Darriante Washington and Josie Roane for completing their master’s degrees! 🫶

The research that you have co-conducted with our members with aphasia is not only driven by the wants and needs of the people we serve, but it represents the kind of meaningul difference that can be made to help people live successfully with aphasia. 🧠

Now go out and change the world. And Geaux Cajuns! 🤟🖤♥️

05/14/2026

Peer Befriending Training Day 1 📖

Excited to start the journey of adapting an evidence-based peer befriending program from the UK to long-term care residents with aphasia in the US! 🧠

PhD student Maria Mengis has completed study 1 and 2 which worked to identify barriers and facilitators to implement this program in long-term care! 🧐👩🏼‍💻

Now we are training 7 people with chronic aphasia to visit 3 long-term care facilities who have selected residents with aphasia to pilot the program so we can explore the impact! ✅

Together we can help people living with aphasia feel less socially isolated! 💕

Thankful to Dr. Natalie Douglas and Dr. Jamie Hartwell Azios for mentoring and guidance of this project!