Community: the key to building and extending engagement for individuals with aphasia

The response by the aphasia community to the call of the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia Project Team to offer a framework for the management of aphasia was swift and expansive. Speech pathologists across the world accepted the paradigm shift from language goals within the clinic office to the short-term and long-term life objectives of their clients. The definition of service now included access to those communicative barriers that persons with aphasia face within their community. The recruitment, training, and shaping of that engagement must be individualized for successful (re)engagement. This article aims to present perspective on that process from a program that utilizes a unique center without walls concept.