How to Prepare

Before you attend the U-M Aphasia Program, you will be asked to participate in a digital orientation via Zoom. The orientation is about 30 minutes and covers common questions and concerns. It includes what you should expect, resources, and program details for when you begin your session.

During orientation, you will have an opportunity to ask questions to help you best prepare for your time here.

On you first day:

1. Welcome: You will be welcomed to the program and greeted by our wonderful staff. Each client is provided with materials to help navigate the next few weeks, that includes your first week’s therapy schedule, an introduction to UMAP clinicians, a picture dictionary, handouts, tools and other materials.
2. Tour (if needed): We will provide a tour of the facilities so you know where to find therapy rooms, restrooms, lunchroom, the family area, and other key locations.
3. Beginning Therapy: Therapy begins with further testing and evaluation from one or more Speech-Language Pathologists. Following the testing, you will talk with your primary clinician about goals and benchmarks to measure your progress.

Your days at UMAP will be spent in therapy sessions working on goals that you and your primary clinician designed to maximize your progress. Your schedule will consist of both individual and group therapy.

Important to Know

• You may be provided with homework assignments to reinforce therapy goals.
• Scheduling is flexible:
  • If needed, we can arrange rest periods.
  • If you would like, we can provide additional individual therapy (note: added fees apply).

Unfortunately, we are unable to take care of a client’s specific health services, such as administering medication or rate monitoring. However, we are located near several specialty clinics, the VA Ann Arbor Health Care System and Michigan Medicine, the university’s hospital community. Before arriving at UMAP, please be sure to coordinate medical needs well in advance with local area doctors or hospitals.

Please Note: The U-M Aphasia Program (UMAP) uses a different medical records system than Michigan Medicine. This means that if you are seeking care at a U-M facility outside of UMAP or the Mary A. Rackham Institute (MARI), you will have to provide reports, results, and access to your records separately to those service providers. 

We are not able to make medical appointments for you. Some clinics have long wait times, so making contact ahead of time is very important.

Should a client require emergency service while at UMAP, all services will be provided through the Michigan Medicine emergency services, located right around the corner from UMAP.

Before arriving each day, please remember to bring an adequate supply of any prescription medications.

Helpful Links:

• U-M Stroke Rehabilitation Program
• Michigan Medicine Gateway
• U-M Hospitals Patient Guidebook (PDF)

Within our lunch area, we have coffee, snacks, water and other types of drinks available to clients and their accompanying care partners and family. There are also vending machines accessible.

At noon, you’ll have a designated lunch time, which offers an opportunity to practice your communication skills with others. UCLL has a dining room and kitchen, which allows you to bring your own lunch and stay onsite, with access to a refrigerator and microwave.

There are various delis and restaurants nearby, campus cafes and Jimmy John’s. A little further, downtown Ann Arbor has many restaurants, most of which offer delivery. We are happy to provide recommendations!

As you prepare for your time at UMAP, it might be helpful to think about:

• As you will be in therapy for the majority of the day, and moving between therapy spaces, casual clothing that allows you to be comfortable is helpful. Also, as the temperature can change over the day and in the building, dressing in layers is recommended.
• Therapy Supplies, such as:
  • Speech-language therapy materials you have used in prior therapy
  • Mobile devices, i.e., your smart phone and/or tablet
  • Augmentative communication device, if you have one or would like to use one
  • Photos of family, home, pets, vacations
  • Video or audio of you prior to your injury or in the acute state of recovery (to aid in diagnosing and treating your communication difficulties)
• Personal Needs
  • Identification, such as driver’s license and/or passport
  • Important phone numbers and addresses
  • Health insurance cards
  • List of current medications
  • Adequate supply of prescription medications

Parking can be very challenging on this side of town; so we offer dedicated parking available for clients. Once you have confirmed your U-M Aphasia Program session, contact us for more information. Parking is also covered in more detail in your session orientation.

We are not responsible for tickets and citations for parking. Some local hotels may offer shuttle services to and from UCLL. Cabs and ride share services are also abundant throughout town.

Learn more about parking here.

PLEASE NOTE: GPS and map tools sometimes have a hard time finding the UCLL offices, where the U-M Aphasia Program is offered. If you search for University Center for Language and Literacy (UCLL) instead of the address, it will likely find our location easier.