Aphasia
Overview
Aphasia is a condition that
affects your ability to communicate. It can affect your speech, as well as the
way you write and understand both spoken and written language.
Aphasia typically occurs
suddenly after a stroke or a head injury. But it can also come on gradually
from a slow-growing brain tumor or a disease that causes progressive, permanent
damage (degenerative). The severity of aphasia depends on a number of conditions,
including the cause and the extent of the brain damage.
Symptoms
Aphasia is a sign of some
other condition, such as a stroke or a brain tumor.
A person with aphasia may:
Speak in short or incomplete
sentences
Speak in sentences that
don't make sense
Substitute one word for
another or one sound for another
Speak unrecognizable words
Not understand other
people's conversation
Write sentences that don't
make sense
Patterns of aphasia
People with aphasia may have
different patterns of strengths and weaknesses.
Expressive aphasia. This is
also called Broca's or nonfluent aphasia. People with this pattern of aphasia
may understand what other people say better than they can speak. People with
this pattern of aphasia struggle to get words out, speak in very short
sentences and omit words. A person might say, "Want food" or
"Walk park today."
A listener can usually
understand the meaning, but people with this aphasia pattern are often aware of
their difficulty communicating and may get frustrated. They may also have
right-sided paralysis or weakness.
Comprehensive
aphasia. People with this pattern of aphasia (also
called fluent or Wernicke's aphasia) may speak easily and fluently in long,
complex sentences that don't make sense or include unrecognizable, incorrect or
unnecessary words. They usually don't understand spoken language well and often
don't realize that others can't understand them.
Global aphasia.
This aphasia pattern is characterized by poor comprehension and difficulty forming
words and sentences. Global aphasia results from extensive damage to the
brain's language networks. People with global aphasia have severe disabilities
with expression and comprehension.
When to see a doctor
Once the cause has been addressed,
the main treatment for aphasia is speech and language therapy. The person with
aphasia relearns and practices language skills and learns to use other ways to
communicate. Family members often participate in the process, helping the
person communicate.
Because aphasia is often a
sign of a serious problem, such as a stroke, seek emergency medical care if you
or a loved one suddenly develop:
Difficulty speaking
Trouble understanding speech
Difficulty with word recall
Problems with reading or
writing
Causes
The most common cause of
aphasia is brain damage resulting from a stroke — the blockage or rupture of a
blood vessel in the brain. Loss of blood to the brain leads to brain cell death
or damage in areas that control language.
Brain damage caused by a
severe head injury, a tumor, an infection or a degenerative process also can
cause aphasia. In these cases, the aphasia usually occurs with other types of
cognitive problems, such as memory problems or confusion.
Primary progressive aphasia
is the term used for language difficulty that develops gradually. This is due
to the gradual degeneration of brain cells located in the language networks.
Sometimes this type of aphasia will progress to a more generalized dementia.
Sometimes temporary episodes
of aphasia can occur. These can be due to migraines, seizures or a transient
ischemic attack (TIA). A TIA occurs when blood flow is temporarily blocked to
an area of the brain. People who've had a TIA are at an increased risk of
having a stroke in the near future.
Complications
Aphasia can create numerous
quality-of-life problems because communication is so much a part of your life.
Communication difficulty may affect your:
Job
Relationships
Day-to-day function
Language barriers may lead
to embarrassment, depression and relationship problems.
Jan Ricks Jennings
Senior Consultant
Senior management
Resources, LLC
JanJenningsBlog.Blogspot.com
412.913.0636 Cell
724.733.0509 Office
April 7, 2022
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