Beyond Aphasia: Understanding an Unknown Disorder

To many stroke and brain injury survivors with aphasia, interacting with family, friends and co-workers can be as frustrating as attempting to navigate a foreign country without knowing the local language.

Between 25 and 40 percent of stroke survivors develop aphasia. In fact, aphasia affects approximately 1 million people in the United States, and is more common than Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy.

However, most people have never heard of the disorder. To increase awareness of aphasia, the U.S. Senate recently designated June as National Aphasia Awareness Month. Senate Resolution 172 acknowledges that aphasia deserves more attention and study to find new solutions for serving individuals experiencing aphasia and their caregivers.

Behind the Disorder

Aphasia is an acquired communication impairment that affects a person’s ability to express him or herself through speech, body language and writing, and to understand the speech, body language and writing of others. The disorder is often a result of stroke, head injury, a brain tumor or other neurological problems.

Not every case of aphasia is the same. There are many unique types of aphasia, which correspond to the location of a person’s brain injury. Some aphasics lose all meaningful speech. Others are able to articulate some words but speak hesitantly or talk fluently but with non-words. Some can write or sing, but not read. Most commonly, depending on what part of the brain and how the language centers are damaged, multiple aspects of communication are impaired.

Several people with aphasia also have weakness or paralysis of their right leg and right arm, according to the National Aphasia Association. Aphasia typically is caused by damage to the left side of the brain, which controls movements on the right side of the body.

Open Communication

It is important to remember that although aphasia hinders a person’s ability to communicate, the disorder has no effect on a person’s intelligence.

Here are some crucial points to remember when communicating with someone who has aphasia:

• Make sure you have the person's attention before you start.
• Minimize or eliminate background noise.
• Keep communication simple, but adult. Simplify your own sentence structure and reduce your rate of speech.
• Encourage and use writing, drawing, yes/no responses, choices, gestures, eye contact and facial expressions in addition to speech.
• Give them time to talk and let them have a reasonable amount of time to respond.
• Downplay errors and avoid frequent corrections. Avoid insisting that each word be pronounced perfectly.
• Do not ignore people with aphasia in a group conversation.

Treatment and Prevention

There is no cure for aphasia, but people with the disability can greatly benefit from therapy sessions with a speech-language pathologist. Speech-language pathologists can help assist people who have experienced brain injuries to regain lost language through cognitive linguistic therapy, programmed stimulation, stimulation-facilitation therapy and group therapy.

Stroke, a major cause of aphasia, can be prevented by avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol, maintaining a healthy weight and engaging in regular exercise.

For more information about the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic, visit the university's Stroke Therapy/Aphasia Recovery Program.