Aphasia                   

Aphasia is a language disorder that impacts your ability to make and/or understand spoken and written language.  Aphasia affects your ability to find the words to speak that you want to say and/or understand the words that are being said to you.  The cause is often a stroke, tumor, or degenerative condition that impacts the speech center of the brain.

Symptoms

  • Your speech does not make sense
  • You speak in short/incomplete sentences
  • You use words that do not make sense
  • You do not understand what is being said to you
  • Your writing does not make sense
  • You are substituting words/sounds for another

Types of aphasia

  • Global – You produce & understand minimal spoken language, often cannot read/write
  • Broca’s(expressive) – You can understand speech & can read, limited writing & speak with effort in short verses
  • Mixed non-fluent – You speak with effort in short verses, difficulty understand written/spoken language
  • Wernicke’s(receptive) – You can speak but speech can be disconnected, difficulty understanding language
  • Anomic – You understand speech & read, can speak but difficulty finding some words in speech & to write
  • Primary Progressive – Your language becomes progressively worse due to a degenerative disease like Alzheimer’s

Treatments