What is aphasia?
According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, aphasia is "a disorder that results from damage to the parts of the brain that contain language". Aphasia can affect the ability to write, read, and comprehend and produce speech. Aphasia can range from being very mild, to being almost impossible to be able to communicate with the person who has it. There are many types of aphasia including Broca's (non-fluent), Wernicke's (fluent), Anomic, and mixed-fluent aphasia. The type of aphasia a patient gets depends on the region of the brain that is affected and the size of the injury. The most common cause of aphasia is a stroke but it can also be caused by dementia, head trauma, brain tumors, or infections. According to the National Aphasia Association, about 25-40% of stroke survivors acquire aphasia.
Effects of aphasia
Auditory comprehension and word retrieval are two of the most common problems in all types of aphasia. A person with aphasia may struggle to tell time, do math, count, gesture, or interpret noises, such as an animal sounds. Aphasia can also cause a person to omit, substitute, or add words as well as hinder their ability to name things. Hyperfluent speech, rapid speech with few pauses, is also a common among aphasia patients (Owens, Metz, Farinella). According to Owens, Metz, and Farinella, "Although individuals with aphasia may have normal hearing and visions, difficulty comes in the interpretation or the ability to make sense of the incoming signal". While aphasia patients are fully capable of seeing and hearing, they are not able to interpret and comprehend what exactly they are seeing and hearing.
In addition to having difficulties speaking, understanding, reading, and writing, aphasia can also cause physical and psychosocial problems. In a majority of cases, aphasia is caused by injury to the left side of the brain. Since the left side of the brain is in control of the right side of the body, many aphasia patients experience weakness or paralysis of the right leg and arm. Aphasia can also cause hemisensory impairment (unable to perceive sensory information) as well as hemianopsia (affects a person's ability to read). When paralysis affects the neck and face, the patient can develop a condition known as dysphagia. With dysphagia, an individual can struggle with chewing and swallowing accompanied by gagging and drooling (Owens, Metz, Farinella).
From a family perspective, a lot of changes take place when someone you know, especially a spouse, child or parent, acquires aphasia. Because the individual has such a hard time comprehending or expressing themselves (or both), they may feel left out from their family. They aren't able to understand what is going on or respond appropriately leading them to not be able to keep up with conversation making them further removed. They can't express their needs or respond when their children tell them about their day. From a spouse's perspective, they may worry about finances or support. An individual with aphasia may have a hard time returning to work which takes away a source of income. This may cause money to become tight making it hard to support kids and also get the spouse with aphasia the treatment and help they need.
In addition to having difficulties speaking, understanding, reading, and writing, aphasia can also cause physical and psychosocial problems. In a majority of cases, aphasia is caused by injury to the left side of the brain. Since the left side of the brain is in control of the right side of the body, many aphasia patients experience weakness or paralysis of the right leg and arm. Aphasia can also cause hemisensory impairment (unable to perceive sensory information) as well as hemianopsia (affects a person's ability to read). When paralysis affects the neck and face, the patient can develop a condition known as dysphagia. With dysphagia, an individual can struggle with chewing and swallowing accompanied by gagging and drooling (Owens, Metz, Farinella).
From a family perspective, a lot of changes take place when someone you know, especially a spouse, child or parent, acquires aphasia. Because the individual has such a hard time comprehending or expressing themselves (or both), they may feel left out from their family. They aren't able to understand what is going on or respond appropriately leading them to not be able to keep up with conversation making them further removed. They can't express their needs or respond when their children tell them about their day. From a spouse's perspective, they may worry about finances or support. An individual with aphasia may have a hard time returning to work which takes away a source of income. This may cause money to become tight making it hard to support kids and also get the spouse with aphasia the treatment and help they need.
Types of aphasia
As mentioned above, there are many different types of aphasia that patients can acquire. The two main categories of aphasia are fluent and nonfluent. As shown in the picture on the left, within the two main categories, there are many subtypes of aphasia.
FLUENT APHASIA
With fluent aphasia, an individual often has a very hard time comprehending what is said to them, but they are able to produce 'connected' speech (NAA). The National Aphasia Association states, "Sentences do not hang together and irrelevant words intrude, sometimes to the point of jargon in severe cases". With fluent aphasia, a person also has a very difficult time reading and writing (NAA).
NONFLUENT APHASIA
Individuals with nonfluent aphasia often times have few problems with the comprehension of speech and being able to read. However, when it comes to speaking, they are limited to only short sentences of four words or less (NAA). Those with nonfluent aphasia also have very limited vocabularies causing them to struggle to retrieve their words which makes their speech much slower.
FLUENT APHASIA
With fluent aphasia, an individual often has a very hard time comprehending what is said to them, but they are able to produce 'connected' speech (NAA). The National Aphasia Association states, "Sentences do not hang together and irrelevant words intrude, sometimes to the point of jargon in severe cases". With fluent aphasia, a person also has a very difficult time reading and writing (NAA).
NONFLUENT APHASIA
Individuals with nonfluent aphasia often times have few problems with the comprehension of speech and being able to read. However, when it comes to speaking, they are limited to only short sentences of four words or less (NAA). Those with nonfluent aphasia also have very limited vocabularies causing them to struggle to retrieve their words which makes their speech much slower.