Aphasia

Aphasia is a communication disorder that results from damage to the parts of the brain that contain language.

 Individuals who experience damage to the right side of the brain may have additional difficulties beyond speech and language issues. Aphasia may causes difficulties in speaking, listening, reading, and writing, but does not affect intelligence. Individuals with aphasia may also have other problems, such as dysarthria, apraxia, or swallowing problems.

What causes aphasia?

Aphasia is most often caused by stroke. However, any disease or damage to the parts of the brain that control language can cause aphasia. These include brain tumors, traumatic brain injury, and progressive neurological disorders.

What are some signs or symptoms of aphasia?

The specific symptoms and severity of aphasia vary depending on the location and extent of brain damage. Individuals with damage to the front part of the brain may have "choppy" or non-fluent speech. However, they can typically understand what people say fairly well. Those with damage to the posterior regions of the brain often have fluent speech—that is, the rate and rhythm of speech may sound normal. However, their speech may contain the wrong words or made-up words. They also typically have difficulty understanding what is spoken.

Additionally, all individuals with aphasia may also have one or more of the following problems:

• Difficulty producing language:
  • Experience difficulty coming up with the words they want to say
  • Substitute the intended word with another word that may be related in meaning to the target (e.g., "chicken" for "fish") or unrelated (e.g., "radio" for "ball")
  • Switch sounds within words (e.g., "wish dasher" for "dishwasher")
  • Use made-up words (e.g., "frigilin" for "hamburger")
  • Have difficulty putting words together to form sentences
  • String together made-up words and real words fluently but without making sense
• Difficulty understanding language:
  • Misunderstand what others say, especially when they speak fast (e.g., radio or television news) or in long sentences
  • Find it hard to understand speech in background noise or in group situations
  • Misinterpret jokes and take the literal meaning of figurative speech (e.g., "it's raining cats and dogs")
• Difficulty reading and writing:
  • Difficulty reading forms, pamphlets, books, and other written material
  • Problems spelling and putting words together to write sentences
  • Difficulty understanding number concepts (e.g., telling time, counting money, adding/subtracting)