June is National Aphasia Awareness Month. Today, we share an overview of this more-common-than-recognized disability.
Just What Is Aphasia?
If you’ve never even heard of aphasia, you’re not alone. According to research by the National Aphasia Association, “aphasia” is a new word to one person in three.
The word comes from the Greek for “without speech.” Medically, however, an aphasia diagnosis needn’t mean complete loss of speech. It refers to an acquired neurological disability that keeps someone from properly putting their thoughts into words (spoken or written), or from mentally processing words that they hear or see.
Specific symptoms vary widely. A person with aphasia may:
- Speak in incomplete sentences or incomprehensible words
- Use words out of context
- Know what they want to say, but be unable to find the right words or sounds
- Find that others’ conversation seems to make no sense
- Lose the ability to read and/or write effectively
Some people have primarily expressive aphasia (inability to put their thoughts into words), some have primarily receptive aphasia (inability to process incoming words), and many have some level of both. The aphasia spectrum ranges from mild impairment (sometimes called anomic aphasia, in which someone routinely fumbles for exact words) to total loss of speech and literacy.
What Causes Aphasia?
Over 2.5 million people in the U.S. have some level of aphasia. The most common cause is a stroke: even if the word “aphasia” is new to you, you probably know about stroke patients with impaired speech. Aphasia can also be due to:
- A physical head injury/traumatic brain injury
- A brain tumor
- Infection/inflammation in the brain
- Neural deterioration, or primary progressive aphasia
There’s also such a thing as temporary aphasia, usually caused by brain fog or a migraine or seizure, which goes away on its own.
What Problems Does Aphasia Cause?
Sadly, many cases of aphasia persist for months or years—to the frustration, isolation, and eventual despair of those living with it. Like congenital deafness or nonverbal autism, aphasia leaves many people fully aware of what they want to say and desperate to share it, but finding their best efforts getting nowhere. And as if that isn’t bad enough, they’re often surrounded by people who take their loss of speech for a lack of intelligence, and who are impatient, dismissive, or patronizing as a result.
(Note that many people do have aphasia and cognitive impairment. It takes professional evaluation to determine the extent of both.)
Is Aphasia Treatable?
With proper evaluation and treatment, most aphasia patients can achieve at least partial recovery—by relearning verbal speech and/or by using alternate methods of communication. It’s important to:
- Find a good speech-language pathologist (SLP) as early as possible. Look for someone who emphasizes finding the best forms of communication for each individual, and who is trained in a variety of approaches.
- Determine what forms of communication the patient finds easiest and most difficult, as well as their personal preferences.
- Surround the patient with an encouraging and empathetic support circle.
- Encourage the patient to keep using (and relearning) their other life skills.
- Continue to treat them as whole persons with feelings and intelligence.
- Keep believing in them and their future.
Resources of Interest
- Aphasia Voices (YouTube playlist)
- Bill of Rights for Caregivers (National Aphasia Association)
- Houston Aphasia Recovery Center
- Ten Aphasia Myths Busted