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Aphasia is caused by damage to the language areas of the brain and is most commonly caused by Stroke. It can also be caused by head injury, brain tumours, infection and other neurological diseases.
Over 100 million people living in the world have experienced a stroke, according to the World Stroke Organisation (www.world-stroke.org). Stroke is life-changing! Many people do not return to their pre-stroke life and need ongoing lifetime support for physical, cognitive, communicative, and psycho-social disabilities.
One such disability is Aphasia. Aphasia is a communication disability experienced by more than 1/3 of people who have a stroke. It can affect a person’s ability to understand the words they hear and read and to express themselves when speaking or writing. Aphasia does not affect intelligence but people with aphasia find it difficult to get their thoughts across when they speak and/or write.
There are different types of aphasia depending on where the stroke damages the brain.
Broca’s aphasia is a non-fluent aphasia. It is caused by damage to the left hemisphere frontal region of the brain. Some characteristics include:
Generally understands what is being said to them relatively well
Generally be able to understand what they read
Speech is often halting and effortful
Speech may consist of single words or short phrases
Small words such as ‘and’, ‘is’ and ‘the’ are often left out of sentences
Vocabulary is often limited and will have difficulties finding the words they want to say
Have difficulties writing.
Wernicke's Aphasia
Wernicke’s aphasia is a fluent aphasia. It is caused by damage to the left hemisphere temporal lobe region of the brain. Some characteristics include:
Find it difficult to understand what is being said to them
Can speak in long sentences but the words do not always make sense
Will have difficulties finding the words they want to say.
Sentences can include irrelevant or ‘made-up’ words.
Often not aware that what they are saying is wrong
Severe difficulties reading and writing.
Global Aphasia
Global aphasia is a non-fluent aphasia. It is caused by extensive damage to multiple language centres of the brain. This is the most severe form of aphasia. Some characteristics include:
Severe difficulty understanding what is said to them.
Severe difficulty saying words and sentences
May be unable to say any words or repeat the same words or sounds over and over again.
Conduction Aphasia
Conduction aphasia is a fluent aphasia. It is caused by damage to the left hemisphere between Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area of the brain. Some characteristics include:
Can understand what is said to them
Can read and write
Can hold a conversation
May have difficulties finding the words they want to say.
Have difficulty repeating words or sentences even though they understand them.
Anomic Aphasia
Anomic aphasia is a fluent aphasia. It is caused by damage to the left hemisphere temporal and parietal lobes of the brain. Some characteristics include:
Can understand what is said to them
Can generally read well
Severe difficulty finding the words they want to say in speech and writing
Often use vague or general words instead of specific nouns or verbs
Speech and Language Therapists assess, treat and support people with aphasia.
If you think you, or a member of your family may have aphasia, contact your local speech and language department or primary medical centre. Click here for more resources and support.
Listed below are some useful resources for Aphasia:
Dr. Helen Kelly, Runner of the Cafe, Speech and Language Therapist & Senior Lecturer, established the Aphasia Home Café. Email her for more information.
