How does aphasia affect communication?

Category: medical health brain and nervous system disorders
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Aphasia can affect how you speak, your ability to understand what is being said, and your reading or writing skills. Aphasia can be very mild, and sometimes only affects one form of communication, such as reading. However, it is more common for several aspects of communication to be affected at the same time.



Regarding this, how do people with aphasia communicate?

Don't “talk down” to the person with aphasia. Give them time to speak. Resist the urge to finish sentences or offer words. Communicate with drawings, gestures, writing and facial expressions in addition to speech.

Similarly, how does aphasia affect the body? Aphasia is caused by damage to one or more of the language areas of the brain. Many times, the cause of the brain injury is a stroke. A stroke occurs when blood is unable to reach a part of the brain. Brain cells die when they do not receive their normal supply of blood, which carries oxygen and important nutrients.

Similarly one may ask, how does aphasia affect language?

Aphasia is a language disorder that can affect a person's use of language. It can impact their ability to speak, to understand, to read and to write, but not necessarily all of these. It often happens as the result of a stroke. Aphasia can happen as a result of brain damage linked to Alzheimer's disease or stroke.

Can people with aphasia understand you?

Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder that impairs a person's ability to process language, but does not affect intelligence. Aphasia impairs the ability to speak and understand others, and most people with aphasia experience difficulty reading and writing.

38 Related Question Answers Found

How can you help someone with aphasia?

Communicating with a person with aphasia
  1. After speaking, allow the person plenty of time to respond.
  2. Use short, uncomplicated sentences, and don't change the topic of conversation too quickly.
  3. Avoid asking open-ended questions.
  4. Avoid finishing a person's sentences or correcting any errors in their language.

Does aphasia lead to dementia?

Primary progressive aphasia is a type of frontotemporal dementia, a cluster of related disorders that results from the degeneration of the frontal or temporal lobes of the brain, which include brain tissue involved in speech and language.

Is Aphasia a disability?

Aphasia--the hidden disability.
Aphasia is an acquired language disorder due to brain damage and which may include difficulty in producing or comprehending spoken or written language. Stroke is the commonest cause and each year 50,000 new patients develop aphasia.

What is the main cause of aphasia?

The most common cause of aphasia is brain damage resulting from a stroke — the blockage or rupture of a blood vessel in the brain. Loss of blood to the brain leads to brain cell death or damage in areas that control language.

How do you test for aphasia?


Your doctor will likely give you a physical and a neurological exam, test your strength, feeling and reflexes, and listen to your heart and the vessels in your neck. He or she will likely request an imaging test, usually an MRI, to quickly identify what's causing the aphasia.

Can you recover from Broca's aphasia?

The potential for functional recovery from primarily expressive aphasia such as Broca's aphasia after a stroke is excellent. The potential for recovery from a Wernicke aphasia due to a stroke is not as good as that for Broca aphasia, but most of these patients show some recovery.

What are the symptoms of Broca's aphasia?

Symptoms of Broca's aphasia include:
  • poor or absent grammar.
  • difficulty forming complete sentences.
  • omitting certain words, such as “the,” “an,” “and,” and “is” (a person with Broca's aphasia may say something like “Cup, me” instead of “I want the cup”)
  • more difficulty using verbs than nouns correctly.

Can someone with expressive aphasia write?

Expressive aphasia, also known as Broca's aphasia, is a type of aphasia characterized by partial loss of the ability to produce language (spoken, manual, or written), although comprehension generally remains intact. In very severe forms of expressive aphasia, a person may only speak using single word utterances.

Why do I forget words when speaking?

Aphasia is a communication disorder that results from damage or injury to language parts of the brain. It's more common in older adults, particularly those who have had a stroke. Aphasia gets in the way of a person's ability to use or understand words.

Can anxiety cause aphasia?


Answer and Explanation: Anxiety cannot cause aphasia, since aphasia is caused by neurological damage in the brain. However, symptoms of anxiety can sometimes impact our

What is an example of aphasia?

For example, a person with Broca's aphasia may say, "Walk dog," meaning, "I will take the dog for a walk," or "book book two table," for "There are two books on the table." People with Broca's aphasia typically understand the speech of others fairly well.

What are the three types of aphasia?

Some of the common varieties of aphasia are:
  • Global aphasia. This is the most severe form of aphasia, and is applied to patients who can produce few recognizable words and understand little or no spoken language.
  • Broca's aphasia.
  • Mixed non-fluent aphasia.
  • Wernicke's aphasia.
  • Anomic aphasia.
  • Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Why do I say one word when I mean another?

More specifically, your symptoms sound like something neurologists call semantic paraphasia. That is, substituting the word you intend for one that has a similar meaning. Semantic paraphasia is usually due to sudden brain trauma, such as a stroke or a blow to the head.

Why do I think one word but say another?

About Aphasia
Aphasia is a language disorder that happens when you have brain damage. Brain damage can also cause other problems along with aphasia. You may have muscle weakness in your mouth, called dysarthria. You may have trouble getting the muscles of your mouth to move the right way to say words, called apraxia.

What is the difference between Broca's aphasia and Wernicke's aphasia?


When there is an issue in this area, a patient can understand the speech of others, but can't produce any speech him or her self. This is called Broca's aphasia. When there is an issue in this area, a patient may be able to produce speech, but cannot understand the speech of others. This is called Wernicke's aphasia.

What is it called when you mix up words when speaking?

Spoonerism. A 'spoonerism' is when a speaker accidentally mixes up the initial sounds or letters of two words in a phrase. The result is usually humorous.

Is Aphasia a neurological disorder?

Aphasia is a neurological disorder caused by damage to the portions of the brain that are responsible for language production or processing. Primary signs of the disorder include difficulty in expressing oneself when speaking, trouble understanding speech, and difficulty with reading and writing.