Aphasia

Aphasia is a neurological disorder resulting from damage to the parts of the brain that control language. (Read about "The Brain") It affects a person's ability to communicate, including speaking, reading and writing, as well as understanding others' speech and written words. The most common cause of aphasia is stroke (Read about "Stroke"), but other brain injuries including head trauma, brain tumors, dementia or infection can also cause the disorder. (Read about "Head Injury" "Brain Tumors" "Dementia" "Microorganisms") An estimated one million people in the U.S. have aphasia and there are approximately 80,000 new cases each year.

There are many different types and degrees of aphasia, but it is generally divided into three categories:

• Fluent aphasia (Wernicke's aphasia) - People with fluent (also called Wernicke's) aphasia have trouble understanding speech and written language. It is caused by damage to the temporal lobe of the brain. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), people with fluent aphasia may speak in long sentences that make no sense, adding unnecessary words, and even creating new "words." Because they have difficulty understanding speech, they often don't recognize their mistakes.
• Non-fluent aphasia (Broca's aphasia) - People with non-fluent (also called Broca's) aphasia can understand speech and writing, but have trouble communicating in both speech and writing. It is caused by damage to the frontal lobe of the brain. People with non-fluent aphasia often speak in short sentences of just a few words and have great difficulty expressing themselves. Because they are able to understand others to some degree, they may be easily frustrated with their own speaking problems.
• Global aphasia - This is the most severe form of aphasia. People with this type have problems both expressing and understanding written and oral communication. It results from extensive damage to the language portions of the brain. People with global aphasia are severely limited in their ability to speak, read, write or comprehend language. According to the National Aphasia Association, global aphasia may often be seen immediately after the patient has suffered a stroke and it may rapidly improve if the damage has not been too extensive. However, with greater brain damage, severe and lasting disability may result.

In some cases, a patient may completely recover from aphasia in a few hours or days, without treatment. This spontaneous recovery is most often in cases of a "mini stroke," or transient ischemic attack (TIA), where the brain was not seriously damaged. More often however, the effects of aphasia last much longer and treatment is needed. This usually involves speech-language therapy with a speech pathologist. The goal is to improve the person's ability to communicate, both by trying to recover language skills and by teaching new means of communicating, such as gestures. The earlier therapy begins, the more helpful it can be. But, the prognosis for aphasia patients depends largely on the location and extent of the brain injury.

Related Information:

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