Aphasia - Symptom, Causes, Treatment of Aphasia

Aphasia can be defined as the in ability, or impairment, of the ability to talk, or failure to understand the meaning, of words. Aphasia usually occurs suddenly, often as the result of a stroke or head injury, but it may also develop slowly, as in the case of a brain tumor. The disorder impairs both the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and writing.

Aphasia results from damage to the language centres in the dominant side, of the brain, usually by stroke, tumour, injury or degeneratian. Aphasia may co-occur with speech disorders such as dysarthria or apraxia of speech, which also result from brain damage. Sufferers from same types, of aphasia know what they want to say, but can only manage a jumble, of unrelated (though clearly articulated) words, called a word salad. Other types result in problems including impaired camprehension, of spoken and written words and inability to form sentences.

Sign and Symptoms of Aphasia

Here is the list of some of the common sign and symptoms of Aphasia :

• Speak in short abbreviated sentences
• Speak in sentences that don't make sense
• Make up words
• Have difficulty finding the right word
• Not comprehend other people's conversation
• Interpret figurative language literally
• Not understand written words
• Write sentences that don't make sense
• Make significant spelling errors

Causes of Aphasia

Aphasia is, in most cases is mainly caused by the blockage or rupture of a blood vessel in the brain, Men and women are equally affected. Sometimes the disease is caused by brain injury or stroke. A stroke occurs when, for some reason, blood is unable to reach a part of the brain. ANother type of this disease is Broca's aphasia which may damage the frontal lobe of your brain and the affected people often omit small words such as "is," "and," and "the."

Aphasia Treatment Methods

Aphasia Treatment is by specialised speech therapy. In general. patients treated soon after the onset, of aphasia do best. Some improvement is usual where aphasia results from stroke, or head injury. Major factors that influence the amount of improvement include the cause of the brain damage, the area of the brain that was damaged, the extent of the injury, and the person's general health. People with non-fluent aphasia have difficulty communicating orally and in writing. This type of aphasia is also called motor, anterior, or Broca's aphasia. Treatment may be offered in individual or group settings. Individual therapy focuses on the specific needs of the person. Group therapy offers the opportunity to use new communication skills in a comfortable setting.

Types of Aphasia

1. Pure Word Deafness (all understanding impaired, but expressive channels intact).
2. Conduction Aphasia (speech, writing and silent reading intact, but repetition, reading aloud and dictation impaired).
3. Apraxia Which is now considered a separate disorder in itself.
4. Transcortical Motor Aphasia (Understanding of speech, writing, repetition and reading intact, but impaired voluntary speech and writing).
5. Transcortical Sensory Aphasia,(Impaired comprehension of speech and writing, but writing, reading aloud and speech spared).

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