SPEECH LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY & AUDIOLOGY: COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES AFTER STROKE

Aphasia is one of the communication disorders that a person can have after a stroke.
It affects comprehension,production of speech sounds,reading and writing.
Damage to left hemisphere can lead to aphasia.(depends on the dominant hemisphere)
It can be associated with dysathria,apraxia or dysphagia(difficulty in swallowing)

What cause aphasia?
Any damage to the brain can lead to aphasia

Stroke (most common)
Brain tumors
Traumatic bran injuries (cause by road traffic accident,gun shot...)
Infection

What are the clinical features and symptoms ?

Patient will have difficulty to produce the next coming up word ,some of them answer with no connection to the question.
Unintened words or sound substitution ( Paraphaisa)
it can be similar to the target word in terms of meaning Ex: Chair for sofa, sister for wife or can be a word from any of the person's known language (Neologism)

Naming/word finding difficulty
Fluency can be effected (depend on the type of aphasia)
Repetition ( depend on the type of aphasia)
Memory,cognition and perceptual problems
Psychological problems

Classification of Aphasia

Broca's
Trans cortical motor (TCM)
Isolation
Global
Wernicke's
Trans cortical sensory (TCS)
Conduction
Anomia

Characteristics of a person with aphasia

( - ) = Effected ( + ) = Normal

How to diagnose aphasia ?
The speech language pathologist (SLP) evaluate the patient,with different tools including test materials to diagnose the type and the severity of the patient

Treatment available for patient with aphasia?
yes,there are many types of treatments available for them but it all depends on the type and the severity of the patient.

Tips for the caregiver/family