Aphasia

Aphasia: Speech and Language Therapy

Aphasia is a language disorder that can affect a person’s ability to speak, understand spoken language, read, or write. It is most often caused by changes or injury to the parts of the brain involved in language, commonly after a stroke. Aphasia may also occur after a traumatic brain injury, brain surgery, brain tumour, infection, or as part of a progressive neurological condition.

Aphasia does not mean a person has lost intelligence. Many people with aphasia know what they want to say but have difficulty finding the words, forming sentences, understanding conversation, or expressing themselves clearly. This can be frustrating and may affect daily communication, independence, confidence, relationships, and participation in work, family, or community life.

Speech and language therapy can help people with aphasia build communication strategies, strengthen language skills, and involve family members or caregivers in supportive communication.

Common Communication Changes with Aphasia

Aphasia can look different from person to person. The type and severity of aphasia often depend on the location and extent of the brain injury, as well as the person’s overall health, recovery, and communication needs.

A person with aphasia may have difficulty with:

• Finding the right words
• Speaking in full sentences
• Understanding spoken language
• Following conversations
• Reading words, sentences, or longer passages
• Writing or spelling
• Repeating words or phrases
• Participating in social conversations
• Communicating needs clearly in daily situations

Some people may speak fluently but have difficulty understanding language or using words accurately. Others may understand more than they can say and may speak slowly or with effort. Some people may experience more significant difficulty with both understanding and expression.

Types of Aphasia

A Speech-Language Pathologist, also known as an SLP, can assess a person’s language abilities and help identify the communication profile. Aphasia may be described in different ways depending on the person’s strengths and areas of difficulty.

Common types may include:

• Expressive aphasia, where a person has difficulty speaking or forming language
• Receptive aphasia, where a person has difficulty understanding spoken or written

• language
• Global aphasia, where both understanding and expression are significantly affected
• Anomic aphasia, where word-finding is the main difficulty

These labels can help guide therapy, but treatment should always be individualized. Two people with the same type of aphasia may still have very different communication needs.

Aphasia Assessment

An aphasia assessment looks at how a person understands and uses language across everyday communication tasks. The SLP may assess speech, listening comprehension, naming, sentence use, reading, writing, conversation, and functional communication.

Assessment may also include discussion with family members or caregivers to understand how communication is affecting daily life. When appropriate, the SLP may also screen for related concerns, such as speech clarity, voice, cognition, or swallowing difficulties.

Medical diagnosis and imaging, such as magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography scans, are managed by physicians and medical specialists. The SLP’s role is to assess communication and create a therapy plan that supports functional language use.

How Speech and Language Therapy Can Help

Speech and language therapy for aphasia may focus on improving word-finding, sentence production, comprehension, reading, writing, and conversation skills. Therapy may also include communication strategies, visual supports, supported conversation techniques, and caregiver education.

The goal is not only to improve language skills, but also to help the person communicate more effectively in real-life situations. This may include conversations with family, medical appointments, phone calls, community activities, or returning to work or school when appropriate.

Recovery from aphasia varies. Some people make significant gains, while others benefit from long-term strategies and ongoing support. Therapy can be helpful at different stages of recovery, including months or years after the initial injury.

If you or someone you care for is experiencing communication changes related to aphasia, contact the clinic to ask about aphasia assessment, speech and language therapy, caregiver support, and current service availability.