Speech Therapy For Aphasia
Speech Therapy For Aphasia
June is Aphasia Awareness Month and speech therapy for aphasia can help! What is aphasia? It is a communication disorder that interferes your ability to say or understand words. It results from damage to language parts of the brain. Damage can occur from stroke, brain injury, dementia or other disorders of the brain. Aphasia does not impair your intelligence and it affects each person differently. You may have difficulty:
- speaking and finding the "right" words to express your thoughts
- understanding conversation
- reading and comprehending written words
- writing words
- using numbers
The National Aphasia Association estimates 2,000,000 Americans currently suffer from aphasia. Do you know someone with aphasia? Speech therapy for aphasia can help!
What Is Speech Therapy For Aphasia?
Speech therapy uses two approaches to treating aphasia:
Impairment-Based Speech Therapy for Aphasia
This approach focuses on repairing what is broken. It consists of tasks that promote boh speech and comprehension as well as exercises for the mouth and tongue to help form sounds and words. The speech therapist evaluates language strengths and weaknesses, then helps you exercise specific areas of language impairment such as retrieving verbs and formulating sentence structure. These tasks are supplemented with hoemwork and practice to reinfore what is gained. Computer software and apps designed to exercise word-finding, comprehension, and real life communication are readily avialble and your therapist will help you identify which software and apps will be most helpful to you.
Compensatory-Based Speech Therapy for Aphasia
Compensatory strategies are learning new or different ways of completing a task. This approach focuses on helping you convey messages and feelings with alternative means of communicating.The speech therapist will identify compensatory strategies and target any remaining language ability you have to help convey your messages. For example, she may suggest using shorter sentences or key words to help get your message across if you have difficulty producing longer, complex sentences. She will also identify communication devices such as communication boards and communication apps to assist you in expressing your thoughts.
How To Get Speech Therapy for Aphasia
Treatment outcomes for someone with aphasia depends on factors such as the severity and cause of the injury, the type of aphasia you have, your age, and other factors. Also, the earlier you get treatment, the better the outcome. But no matter how long it's been since your injury or how mild or severe your injury was, speech therapy will help.
Joey Farris and Jennifer Egeland are two of the speech therapists at Therapy Achievements who work with people with Aphasia. They are members of the American Speech and Hearing Association and have advanced training in both impairment-based and communication-based treatment approaches. They will evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and tailor a treatment plan to fit your unique needs. To learn more about how speech therapy could help you or someone you know, call Therapy Achievements at 256-509-4398.