Speech Therapy for Aphasia
About Aphasia
Aphasia is a language disorder that affects a person's ability to communicate. It most frequently occurs following a stroke or brain injury but it can also occur as a result of a slow-growing brain tumor or other neurologic diseases. There are various types of aphasia (e.g. Broca’s, Wernicke’s, and Anomic Aphasia) each with its unique characteristics. Aphasia affects a person’s ability to speak and/or understand spoken language. It can also affect a person’s reading and writing.
Depending on which areas of the brain are affected, aphasia might present with varying degrees of severity. Recovery from aphasia can occur over months and years. Apraxia of speech is a related problem, but it is not the same as aphasia.
About Acquired Apraxia of Speech
Apraxia of speech occurs when messages from the brain to the mouth are disrupted due to damage to the parts of the brain that control coordinated muscle movement. When a person cannot control the muscles used to form words, the lips or tongue will not move in the correct manner to make letter sounds. The strength of the muscles of the mouth is not affected; rather, there is a problem with controlling and coordinating the movements. Apraxia makes it hard to initiate and sequence the sounds that make words.
How to Tell if The Person with Aphasia Needs Help
Those who seek therapy for aphasia do so because they are having a difficult time speaking or understanding. Often times the individual with aphasia reports that the aphasia is a barrier to life participation. Some individuals with aphasia have feelings of self-consciousness, reduced confidence, and loss of autonomy. If the individual is having trouble re-engaging or participating in life then aphasia therapy can help.
How to Treat Aphasia
Once the underlying cause is treated, the main treatment for aphasia is speech therapy. The goal of post-stroke aphasia treatment is to promote a positive change in communication skills. Therapy can be conducted intensively, meaning for several hours a day over the course of 6-8 weeks or it can be done less intensively. Many factors can play a role in determining how often aphasia treatment is done. It will often be decided during the initial consultation. Most importantly, the person with aphasia should plan on practicing therapy activities organized by their speech pathologist between sessions.
What an Individual with Aphasia will Learn in Speech Therapy
Aphasia treatment activities should be highly individualized. Individualized therapy allows a speech therapist to determine skills needed to participate in life and discover the person with aphasia’s abilities. In addition to improving spoken language and language comprehension, speech pathologists can help with any barriers to participating in life, even if it’s not directly related to communication. Speech pathologists might also train communication partners to make the surrounding environment more “aphasia-friendly”. Aphasia therapy goals might include:
Improving communication skills in both professional and personal situations
Compensating for the challenges in understanding or using spoken language
Increasing vocabulary related to the individual’s activities of daily living
Learning compensatory strategies, including gesturing and other assistive communication
Improving reading and writing skills
Benefits of Aphasia Therapy
The benefits of working with an aphasia therapist are substantial. Benefits can include increased confidence and self-esteem, improved relationships, less frustration, and clearer, more effective communication. An aphasia therapist not only works with the individual during the one-to-one meetings but will also give the person home exercises for practice between therapy sessions. The therapist will typically involve family and caregivers in the home therapy practice exercises.
Online Aphasia Therapy
Studies have shown that online aphasia therapy is as effective as in-person treatment. There are many benefits to virtual aphasia therapy. Meeting with an aphasia therapist online is convenient, eliminates transportation concerns and travel time, allows those in rural areas to receive the treatment they need, improves attendance, and allows for easy generalization of goals into everyday life.
About the Author
Allison Geller is a speech-language pathologist (SLP) and the owner of Connected Speech Pathology. She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Florida in Speech-Language Pathology. Allison has practiced speech therapy in a number of settings including telepractice, acute care, outpatient rehabilitation, and private practice. She has worked extensively with individuals across the lifespan including toddlers, preschoolers, school-aged children, and adults. She specializes in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of a variety of communication disorders including receptive/expressive language disorders, articulation disorders, voice disorders, fluency disorders, brain injury, and swallowing disorders.
Allison served as the clinical coordinator of research in aphasia in the Neurological Institute at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. She is on the Board of Directors for the Corporate Speech Pathology Network (CORSPAN), a Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) certified clinician, and a proud Family Empowerment Scholarship/Step-Up For Students provider. Allison is passionate about delivering high quality-effective treatment remotely because it’s convenient and easy to access. What sets us apart from other online speech therapy options is—Allison takes great care to hire the very best SLPs from all over the country.
Let’s set up an introductory call to help you begin the process of working online with one of our certified speech-language pathologists.
