Aphasia, the loss of ability to understand or express speech, is a common side effect of a stroke, injury or disease affecting the left side of the brain. On With Life speech-language pathologists in both inpatient and outpatient programs work with individuals presenting with aphasia, and Abi Fortsch dives into what this looks like.
What does an aphasia diagnosis mean for a person?
Aphasia can present in both expressive language, meaning talking and writing, and receptive language, meaning understanding what a person hears or reads. Each area of language may vary in difficulty, and the level of severity looks different for every individual.
What therapeutic techniques are used for individuals with aphasia?
There are several therapeutic techniques used when working with individuals with aphasia, but some of the most commonly used at On With Life are melodic intonation therapy and semantic feature analysis. Melodic intonation therapy is used in collaboration with music therapy, and focuses on using music elements such as stress, melody and rhythm. We use specific cueing and singing to increase a person’s expressive language.
Semantic feature analysis is a word finding treatment used to increase a person’s ability to retrieve semantic features of a target word. For example, persons served are given a target word/picture, such as football, and generate properties of the word, such as sport, throw, kick or touchdown.
What are some tips for communicating with someone who is presenting with a aphasia?
Talking slow, using short phrases, asking close-ended or yes/no questions, and providing support
through gestures and images can all be helpful when communicating with an individual with aphasia. Avoid talking louder than usual or speaking for them and filling in phrases. It is important to remember that their inability to verbally communicate does not mean they cannot understand you and if you need further resources, On With Life has plenty available that we are happy to share with you!