Many treatment options are available, usually through speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in rehab centers, skilled nursing facilities, clinics, or at home. These treatments seek to help those with aphasia reclaim their lives and return to work, if that is a goal. Treatment may include some or all of these activities:
Working one-on-one with a SLP on language and daily living skills. For example, sessions may focus on conversation, reading the newspaper, and summarizing the main messages to a clinician or family member.
Working on a customizable app like Constant Therapy to target specific speech skill areas both in the clinic and at home. For example, Constant Therapy’s Word Retrieval & Speaking tasks have many individual exercises that help the brain to find words more easily again.
A weekly book club or video conference to practice conversation skills and understand spoken language.
Participating in research studies to help scientists discover the most effective ways to create individualized treatment programs for aphasia.
A recent study showed that patients who practiced Constant Therapy four days per week exhibited the greatest improvement.
The most important thing to know is that, because of neuroplasticity, there is no end to recovery. The myth that individuals only have a year or less to recover after a stroke or brain injury and after that there is no more improvement, has been proven by science to be false, and confirmed so in our own published, scientific studies. If you have aphasia, you can continue to improve with the right therapy for the rest of your life.