Aphasia

DisclaimerThis page is not here to be used as a self-diagnosis, self-identification, or promotion - it's simply here to be informational. Whether or not one self-diagnoses, self-identifies, and/or seeks a professional diagnosis is up to them.

**Aphasia** is a disorder that affects how one communicates. It can impact an individual's speech, as well as the way they write and understand both spoken and written language. Aphasia happens when one has brain damage.

## Signs & Symptoms

Aphasia is a symptom of some other condition, such as a stroke or a brain tumor.

An individual with aphasia may:

* Speak in short or incomplete sentences.
* Speak in sentences that don't make sense.
* Substitute one word for another or one sound for another.
* Speak unrecognizable words.
* Have difficulty finding words.
* Not understand others' conversations.
* Not understand what they read.
* Write sentences that don't make sense.

## Causes

Aphasia usually happens suddenly after a stroke or head injury, but it can also come on gradually from a low-growing brain tumor or a disease that causes progressive, permanent damage.

Sometimes temporary episodes of aphasia can occur. These can be due to migraines, seizures or a transient ischemic attack (TIA), which occurs when blood flow is temporary blocked from an area of the brain.

## Types of Aphasia

There are different types or patterns of aphasia that correspond to the location of the brain injury in the individual case. Some common types of aphasia are:

### Global Aphasia

Global Aphasia applies to individuals who can produce few recognizable words and understand little to no spoken language. Individuals with global aphasia can neither read nor write.

### Broca's Aphasia

Broca's Aphasia, sometimes called Non-Fluent Aphasia, is when one's speech output is severely reduced and is limited mainly to short utterances of less than four words. Vocabulary access is limited and the formation of sounds by individuals with Broca's aphasia is often laborious and clumsy. The individual may understand speech relatively well and be able to read, but limited in writing.

### Mixed Non-Fluent Aphasia

Mixed Non-Fluent Aphasia is a term applied to individuals who have sparse and effortful speech. They remain limited in their comprehension of speech and do not read or write beyond an elementary level.

### Wernicke's Aphasia

Wernicke's Aphasia, sometimes called Fluent Aphasia, is when the ability to grasp the meaning of spoken words is chiefly impaired, while the ease of producing connected speech is not affected as much. Speech is far from normal, sentences do not hang together and irrelevant words intrude, sometimes to the point of jargon. Reading and writing are often severely impaired.

### Anomic Aphasia

Anomic Aphasia applies to individuals who are left with a persistent inability to supply the words for the very thing they want to talk about, particularly the significant nouns and verbs. While fluent in grammatical form, output if full of vague circumlocutions and expressions of frustration. They understand speech well and may read adequately. Difficulty finding words is as evident in writing as in speech.

### Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA)

PPA is a neurological syndrome in which language capabilities become slowly and progressively impaired. Unlike other forms that result from stroke or brain injury, PPA is caused by neurodegenerative diseases.

## References

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/aphasia/symptoms-causes/syc-20369518

https://www.aphasia.org/aphasia-definitions/

https://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/aphasia/