June is National Aphasia Awareness Month

The Acute Rehabilitation Department at Provides Information on the Language and Expression Disorder 

What if one day you woke up and couldn’t say hello to your children, or read a chapter from your favorite book?  For individuals who have lost the ability to understand and express themselves through language due to stroke, dementia, head trauma or other ailments, the inability to communicate becomes another hard and frustrating obstacle in their daily life.

Aphasia occurs when there is damage to the portions of the brain that control language.  This disorder can be mild or severe, and can occur quickly, as a result of a stroke or head injury, or slowly, as a result of a brain tumor or dementia.  The disorder impairs not only a person’s understanding of language, but their ability to read and write.

There are three general types of aphasia: expressive, receptive, and global. People with expressive aphasia have trouble using words and sentences, while people with receptive aphasia have difficulty understanding others. Global aphasia encompasses both: people struggle with understanding as well as using words.

A speech-language pathologist can diagnose aphasia by evaluating an individual to determine the severity and type of this disorder.  The speech-language pathologist will assess:

• Speech clarity, including fluency, vocal quality and loudness
• Speech comprehension
• Strength and coordination of the speech muscles (tongue, lips)
• Social communication and skills
• Speech interpretation
• Conversational ability
• Reading and Writing
• Swallowing (as needed)
• Ability to use an augmentative or alternative communication aid (as needed)

Treatments for aphasia are varied, but all aim to improve and restore a person’s ability to communicate.  In some cases, a victim of a stroke can completely recover from aphasia without the need of treatment. Most people though, will not regain their language abilities without speech-language therapy.  Since the causes, as well as the needs, for each person affected with aphasia vary, individual treatment plans are designed to meet each individual’s goals for recovery.  It may also be necessary for the speech-language pathologist to work with the person’s family as well as other medical professionals to make sure every need is being addressed.  However, even with therapy, difficulty with language may still remain.

For more information on aphasia or any of the other Acute Rehabilitation Programs offered at Bergen Regional, call (201) 967-4262.