Aphasia impairs the ability to speak, understand others, read, or write but it does not affect intelligence. Aphasia Awareness Month seeks to raise understanding of this common but little known disorder.
Jean Gordon, PhD, associate professor and speech-language pathologist at the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center at The University of Iowa, talk about aphasia:
Typically, who experiences aphasia?
Aphasia is caused by brain damage and that's typically caused by a stroke. While a stroke can happen to anybody, you tend to be more susceptible as you age, so we consider it a disorder of aging.
How many people currently deal with aphasia in the United States?
In the U.S. today, there are over one million people with aphasia, and that's about on par with people who have Parkinson's disease. One of the battles we fight is that hardly anybody knows about aphasia; although just about everybody has heard about a disease like Parkinson's disease. So, it's pretty common.
Will the number of people affected with aphasia rise in the future? Why?
Yes and no. As the population ages, because strokes are more common as you age, we can expect that more people might become aphasic.
On the other hand, the good news is that there have been improvements in medical treatment that can minimize the effects of the stroke. There's better awareness in the public through some of these educational programs that we hold. There's better awareness of stroke risk factors, and also the need to seek prompt attention when you experience symptoms of a stroke. So that's all good news that might minimize the effects in the future.
Can you explain to our listeners what it is like to have aphasia?
I can try. I imagine that it would be a little bit like suddenly waking up in a foreign country where you don't speak the language. In most cases you have difficulty understanding what people say to you, and you have difficulty getting your point across. But it's even more frustrating then that because it happens suddenly. You're used to communicating with these people and then all of a sudden, what you want to say just won't come out the way that you intend to say it.
When do you typically see patients with aphasia?
Speech-language pathologists work with people who have aphasia from the day after their stroke for many months afterwards. In our clinic at the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center, http://www.uiowa.edu/~comsci/ we will see people anytime after they’ve been to the hospital, but often they come to us in the later months of their recovery.
As a speech-language pathologist, how to do work to help people with aphasia?
We do a number of language exercises to stimulate improvements in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. What we aim to do in the early stages is stimulate as much recovery in those functions as possible. In the later stages, in the later months, we help people find new ways of communicating; taking advantage, for example, of gesture, drawing, some people learn to use augmentative communication devices, like computers that can speak for them, or picture boards.
What can we, or friends or families do, to make communication easier for someone with aphasia?
This is something we deal with in our aphasia groups all the time. One of the most common things our aphasia group participants say is that people should be patient. Allow the person with aphasia extra time to get their message across, and extra time to try and understand what you say.
It's really important that you include them in conversations; don't ignore them; don't talk down to them; try to remember that it's the same person underneath and they have the same thinking skills; they just have trouble communicating.
There are some concrete things you can do to help them understand and speak—speaking more slowly often helps, but keep your volume normal. They don't have a hearing problem, so that usually doesn't help to raise your volume. Using short, simple sentences; often using gestures as you speak can also help; and encouraging them to use gestures as they speak to help you understand what they mean.
Can aphasia be cured?
No, it can't really be cured because the brain damage that caused the aphasia still remains; but it can be treated and improvements in aphasia are possible for years and years after a stroke. The brain's a pretty plastic or adaptable organ, and as long as it can learn and practice skills, then communication can be improved.
If someone wanted to lean more about aphasia, where should they start?
They can contact the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center–and me in particular. Our aphasia group frequently has educational events and we make posters that we post in the community, especially in the summer during Aphasia Awareness Month.
What is the Web site and phone number for the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center?
My phone number is 319-335-8729. |
