On the Tip of Your Tongue: Welcome to the World of Aphasia
Imagine not being able to talk. Not being able to communicate your thoughts.
You can understand what people are saying around you, but somehow you can’t get words out like you want them to.
You’re living in constant frustration. Your loved ones have paid hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars for therapy, so that perhaps someday you can get back to where you once were.
You might ask, “Is this situation even real?”
Welcome to the world of Aphasia.
When most people see a term like this one, it’s usually because they’re looking it up for a school assignment or a definition. We rarely internalize it for what it is, and truly understand how it affects the world around us.
But when we take the time to look at it from a different perspective, we begin to appreciate the breadth of this issue.
According to the National Aphasia Association, 84.5% of people have never heard of the word ‘aphasia.’
Aphasia is a general term for language impairment, whether an individual has trouble understanding it or producing it. It encompasses a myriad of different subsets of aphasia — there are various names concerning different parts of the brain that are affected.
For example, you’ve probably heard of Broca’s aphasia, in which the individual can understand the spoken word, but cannot repeat or produce it. Broca’s aphasia, a lesion of Broca’s area, is named for a specific part of the cerebral cortex that functions in speech production.
Aphasia is most often caused by strokes or traumatic brain injuries. When a blood clot or leaking blood vessel bursts in the brain, the area around the lesion is affected and doesn’t get any oxygen or nutrients. As a result, that area of the cerebral cortex cannot function properly.
As you might know, there are certain areas of the brain that correspond to different functions. If the blood vessel bursts in a part of the brain that corresponds to language production or understanding, the individual may develop aphasia due to the stroke.
However, not all types of aphasia are caused by strokes or traumatic brain injuries. Primary progressive aphasia (PPA), one of the less common subsets of aphasia, is one type of frontotemporal disorder characterized by progressive language decline. PPA gets worse over time as brain tissue essential for speech and language function slowly deteriorates. As a result, almost all patients eventually become unable to understand speech or language.
Some other types of aphasia include:
- Global Aphasia: The most severe form of aphasia, global aphasia, patients cannot read or write, meaning they cannot understand language in any capacity.
- Mixed non-fluent aphasia: Like Broca’s aphasia, patients with mixed non-fluent aphasia have trouble speaking, but they also have difficulty comprehending speech and cannot read or write beyond a low level.
- Wernicke’s aphasia: Often known as Broca’s aphasia’s counterpart, Wernicke’s aphasia is characterized by an inability to comprehend speech. However, patients can still produce words.
- Anomic aphasia: Patients with this type of aphasia can understand speech well and read at a relatively normal level. However, they have difficulty finding the words that they want to say — mainly nouns and verbs. As a result, their speech is effortful and halted.
These subsets mentioned above are not the only types of aphasia; as I mentioned earlier, there are many different types for the distinct brain regions that are affected.
You may be wondering what it’s like to have aphasia. You’ve already seen the symptoms of the various subsets mentioned above, but what is life like with it? Also, how do patients with aphasia get treated? Well, living with aphasia, as you may have gathered, is not easy.
Sometimes, patients are lucky, and only minor aspects of communication have been affected, such as the ability to name an object or recall a particular word. However, most often, multiple aspects of communication are altered in a patient, making it very hard for them to proceed through everyday life.
It’s not only the patient who is affected through this struggle — the patient’s trials and tribulations will influence his/her whole family. Families of patients with aphasia have to come together to support their loved one, not just by providing therapy services (which can be costly) but also by having the fortitude to encourage their loved one to lead a normal life.
When a person has a disorder like aphasia, family life can get strained easily. Though one may try to be understanding, it is not easy when communication with your loved one is so hard.
Patients with aphasia must have external support, like a support group or aphasia group that knows what they are going through and how to help. These support groups are as equally important, if not more, for the family as they are for the patient. They provide services for patients’ families so that everyone can get help or guidance if they need it. After all, aphasia takes a toll on everyone involved.
I recently enjoyed volunteering for one such aphasia group, called Minnesota Connect Aphasia Now (MnCAN). Volunteering for MnCAN exposed me to the world of aphasia — I wasn’t very familiar with it when I joined.
However, learning about aphasia through MnCAN has made me realize how critical aphasia awareness is, especially now, in this period of isolation. These patients no longer have their in-person support groups to turn to in times of trouble, and this situation makes it harder for them to cope with their situation.
MnCAN’s mission is to use comprehensive programs, community support, and peer connections to help improve the lives of people with aphasia. They have an aphasia choir for interested participants, conversation groups to participate in, and multiple speech therapists, who help their patients develop and improve their comprehension and speaking skills.
MnCAN is one of many aphasia groups around the country that have been developing in recent years. These groups are following the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia (LPAA), which is a functional approach to encouraging life participation and engagement in developing and accomplishing aphasia patients’ own goals with support.
These programs are gathered together under an organization called Aphasia Access, whose aim is to empower healthcare professionals, interdisciplinary teams, speech-language pathologists, and community advocates to make a change in their communities.
MnCAN provides an essential service to its community, helping people affected by aphasia gradually ease their way back to where they were with the support of those around them. They understand how important it is to create opportunities for people with aphasia to be a part of a group who cares about them and helps them.
To read and learn more about aphasia, check out the National Aphasia Association’s website and MnCAN’s website! Make sure to follow MnCAN on their Facebook page for regular updates, events, and information about how you can help!
Make sure to leave a couple of claps on this article below! Please feel free to reach out to me at prerna1shankar@gmail.com to share your thoughts or start a conversation about your thoughts about aphasia! I’d love to have a conversation with you about all things aphasia if you’d like to discuss and learn more!
