Aphasia can be a result of lesions in the language oriented areas of the brain, slow progressing tumor, a stroke or any other neurological disorder that would affect the language part. Aphasia therapy is possible only when the root cause of the situation is stabilized. A therapist will be able to successfully work with a patient successfully if the patient is brought for the therapy immediately after a trauma or injury.
Aphasia Therapy: No surgical procedures or medications are available right now to treat aphasia that is the resultant of a stroke or injury. The only option that is helpful is speech therapy.
When people are affected by aphasia either they can write and not speak or the vice-versa. Speech therapy aims at retaining the balance language skills along with providing other means of communication to replace the lost language skills.
Therapy Activities: The activities would differ from individual to individual based on the speech language pathologist’s assessment. But, there are some general activities that can be practiced as part of the treatment by all aphasic patients. Let us look at a few.
Exercise: Any kind of language loss in aphasia is due to the weakened right side in the patient’s body. There would be a sensory loss due to the weakness. Hence, it is important for the patient to exercise on a daily basis. Exercising regularly would strengthen the weakened muscles along with preventing further degeneration.
- These exercises are not pain staking and only involve activities like frequent word repetition and facial activities like frowning and smiling.
- Even chewing food can be part of an exercise as eating helps strengthen the articulators i.e, jaw and tongue.
Picture Cards: Showing pictures of objects used on a daily basis can improve the learning process of aphasics. The vocabulary of the patients can be increased by saying the names of the pictures aloud and asking the patient to repeat. This activity also strengthens the weak muscles.
Picture Boards: Aphasics usually have a difficulty in recalling and remembering names. Using a picture board which has pictures of the persons or daily activities clipped, the patient can point out to these in order to effectively communicate.
Workbooks: Children at school are made to drill their language skills using workbooks. The same can be implemented for aphasics. Reading aloud while writing not only would be an exercise but would also improve the memory.
Computers: Computers can be good for sensory stimulation. There are various softwares like Bungalow available in the market for improving the reading and writing skills of aphasics.
Aphasia therapy is the only possible way to help treat aphasics.
