This month is National Aphasia Awareness Month, and many people may be asking themselves what aphasia is. While the disease affects about one million Americans, it is a something that most people have never heard of. The National Aphasia Association gives a wonderful definition of the disorder, definig it as an "aquired communication disorder that impairs a person's ability to process language, but does not affect intelligence." Aphasia decreases a person's ability to communicate, and comes in a variety of types and severity levels. It is an aquired disorder in that it is the result of a brain injury, most commonly a stroke. The most extreme type is Global aphasia, in which a person can produce few syllables and understand little to no language. Another type of Anomic Aphasia, in which a person can typically understand speech fairly well and read adequately, but has difficulty retrieving words they wish to use when talking or writing.
The National Aphasia Association has a handy PDF for download, which we have linked here. You can also check out their FAQ for more Aphasia facts here. Below, we would like to share a very interesting video we found on their site called “Patience, Listening and Communicating with Aphasia Patients” – by the RVA Aphasia Group in Richmond, VA