Aphasia is a disorder that affects a person's ability to use language, and typically results from a sudden injury to the brain, such as stroke or brain trauma. Aphasia causes difficulty with both understanding and expressing one's thoughts, and will most often affect all aspects of language use - writing, reading, speaking, and listening. Depending on which part(s) of the brain are affected, a person will exhibit varying degrees of impairment in understanding or expressing themselves. It is important to know that aphasia does NOT affect a person's prior knowledge about the world nor their intelligence, only their ability to convey it through language.
Expressive Aphasia
Producing sounds, word finding, syntax
Writing
Spelling, sound-symbol correlation, syntax
Receptive Aphasia
Auditory comprehension of language
Reading
Comprehension of text & visual language forms
What can be done to help?
Aphasia can vary in severity, with some people experiencing mild word retrieval issues that go away in a few days, and others having major loss of ability to communicate single words that may take months or years to regain. In addition, many people notice their aphasia evolving over time, and so adjusting treatment accordingly is essential. Each person's own symptom pattern is unique, and so an initial comprehensive evaluation and re-evaluation along the way is a key feature of effective therapy. The important thing to recognize is that research-driven and effective help is available.
Which type of therapy is right for me?
Dr. Laura advocates for a "goodness-of-fit" approach to selecting the right aphasia treatments, and will assess each person's unique pattern of aphasia their distinct needs and priorities. No more endless workbook sheets, "cookbook" therapy and feeling like therapy is always a drill and a chore! Therapy should be functional, relevant, fun, fulfilling, achievable, and should teach those around you how to help you at home.
Will I get better, even if I was diagnosed a long time ago?
While some individuals may experience short-lived effects such as mild word retrieval difficulties, others may find themselves grappling with the reality of longstanding changes in their communication abilities. ALL persons with aphasia can improve throughout their lifespan, and so therapy is helpful no matter how long ago the aphasia began. For those who must negotiate major life change in the face of aphasia, Dr. Laura places a high importance on "whole person recovery" which seeks to facilitate restoration of meaningful life engagement under a Life Participation Approach to Aphasia (LPAA). All persons with aphasia, no matter how long they have lived with aphasia, can gain new skills in language, and can restore meaning-filled life activities that once seemed unattainable.
How long will treatment take?
Treatment duration and frequency recommendations are made following a comprehensive evaluation that incorporates a review of medical history, testing to establish diagnosis, severity, and overall language profile. Your personal goals and priorities are an essential component of treatment planning, alongside the comprehensive evaluation. Although there will be natural variation in treatment duration, the goal is to make maximal improvements efficiently, leading to functional changes in everyday life. Therapy will always incorporate instruction in self-led or family-supported home exercise programs, and also often incorporate family teaching to facilitate progress to long after formal therapy has ended.