Aphasia: The lost words

“But strange that I was not told that the brain can hold In a tiny ivory cell God's heaven and hell.”― Oscar Wilde

The brain. My earliest memories of the brain go back to 5th grade biology, the brain in a jar of formalin. So greyish and no life. But that was in 5th grade. Now I know better.

Indeed, in an ivory cage is God’s heaven and hell. Different areas in the brain has been attributed to various abilities seen in man today. Areas attributed to speech and language are dominant in the left hemisphere of the brain. Any damage to these areas results in the loss of speech and language skills.

A stroke, injury, tumor etc. in any of the speech and language areas can reduce a previously well communicating person to a mute, stutter or person with unclear speech or person with the difficulty to communicate efficiently. And it’s devastating. For an adult who has always been a fluent speaker to be reduced to not being able to communicate well and easily, is frustrating and one almost gives up hope.

The loss of such language in adults after stroke, tumor or accidents is known as Aphasia. Depending the type of lesion and areas affected the outcome of speech and language abilities are varied. Speech and language therapy is a valuable help during these times. For many people with aphasia intervention provided in the first few months maximize the progress.

For people diagnosed with Aphasia, Speech and language therapy aims to:

• Educate the patient and family about aphasia

• Try to restore the speech and language skills as much as possible

• Enable communication partners to try out various effective ways of communicating.

• To aid communication using aids and compensatory strategies.

• To provide group therapy sessions to enable to promote motivation levels.

Since no man is an island and as the need to communicate is a basic instinct, Speech and language therapy can provide valuable aid in trying the restore the lost communication function.