The SLP will ask you to name objects, describe pictures, and answer questions. Understand words, questions, directions, and stories.The SLP will ask you about the problems you have and what you want to work on. A speech-language pathologist, or SLP, will test your speech and language skills. A doctor will determine if there is a medical cause for your problem. You should see a doctor if you have trouble speaking or understanding what people say. This includes brain tumors, traumatic brain injury, and brain disorders that get worse over time. However, any type of brain damage can cause aphasia. For example, it may be hard to tell time, count money, or add and subtract.Īphasia is most often caused by stroke. Spelling and putting words together to write sentences.Reading forms, books, and computer screens.You may have trouble with the following things: Find it hard to understand what others say when it is noisy or you are in a group.You might have more trouble with longer sentences, too. This may happen more when they speak fast, such as on the news. Put made-up words and real words together into sentences that do not make sense.For example, you might say "wish dasher" for "dishwasher." Sometimes, you may say something related, like "fish" instead of "chicken." Or you might say a word that does not make much sense, like "radio" for "ball."
Can't think of the words you want to say.You may have trouble talking, understanding, reading, and writing. Signs of AphasiaĪphasia can lead to a number of different problems. You can also have swallowing problems, called dysphagia. You may have trouble getting the muscles of your mouth to move the right way to say words, called apraxia. You may have muscle weakness in your mouth, called dysarthria. Brain damage can also cause other problems along with aphasia. It does not make you less smart or cause problems with the way you think. Damage on the right side of your brain may cause other problems, like poor attention or memory.Īphasia may make it hard for you to understand, speak, read, or write. Damage on that side of your brain may lead to language problems. Language skills are in the left half of the brain in most people. Tips for Communicating With a Person Who Has AphasiaĪphasia is a language disorder that happens when you have brain damage.A person with aphasia may have trouble understanding, speaking, reading, or writing.