Aphasia is a neurological disorder caused by brain injury, resulting in difficulty understanding or producing language. There are four main types: receptive, nominal, expressive, and global, each with unique challenges. While there is no cure, speech and language training can improve communication skills over time.
Aphasia is a neurological disorder in which a person loses some or all of the ability to understand language. Problems are almost always related to a brain injury, usually in the form of a stroke. Severe head trauma, brain infections, and congenital anomalies may also play a role in the development of the disorder. There are dozens of different types of aphasia classified according to the parts of the brain affected and the resulting symptoms. The four main types of aphasia are called receptive, nominal, expressive, and global, and each type presents unique challenges for sufferers.
Receptive aphasia involves difficulty understanding written or spoken language. It is one of the most common types of aphasia, and there are many different subtypes. Wernicke’s aphasia, the most recognizable variety, is characterized by a lesion of a part of the cerebral cortex called Wernicke’s area. Individuals with the disorder lose the ability to follow conversations and understand text. They usually speak and write somewhat fluently, though they may create long, hard-to-follow sentences and misspell or make up words.
Nominal aphasia is a disorder closely related to the types of receptive aphasia. People with this condition have major problems understanding and remembering the names of objects. They may be able to understand spoken descriptions of things to a limited extent, but are unable to restate what certain things are called. For example, a person might see a seamstress and want to say the word, but forget her name and resort to describing her function or parts.
An injury to Broca’s area, a part of the cortex connected to Wernicke’s area by nerve fibers, can cause expressive aphasia. Sufferers can usually understand what others are saying and understand text, but cannot form their own meaningful words. It is common for a person with expressive aphasia to take a long time to say or write what they are thinking, and the result may not be consistent. He may leave out keywords in sentences or make serious grammatical errors.
Global aphasia typically involves a combination of several speech disorders. It is considered one of the more serious types of aphasia because it makes communication nearly impossible. People may not be able to write, read, listen or speak consistently. An individual may need to use pictures, point at objects, and make facial expressions to convey needs. Global aphasia is often the result of a severe stroke or traumatic injury affecting a large area of the brain.
Aphasia cannot be cured in the traditional sense, but many patients are able to improve their communication skills over time. In some cases, language skills return somewhat spontaneously as the brain injuries heal. Most of the time, however, patients need to participate in speech and language training for years to develop more effective speaking and comprehension skills.
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