Does your child have Aphasia? or do you know an adult with Aphasia?
Aphasia is a neurological disorder caused by damage to the portions of the brain that are responsible for language production or processing.
To begin with, the primary cause of Aphasia should be stabilized or treated. After doing so, that’s the only time that a therapist can work on the rehabilitation of the patient. To recover a person’s language function, he or she should begin undergoing therapy as soon as possible after the injury.
Speech Therapy: As A Treatment For Aphasia
Since there are no surgical or medical procedures that are currently available to treat Aphasia, conditions that result from head injury or stroke can be improved through the treatment of speech therapy.
For the majority of Aphasic patients though, the main emphasis is placed upon optimizing the use of the person’s retained language skills and being able to learn to use other ways of communication to be able to compensate for their permanently lost language abilities.
Therapy Activities
The formulation of what activities to use during a speech therapy session is critically done and would highly depend on the therapist’s assessment and diagnosis results on the individual. However, some general activities are done to treat Aphasia.
Exercise
Since most types of Aphasia would include right-sided weakness of the body and sensory loss, the patient needs to be able to exercise their body. Regular exercise and practice are needed to strengthen the weak muscles and prevent them from further degeneration.
The exercise activities do not have to be exhilarating. For speech function, the therapist can exercise the patient’s weakened muscles through repetitive speaking of certain words, and projecting facial expressions, like smiling and frowning.
The use of food too is helpful, since the patient can exercise articulators needed for speech production like the tongue and jaw, which may be weakened due to the condition.
Picture Cards
One of the tools used for therapy is picture cards. Pictures of daily living and everyday objects can be used to improve and develop word recall skills. Picture cards can act as a visual cue to increase the learning process of an Aphasic. These can also help increase the vocabulary of the patient.
By showing the picture cards and repetitively saying aloud the names of the objects in the picture, the patient will be able to exercise weak muscles and practice vocalization.
Picture Boards
Another tool for therapy is picture boards. Since aphasia can bring about difficulty in recalling names of activities, objects, and people, the use of material to help recall these names is very helpful. By making use of a board where the therapist places pictures of different everyday activities and objects, the patient can point to specific pictures to express ideas and communicate with other people.
Workbooks
The use of workbooks is also important in the treatment of Aphasia. Since reading and writing skills are affected, this is one way to exercise them. Workbook exercises can be used to sharpen aphasic word-recalling skills and recover reading and writing abilities.
By reading aloud, hearing comprehension can also be exercised and redeveloped through workbook exercises.
Speech Therapy Aphasia Rehabilitation Workbook
Expressive and written language workbook for stroke survivors diagnosed with aphasia for use at home and therapy. Contains straightforward instructions for family members to use this workbook at home to increase the expressive language of their loved one diagnosed with aphasia. Includes 70 full-color photographs of functional objects to increase naming ability and full-color photographs of scenes to increase descriptive language skills.
WALC 1 Aphasia Rehab: Workbook of Activities for Language and Cognition
WALC 1 has proven to be an excellent therapy supplement for adolescent and adult clients who have difficulties with auditory and visual comprehension and/or oral and written expression, such as clients who exhibit aphasia due to stroke or head injury. You’ll get plenty of exercises and activities organized in a hierarchical order to ensure mastery of strategies and skills.
Computers
With the development of technology, there are now computer programs that are used to treat Aphasia. Such computer programs can be used to improve aphasic reading, speech, recall, and hearing comprehension. The use of computers can bring about optimal results since it can stimulate senses of vision, and hearing at the same time, helping speed up the learning process.
