Aphasia can also be caused by any type of brain injury, brain tumour, or neurological condition such as dementia.
Aphasia predominately affects people’s ability to communicate as it causes difficulty with reading, writing, spelling, comprehension and expression or ability to speak.
Aphasia can affect a person’s ability to understand what they read or hear, or to express themselves in spoken or written words. It does not affect their intelligence.
Studies have shown that people with aphasia post stroke are at a much higher risk of developing depression and low mood than stroke survivors without the condition.
According to the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IALST), the recognised professional association of Speech and Language Therapists in Ireland, aphasia presents very differently from person to person and therefore requires highly specialist assessment, diagnosis, and treatment from Speech and Language Therapists.
There are three main groups of aphasia. Expressive aphasia is impaired ability to produce words, sentences, and conversations to express oneself. Receptive aphasia is impaired ability to understand spoken, written, and signed language. Global aphasia is when there is both expressive and receptive aphasia are present.
According to the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IALST), the recognised professional association of Speech and Language Therapists in Ireland, aphasia presents very differently from person to person and therefore requires highly specialist assessment, diagnosis, and treatment from Speech and Language Therapists
The Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IASLT) has a number of helpful resources for people with aphasia including information videos and details on the role of speech and language therapy for people with aphasia on its website.
Another great resource for people living with aphasia is the Aphasia Café in University College Cork (UCC). The Aphasia Café is an initiative of Dr Helen Kelly and her Speech and Language Therapy students (UCC Clinical Therapies Society) to support people living with language difficulties following a stroke or other brain injury. It is a Facebook group that acts as a safe space online for people with aphasia and other communication difficulties.
