How Speech Therapy Helps After a Stroke or Brain Injury

Speech therapy can help you regain the ability to express yourself and have others understand you, especially when intensive therapy begins soon after a stroke or any type of brain injury or illness that has affected language. (aphasia.com)

Both clinical evidence and research findings agree that if you have aphasia, you can benefit from the services of speech-language pathologists. Studies indicate that people with aphasia who receive 8–10 hours of treatment each week for 12 weeks make significantly greater improvement than those who are not treated. (aphasia.com)

Aphasia language therapy addresses whichever cause is behind a person's symptoms, and stroke is by far the most common trigger. The National Aphasia Association estimates that about one in three stroke survivors develops aphasia, and roughly 2 million people in the United States live with the condition at any given time, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Traumatic brain injury and brain tumors cause most of the remaining cases. A related but separate condition, a transient ischemic attack, can also cause temporary language changes that resolve within hours or days rather than persisting.

Family and Friends Make Recovery Stronger

Not surprisingly, studies show that language skills improve the most when family and friends help to reinforce the speech-therapy sessions. (aphasia.com)

NIDCD research points to a few specific habits that make the biggest difference in everyday conversation:

• Simplify sentences and slow the pace of conversation
• Allow extra time for the person to respond before jumping in
• Reduce background noise, such as a television or radio, during conversation
• Write down or repeat key words to clarify meaning
• Encourage gestures, drawing, or pointing as valid forms of communication
• Avoid finishing sentences or correcting errors unless asked

The Life Participation Approach to Aphasia

Additionally, the "life participation approach to the treatment of aphasia" (LPAA) consists of a mostly consumer-driven service-delivery approach that supports individuals with aphasia and others affected by it in achieving their immediate and long term life goals. It focuses on re-engagement in life, beginning with initial assessment and intervention, and continuing, after hospital discharge, until the consumer no longer elects to have communication support. (asha.org)

In practice, that might mean building a grocery list system instead of drilling flashcards, or coaching a spouse on how to include a partner with aphasia in a phone call with grandchildren. The goal is decided by the person living with aphasia, not by a standard treatment protocol.

Types of Aphasia SLPs Treat

Broca's aphasia and Wernicke's aphasia are the two most familiar patterns, but a stroke or brain injury can also cause global aphasia or, when the cause is neurodegenerative, primary progressive aphasia. Knowing which pattern is present shapes how an SLP builds the therapy plan.

How SLPs Diagnose Aphasia

A speech-language pathologist typically completes a comprehensive language evaluation after a doctor rules out other causes with an MRI or CT scan. That evaluation checks specific skills: naming common objects, following spoken instructions, answering yes-no and open-ended questions, repeating words and sentences, and reading and writing short passages. The results point to which type of aphasia is present and how severe it is, which then shapes the therapy plan.

Treatment Approaches That Work

Treatment starts as early as medically possible, since research shows recovery is often steepest in the first few months after a brain injury. Many programs pair one-on-one sessions with group therapy, where clients practice starting conversations, taking turns, and recovering from communication breakdowns in a lower-pressure setting than one-on-one drills allow. Computer-assisted exercises can help rebuild word retrieval and grammar between sessions, and some clinics now offer teletherapy so clients can work with an SLP from home.

When Aphasia Overlaps With Motor Speech and Swallowing Challenges

Aphasia rarely shows up alone. Many stroke and brain injury survivors also develop dysarthria or apraxia of speech, and swallowing difficulty is common as well, since the same injury that affects language can affect the muscles used for speaking and eating.

That kind of tactile, hands-on work is the focus of a course built specifically for adult and geriatric clients.

The companion manual, A Therapist Guide to Rehabilitative Feeding and Speech Techniques for Teens and Adults, walks through the same activities step by step for clinicians who want a desk reference alongside the course.

Supporting Emotional and Mental Health After Aphasia

Losing the ability to communicate easily takes a toll that goes beyond speech. Between 40 and 50 percent of people with aphasia experience symptoms of depression, and an estimated 26 to 30 percent of stroke care partners do too, according to the National Aphasia Association.

Simple supports help. Daily routines with achievable goals and creative outlets like art or music, which don't depend on language, both reduce stress. So does connecting with others who understand what aphasia feels like from the inside, whether through the National Aphasia Association's provider directory or a local stroke club.

Frequently Asked Questions