STROKE AFFECTING SPEECH HOW TO

These are just a few examples out of hundreds of possibilities. Whereas exercises for apraxia of speech, which focus on motor control, may involve tongue and lip exercises.

Through a thorough evaluation, they can make a clear diagnosis in order to focus your therapy on exercises targeting difficulties specific to you.įor example, exercises for aphasia may involve reading comprehension and naming therapy. Others might comprehend speech correctly but struggle with word formation. The speech therapy exercises that help one person may not help another.įor instance, some stroke patients might speak with clarity but struggle with comprehension. There is no one-exercise-fits-all regimen for speech therapy.

STROKE AFFECTING SPEECH HOW TO

This often feels like learning how to speak as if for the first time.īut even if you’re mentally prepared for difficult the road ahead, how do you know which speech exercises to use? Exercises Used to Improve Speech After Stroke This isn’t far from the truth.Īfter a stroke has damaged the language center of the brain, the brain must use new, healthy areas to regain control of the function of language. Many stroke patients compare speech rehabilitation to learning how to talk for the first time. By practicing the skill of speaking, patients can get better. The more you practice a skill, the better you get.įor this reason, Speech-Language Pathologists greatly rely on speech therapy exercises to help stroke patients regain their speech. The key to activating neuroplasticity is repetition. Skills lost after stroke, like language and communication, can be restored by creating new neural networks in the brain. Recovering speech after stroke requires neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to create new pathways and strengthen old ones. Rehabilitation for Speech Problems After Stroke Next, we’ll discuss the treatments and timeline. This, again, is why it’s important to work with a specialist that can help diagnose your type(s) of language difficulties and create a unique treatment plan for you. This is a motor issue, not a cognitive issue.Įvery type of language difficulty is treated with different rehabilitation techniques. In other words, patients cannot properly control their lips and tongue enough to produce clear speech.

The list is quite long! Therefore, it’s important to work with a specialist called a Speech-Language Pathologist for a formal diagnosis and treatment plan.įinally, apraxia of speech involves difficulty with voluntary muscle control for speech. There’s also transcortical sensory aphasia, transcortical motor aphasia, and mixed transcortical aphasia. While these are the main types of aphasia, that’s not all. Global aphasia: difficulty with speech production, expression, and comprehension.Conduction aphasia: difficulty with repeating words or phrases.They may also have difficulties with comprehension. The person generally has no issues with speaking, but the words they say do not make sense. Fluent aphasia (also known as receptive aphasia or Wernicke’s aphasia): difficulty producing meaningful sentences.Anomic aphasia: difficulty with word retrieval, where the person may demonstrate slow, halting speech.Expressive aphasia (also known as Broca’s aphasia): difficulty with spoken and written expression.Aphasia can generally be broken down into the following types: Generally speaking, there are 2 main types of speech problems that occur after stroke: aphasia and apraxia of speech.Īphasia involves difficulty producing and/or interpreting language, caused by damage to a specific area of the brain. There are two main areas of the brain associated with language: Broca’s area, which is associated with producing language, and Wernicke’s area, which is associated with comprehending language.

This is because the language center of the brain resides in the left hemisphere. When stroke affects speech, it’s often the result of a left hemisphere stroke. Then we will discuss available treatment options. To help you understand how to recover speech after stroke, this article will outline how stroke can affect speech. Both conditions can inhibit a stroke survivor’s speech and communication. Has a stroke affected your speech? It could be a sign of aphasia or apraxia of speech.

Stroke affecting speech