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Treatment of Aphasia
Treatment will be recommended by your speech and language therapist, and will involve individual and/or group therapy. You may also be taught exercises to do at home.
If you have aphasia, the therapy aims to help you:
- improve communication skills,
- find new ways of communicating,
- adapt to your new situation, and
- regain your confidence in communicating with others.
If you have a family member with aphasia, the therapy aims to help you:
- understand their condition,
- develop new ways of communicating with your family member, and
- learn how to support their treatment, for example, helping them become involved outside the home.
When you are communicating with someone with aphasia, try to remember these simple guidelines:
- minimise background noise and distractions, such a television,
- use short and uncomplicated sentences, but try to keep the conversation on an adult level,
- continue to ask for, and value, the person’s opinion,
- allow the person as much time as they need to talk, and
- encourage all types of communication; speech, gestures or drawing.
A number of factors can affect the extent of improvement, such as the cause of the brain damage, or the particular area of the brain that was damaged. Recovery is different for each individual, but even those who still have difficulties after several years, tend to find that they are still making progress, and this can be very encouraging.
Your GP or therapist will be able to advise you on how to contact support groups in your area. You can also find helpful information and advice on the Speakability website (see Selected links) or by calling NHS Direct on 0845 4647.
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